éjaculer

Forms

éjaculer^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēiaculor (“to hurl out, shoot forth”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed from ex- and iaculor (“to throw”), from iaculum (“javelin”), from iaciō (“to throw”), the source of jeter.^[3][5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the 16th century an isolated record, in the account of Henri II's entry into Rouen, uses it in the Latin sense “to hurl”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb was taken up again in 1835, after the physiological terms éjaculation and éjaculatoire, which had been in use since the 16th and 17th centuries; it then meant to discharge a bodily fluid with force, and, used absolutely, to emit semen (in Flaubert in 1850).^[3][2] In literary use it was sometimes applied figuratively to words uttered forcefully (Flaubert, 1872).^[3]

Timeline

• 16th century – An isolated record in the sense “to hurl”.^[2][3]
• 1552 – Rabelais uses éjaculation.^[3][4]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses éjaculateur.^[3]
• 1835 – The Académie records the physiological sense.^[2]
• 1850 – Flaubert uses it absolutely for emitting semen.^[3]
• 1872 – Flaubert uses it figuratively of words.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare) To expel a bodily fluid with force.^[8][6][7]
2. (intransitive) To ejaculate, to emit semen.^[8][6][7]

Related words

• éjaculation
• éjaculateur
• éjaculatoire
• jaculatoire
• jeter
• Latin ēiaculor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert