Etymologically
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élever

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /el.ve/[1]
  • IPA: /ɛl.ve/[1]

Forms

élever[1] Old French eslever, élever from the 14th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French é- + lever, partly blended with a borrowing of Latin ēlevō (“to lift up; to lighten; to weaken, belittle”), itself formed on levō (“to raise”).[4][5][2][1][6] Bloch and Wartburg allow a Vulgar Latin “*exlevare” beside the classical verb.[7]

Compare Old Occitan eslevar and Italian elevare.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psautier d'Oxford (first half of the 12th century) uses eslever “to raise higher”, translating Latin elevare: esleverent li flum lur voiz “the floods lifted up their voice”.[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

From “to put higher” came building (élever un mur), geometry (élever une perpendiculaire), raising someone to power, raising prices or the mind, and élever la voix.[4]

The sense “to bring up a living being” has a complex history: Wartburg's example from 1270 is ambiguous, and before the 17th century élever qqn usually meant to raise someone to a higher position.[4] Raising trees and animals is recorded in 1499, feeding and caring for a child in 1530, and educating one in 1607, bien élevé and mal élevé describe manners that result from upbringing.[4][2] The derivatives élève (1653) and élevage are late.[4][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Eslever “to raise”, Psautier d'Oxford.[8][2]
  • c. 1170 – Figurative senses, Livre des Rois.[2]
  • 1499 – Raising animals and trees.[4][2]
  • 1530 – Bringing up a child, Palsgrave.[2][4]
  • 1607 – “To educate”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To raise, lift higher: élever les bras, élever l'hostie.[9][1]
  2. To build up, erect: élever un mur, élever un monument; to raise a level: élever la maison d'un étage.[9]
  3. To raise in rank, value or intensity: élever les prix, élever la voix, (arithmetic) to raise to a power.[9][1]
  4. To elevate morally or intellectually: élever l'esprit.[9][1]
  5. To bring up (a child), educate: bien élevé, mal élevé.[9][1]
  6. To rear, breed (animals); to grow (plants).[9][4]
  7. S'élever: to rise, go up; to amount to; to protest: s'élever contre une injustice.[9][1]

Word family

  • élévateur
  • élévation
  • lever
  • Latin ēlevō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 271a
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b 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
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert