énerver

Forms

énerver^[1] Old French esnerver (pronominal soi esnerver).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēnervō (“to remove the sinews; to weaken, exhaust”),^[2][4][5] from ex- in a privative sense and nervus (“sinew, tendon”), the source of nerf.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the first quarter of the 13th century, in the pronominal soi esnerver in the Renclus de Molliens, in the figurative sense taken from Latin, “to lose one's strength”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the verb meant “to deprive of strength or energy”, of the body, the mind or a thing: Jean de Meun uses it about 1265 for weakening a power.^[6][7] The literal sense “to cut the tendons” is recorded in 1594, and in the 17th century it named the torture of cutting a person's tendons (1694).^[4][2]

The old meaning still lived in the 19th century, especially in the past participle énervé “listless, without vigour”, but it was driven out by a new and nearly opposite one, “to irritate, make nervous”.^[4] The present participle énervant has it in 1867 and the verb in 1882, after énervement; the TLFi dates the sense of exciting the nerves to Barbey d'Aurevilly in 1836.^[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg place this now dominant sense in the 19th century.^[5]

Timeline

• early 13th century – Soi esnerver “to lose one's strength”, in the Renclus de Molliens.^[2][4]
• 1413 – The noun énervement “weakening” is first recorded.^[4][5]
• 1594 – The literal sense “to remove the sinews”.^[2][4]
• 1694 – It names the torture of cutting the tendons.^[4]
• 1836 – Barbey d'Aurevilly uses énervant of stormy weather that frays the nerves.^[2]
• 1882 – The verb is recorded in the sense “to irritate”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To irritate, get on someone's nerves; to make nervous or overexcited.^[8][1]
2. (pronominal) S'énerver: to get worked up, lose one's calm.^[1][9]
3. (literary, dated) To deprive of strength or energy; to enervate.^[8][6]
4. (historical) To subject to the torture of cutting the tendons, (surgery) to cut a nerve.^[8][6]
5. (Quebec) To be excited.^[1]

Word family

• énervant
• énervement

Related words

• nerf
• nerveux
• Latin nervus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF