épreindre

Forms

épreindre^[1] Old French espreindre and espraindre; the spelling épreindre dates from the 17th century.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French espreindre, inherited from Latin exprimō (“to squeeze out”), formed from ex- and premō (“to press”).^[4][2][1][5] Littré points out that the Latin stress on the syllable ⟨pri⟩ regularly gave the Old French form.^[6] It is a doublet of exprimer, borrowed from the same Latin verb, which drove it out in most of its senses.^[1][7][8]

Cognate with Italian spremere, Occitan espremer, Catalan espremer, Portuguese espremer and Romanian screme.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, at the end of the 12th century in the Old French Grégoire Ézéchiel, has espriemere par parolle “to express in words”, translating Latin loqui.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French espreindre had the same senses as Latin exprimere, but the learned exprimer took the figurative ones, and épreindre kept the concrete sense of pressing.^[8][7] The sense “to squeeze out juice” is found about 1275 in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose;^[4] the 14th-century Ménagier tells the reader to put herbs in a bag and espraignez them for the juice.^[6] In the 16th century Paré used the reflexive s'espreindre for straining, as at stool.^[6]

Since the 18th century dictionaries have kept it as rare and old,^[10][4] and Huysmans used it figuratively in 1895 for being harried on all sides.^[4][2]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Espriemere appears in the Grégoire Ézéchiel.^[4]
• c. 1275 – Jean de Meun uses it for pressing out juice.^[4]
• c. 1375 – The derivative épreinte is recorded.^[4]
• 1647 – Vaugelas uses it for making a liquid flow out.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records épreindre des herbes.^[4]
• 1895 – Huysmans uses it figuratively.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, rare) To squeeze a fruit or plant to get its juice out: épreindre des citrons.^[4][11][1]
2. (archaic) To press out a liquid: épreindre le suc d'une herbe.^[4][6]
3. (figurative, literary) To harry or beset from all sides.^[4][2]

Related words

• exprimer
• épreinte
• presser
• Latin exprimō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 313b
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
11. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert