abreuver

Forms

abreuver^[1] Old French abevrer (12th century), aboivrer, abrever (13th century) and abuvrer, abruver (13th to 16th century).^[2][3][4] The form abreuver became general in the 16th century.^[3][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French abevrer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *abbiberō.^[6][7][2][8] The Vulgar Latin verb was formed on Late Latin biber (“a drink”), a noun used by Caesarius of Arles, which was the syncopated infinitive of bibō (“to drink”) taken as a noun.^[6][2] Rey and Wiktionary describe it more simply as a compound of the Latin verb.^[7][1]

The form aboivrer was influenced by the Old French verb boivre “to drink”, and abrever (later ⟨abreuver⟩) arose from the older form by metathesis of the /r/.^[6][7] Littré dates the final shift of the ⟨r⟩ to the 16th century.^[5]

Cognate with Italian abbeverare, Old Occitan abeurar, Catalan abeurar, Spanish abrevar and Portuguese abeberar.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in the Oxford Psalter (about 1100), is figurative: abevras nus del vin compunctium “you gave us the wine of compunction to drink”.^[6] The literal sense “to give (a person) plenty to drink” is found in Wace's Brut (1155), and the sense “to water (an animal)” in Aymeri de Narbonne (early 13th century).^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb meant “to give (a person or an animal) something to drink”, and it was used reflexively from the 12th century.^[7] The prefix gave it a causative sense (making another drink, often leading animals to water), and a notion of abundance, “to give plenty to drink, to soak through”, has clung to it.^[6] By 1260 it also meant “to water (the ground, plants)”, and it later took on several technical uses.^[7]

Figurative uses developed early: abreuver quelqu'un de quelque chose meant “to make someone believe something” from 1538, a sense now dated, while the sense “to overwhelm (with insults, grief)”, found in d'Aubigné, is still literary.^[7] The reflexive s'abreuver de “to steep oneself in (ideas)” also dates from the early 17th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Oxford Psalter uses abevrer figuratively.^[6]
• 1155 – Wace's Brut uses it of giving men plenty to drink.^[6][7]
• 1164 – Chrétien de Troyes has the form aboivrer in Erec et Enide.^[6]
• early 13th century – Aymeri de Narbonne uses it of watering horses.^[6]
• 1260 – It is used of watering the ground or plants.^[7]
• 1538 – Abreuver quelqu'un de is recorded in the sense “to make someone believe”.^[7]
• 16th century – Abreuver replaces the older forms.^[3][5]
• early 17th century – D'Aubigné uses the reflexive figuratively and the sense “to overwhelm”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To water (animals), to give them plenty to drink or lead them to the abreuvoir: abreuver les vaches au ruisseau.^[10][11][3]
2. (reflexive) Of animals, to drink, (familiar) of people, to drink a lot.^[10][1]
3. To soak or drench (the ground, a material) thoroughly.^[3][10]
4. (figurative) Abreuver quelqu'un de: to shower or overwhelm someone with something: elle l'a abreuvé de reproches.^[10][1]
5. (technical) To give a first coat of paint or filler to (a surface) to seal its pores.^[10]

Word family

• abreuvage
• abreuvement
• abreuvoir

Related words

• boire
• breuvage
• Latin bibō

Usage notes

In Canadian French, notably in Quebec, the derivative abreuvoir is also used (since 1940) of a drinking fountain or any device dispensing drinking water, a use that is criticised.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 23a
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)