apaiser

Forms

apaiser^[1] Old French apaisier, also written apaier, apesier and apazier.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French apaisier, formed from Old French a- + pais + -ier, from the noun paix “peace”.^[1][5][6][7] The noun is from Latin pāx (“peace”).^[7][8] Bloch and Wartburg add that the Old French noun, which replaced the regular form paiz, was itself remade on the verb.^[7]

Littré derived the verb instead from Latin ad- and pācō (“to make peace”), comparing Old Occitan apagar, Spanish apagar and Italian appagare;^[2] the modern dictionaries take it as a French formation on the noun.^[5][9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded between 1160 and 1174 in the sense “to make peace”, a use still found in 1532.^[6] Littré quotes the apaier of the 12th-century Roncevaux: Il et Rolant me firent apaier (“He and Roland made me make peace”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

From making peace the verb soon came to mean ending a thing by bringing peace (1167), and the pronominal s'apaiser “to become calm” is found from 1165–1170.^[6] From 1240 it was used for calming a person,^[6] and in the 13th century the participle could mean “satisfied”, as in bien m'en tien apaiés in Berte.^[2] Its objects widened to anger, quarrels, pain and the elements, and to bodily needs such as hunger and thirst, which are “calmed” by being satisfied.^[10][9][11]

Its derivatives include apaisement, recorded in 1120, and apaisant (1896); inapaisé (1794) and inapaisable (1841) are literary.^[6]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – First recorded, in the sense “to make peace”.^[6]
• 1165–1170 – The pronominal s'apaiser “to become calm”.^[6]
• 1167 – Used for ending something by peace.^[6]
• 1240 – Used for calming a person.^[6]
• 1532 – Last record of the sense “to make peace”.^[6]
• 1896 – The adjective apaisant appears.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To calm, pacify or appease someone: apaiser un enfant en larmes.^[11][10][1]
2. (transitive) To make something less violent, to ease or soothe it: apaiser une querelle, apaiser la douleur.^[11][2]
3. (transitive) To satisfy a bodily need and so make it stop: apaiser sa faim, apaiser sa soif.^[11][9]
4. (pronominal) s'apaiser: to calm down, to subside, of a person, a feeling or the weather: Le vent s'est apaisé vers le soir.^[11][10]

Word family

• apaisement
• apaisant
• inapaisable
• inapaisé

Related words

• paix
• paisible
• Latin pāx

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c 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
11. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert