appauvrir

Forms

appauvrir^[1] Old French apovrir, with the reflexive s'apovrir;^[2][3] Littré also cites the Old French forms apourier and apouroier.^[2][3] The spelling with ⟨au⟩ follows pauvre, which took it from Latin in the 16th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from French a- + pauvre + -ir, first as Old French apovrir.^[2][5][6][7] The adjective pauvre, Old French povre, is from Latin pauper (“poor”).^[4][8] Picoche analyses the Latin word as "producing little", from the root of paucus (“few”) and a second element related to pariō (“to bring forth”).^[8]

Littré compares Occitan apaubrir.^[3] Wiktionary instead derives it from Old French empoverir with a change of prefix.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1119, in Philippe de Thaon, as apovrir, used intransitively for “to become poor”.^[9][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense “to make poor” is found from about 1160.^[2][5] Medieval writers used it of a country or an army weakened and stripped of resources: a 12th-century text has De trois cent Francs en fu France apovrie (“France was made poorer by three hundred Franks”).^[3] The reflexive s'apovrir appears in 1305; the old intransitive use lasted until the 16th century, and “to become poor” is now expressed only by the pronominal verb.^[2]

Figuratively the verb came to mean to lessen the fertility, vigour or richness of something: soil, a seam of ore, the blood, a language or a text.^[3][9][6]

Timeline

• 1119 – Apovrir “to become poor” appears in Philippe de Thaon.^[9][5]
• c. 1160 – First used transitively, “to make poor”.^[2][5]
• 13th century – The noun apovrissement (now appauvrissement) appears.^[2]
• 1305 – The reflexive s'apovrir is recorded.^[2]
• 16th century – The intransitive use dies out, and the spelling appauvrir appears.^[2][3]
• 1846 – Bescherelle records the adjective appauvrissant.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make poor or poorer, to impoverish: l'inflation a appauvri les retraités.^[6][10][11]
2. (transitive, figurative) To reduce the fertility of soil, to exhaust a field or deposit.^[10][6][3]
3. (transitive, figurative) To make weaker or less rich: appauvrir le sang, a language or a text.^[9][6][3]
4. (pronominal) s'appauvrir: to become poor, or figuratively to lose richness or vigour, as a vocabulary or a vein of ore.^[6][9][3]

Word family

• appauvrissement
• appauvrissant

Related words

• pauvre
• pauvreté
• peu
• enrichir
• Latin pauper

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 58a
8. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)