assiéger

Forms

assiéger^[1] Old French aseger (1080), also asijer and assegier.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French aseger, inherited from Vulgar Latin *assedicō, from *sedicō (“to sit, to be seated”).^[2][3][5] The Old French verb was remade after siège from 1174 on, and the modern spelling dates from 1536.^[2][3][6] Wiktionary analyses it as formed from the prefix a-, the noun and the suffix -er.^[1] Classical Latin used obsideō, a compound of sedeō (“to sit”).^[2]

Littré lists Old Occitan assetjar, Catalan assetjar, Spanish asediar and Italian assediare.^[4] According to Rey, the Italian and Spanish verbs come from Medieval Latin assediare, itself modelled on the French verb, as military terms travelled easily.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (1080) it means “to lay siege to a place”: En Saragoze vous viendrat aseger (“he will come to besiege you in Saragossa”).^[4][2][7]

Semantic evolution

From the end of the 13th century, as asijer, it took the figurative sense “to torment”, first of concrete hardships, then of abstract ones (1538).^[2] In the 14th century it also meant “to surround, to hold shut in” (assegier, and assieger in 1568).^[2] Littré records the extension “to crowd around”, as curious onlookers besiege a door, and the figurative “to pester, to haunt”, as creditors or a memory do.^[4] The TLFi notes that the proper sense prevails in the 19th century, the figurative one in the 20th.^[8]

Timeline

• 1080 – Aseger “to besiege” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][7]
• 1174 – The verb is remade after siège.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Asijer is used for “to torment”.^[2]
• 14th century – Assegier means “to surround”.^[2]
• 1536 – The form assiéger is recorded.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To besiege or lay siege to a town or fortress; by extension, to hold an army or population shut in a place.^[6][8][1]
2. Of things, to surround and hem in: la mer assiégeait le phare de tous côtés.^[6][9]
3. Of people, to crowd around a place trying to get in.^[6][4][7]
4. (figurative) To pester, harass or haunt: ses voisins l'assiègent de questions.^[4][8]

Related words

• siège
• seoir
• Latin sedeō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 411b
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)