atrophier

Forms

atrophier^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French atrophie + -er.^[2][3][4][1] The Petit Robert derives the active verb from the participle atrophié.^[5] The noun is a medical borrowing (1538) from Late Latin ātrophīa (“consumption”), from Ancient Greek ἀτροφία (atrophía, “a wasting away”), formed of a privative prefix and the noun for food, from the verb for nourishing.^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb first appears as the past participle atrophié in 1572.^[6][2] The GLLF and Bloch and Wartburg trace it to Ambroise Paré, about 1560.^[3][7] The participle drove out the earlier adjective atrophe, taken by Rabelais from Greek in 1564.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was medical: to waste a limb or organ through lack of nourishment, and reflexively to lose volume in this way.^[4][3] In the first half of the 19th century all these uses were also applied figuratively, and s'atrophier came to mean to decline or decay.^[6] The participle and the reflexive verb remain commoner than the active verb.^[6]

Timeline

• 1538 – The noun atrophie is borrowed by physicians.^[6][7]
• c. 1560 – Ambroise Paré uses the verb.^[3]
• 1572 – The participle atrophié is recorded.^[6][2]
• 19th century – Figurative uses spread.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To cause a limb, organ or plant to waste away through atrophy, or to stop it developing.^[5][3]
2. (transitive, figurative) To weaken, stunt or bring about the decline of a faculty or quality.^[5][3][8]
3. (reflexive) s'atrophier: to shrink and weaken through atrophy, of an organ, or figuratively to decline gradually.^[3][5]

Word family

• atrophié

Related words

• atrophie
• hypertrophier
• trophique

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ 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