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attiser

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Etymology and origin of the French word attiser

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1140 More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin *attitio via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin tītiō

Pronunciation

Forms

attiser[1] Old French atisier.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French atisier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *attītiō, a verb inferred from several Romance forms and formed on ad- and tītiō (“firebrand”), a popular word recorded from Varro on.[2][4][1][5] The Latin noun also gave tison.[2][4]

Cognate with Italian attizzare, Spanish atizar, Portuguese atiçar, Occitan atizar and Catalan atiar.[6][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as atisier in 1140, used figuratively for “to make keener, to excite”.[2][3] The Châtelain de Coucy writes Adès amours me semont et atise / De lui aimer (“Love ever summons and stirs me to love her”).[7]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “to stir up a fire with the brands” appears only about 1175, in Chrétien de Troyes;[2] Rey thinks the order of the records is probably chance and supposes the figurative sense already existed in Medieval Latin.[2] The Roman de la Rose speaks of love that blows on and stirs la brese in the heart.[7]

Several derivatives are now out of use, such as attise-feu “poker” (1480) and attise-querelle (1564); the usual word for the tool is tisonnier.[2] The Picard attisée “firewood, blaze” (1850) is archaic in France but still used in Canadian French.[2]

Timeline

  • 1140 – Atisier in the figurative sense “to excite”.[2][3]
  • c. 1175 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it of a fire.[2]
  • 1209 – The Petit Robert's date for the word.[8]
  • 1480 – Attise-feu “poker”.[2]
  • 1615 – Attiseur as an agent noun.[2][4]
  • 1690 – Attisement.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To poke or stir up (a fire), bringing the brands together to make it burn better: attiser le feu.[8][7][9]
  2. (figurative) To inflame or stir up (feelings, quarrels): attiser les haines.[8][9][1]

Word family

  • attiseur
  • attisement

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 357b
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Attiser.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/attiser. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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