bercer

Forms

bercer^[1] Old French bercier (1220).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman beercer.^[4]

Etymology

It is from Old French bers (“cradle”), first as Old French bercier.^[2][3][5] The Old French noun (about 1150, written berz) goes back to Vulgar Latin *bertium, known only through its diminutive berciolum (8th century), the source of Old French berçuel.^[2][6] Rey thinks this form is probably Gaulish, given its spread over Gallo-Romance, Catalan and Portuguese, where it replaced Latin cūnae (“cradle”).^[2]

Bloch and Wartburg, and Wiktionary, take the verb instead as the continuation of a Latin verb of Gaul and Spain, *bertiō, formed on a Gaulish stem meaning “shake”, which they compare with Irish bertaim (“I shake, I brandish”);^[7][1] Rey finds this less satisfying, since it makes the Romance nouns deverbal, though it also points to Gaulish.^[2] Wiktionary gives the stem as Proto-Celtic *berta- (“to shake”).^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan bresar, Catalan bressar and Salamanca brezar;^[7] the noun is Old Occitan and Catalan bres, Portuguese berço “cradle”.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Larousse dates it to Wace (1155), meaning to rock a child in a cradle; the Grand Robert and Rey give bercier in 1220.^[5][3][2] In Anglo-Norman it is found from the late 12th century for rocking a child in its cradle.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From rocking a child in a cradle the verb spread to any gentle swaying.^[2][5] Figurative senses grew up in the 16th and 17th centuries out of the idea of the dulling of body and mind by the cradle's motion: in the passive être bercé de meant to know a thing well, to be steeped in it (1537), the active verb meant “to deceive” (1611), as in bercer d'illusions, and “to soothe” (1666).^[2] The reflexive se bercer de “to cherish an idea or an illusion” is recorded from 1667,^[2] and in horsemanship se bercer meant to walk with a sideways sway (1751).^[2] A 16th-century proverb said that when the Frenchman sleeps, the devil rocks him.^[8]

In Quebec French the verb is used intransitively of a rocking chair, “to rock”.^[2] The old noun bers went out of use in the 17th century, already called an old word in 1611, but survives in western dialects and, as ber, in Canada.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Wace uses the verb, according to the Grand Larousse.^[5]
• late 12th century – Anglo-Norman texts use it for rocking a child.^[4]
• 1220 – Bercier is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1472 – The derivative berceau “cradle” appears.^[7][2]
• 1537 – Être bercé de “to be steeped in” is recorded.^[2]
• 1611 – First recorded in the sense “to deceive”.^[2]
• 1666 – First recorded in the sense “to soothe”.^[2]
• 1667 – Se bercer de “to cherish (an illusion)” is recorded.^[2]
• 1835 – Berceuse appears.^[7][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To rock in a cradle, and by extension to rock or sway gently, as in one's arms or on the water.^[9][10][5]
2. (figurative, literary) Être bercé de or par: to be accompanied all along by something pleasant, to be imbued with it.^[9][10][5]
3. (figurative, literary) To soothe, to ease (a pain or sorrow).^[9][2]
4. To delude, to lull with false hopes or promises; reflexive se bercer d'illusions, to delude oneself.^[9][2]
5. (Quebec, intransitive) Of a chair, to rock.^[2]

Word family

• berceau
• bercement
• berceuse
• berceur

Related words

• ber

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 m n o p q r s t u v 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)