Etymologically
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blesser

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /blɛ.se/[1]
  • IPA: /ble.se/[1]

Forms

blesser[1] Old French blecier, blecer (about 1100); blesser from the 15th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French blecier, from Vulgar Latin *blettiare (“to bruise”), a Gallo-Romance form, borrowed from Frankish *blettjan (“to bruise”).[2][4][5][3][6] The Frankish verb is formed on a noun matching Old High German bleizza (“bruise, scar”) and is close to Old English blāt (“livid, pale”).[2][3] Wiktionary reconstructs Frankish *blaitijan.[1] Guiraud also supposes a crossing with a Gallo-Romance “*blattiare”, from Latin “blatta” “dark purple”.[4]

The word is only Gallo-Romance: compare Old Occitan blessar.[3] Littré followed Diez in deriving it from Middle High German “bletzen” “to patch”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi (late 11th century) has blecier for bruising fruit to ripen it; in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) blecer is to harm or injure someone: La gent de France iert blecée et blesmie “the people of France will be hurt and wounded”.[2][4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The original sense “to bruise” lasted until the 15th century and survives in northern and eastern dialects and in the derivative blet “overripe”.[2][3] “To damage, harm” died out in the 16th century, except at sea, where a ship was blessé from the 17th to the 19th century.[2]

The modern sense, wounding someone with a blow, appears in a context of war and soon displaced Old French nafrer (see navrer); se blesser dates from about 1175.[2] With a thing as subject came savoir où le bât blesse (15th century).[2][5] Figuratively it meant to hurt someone's feelings from 1176, and later to offend the senses or good taste.[2][5] In the 17th century se blesser also meant “to miscarry” (1660).[8]

Timeline

  • late 11th century – Blecier, to bruise fruit, Rashi.[3][4]
  • c. 1100 – To injure, Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1155 – To damage.[2]
  • c. 1175 – Se blesser.[2]
  • 1176 – To hurt someone's feelings.[2]
  • 15th century – Où le bât blesse; the spelling blesser.[2]
  • 1660 – Se blesser “to miscarry”, Oudin.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wound, injure: blessé par balle, blesser grièvement qqn, se blesser, to hurt oneself.[6][1]
  2. To hurt, chafe (of shoes or straps); c'est là que le bât blesse, that's the sore point.[5][1]
  3. (figurative) To offend, hurt (someone's feelings): blesser qqn dans son amour-propre.[1][2]
  4. To offend (the eye, the ear, good taste).[5][2]

Word family

  • blet

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF