blessure

Forms

blessure f (plural blessures)^[1] Old French blescëure (12th century) and bleceure (13th century).^[2][3] The form blessure is found from the 14th century.^[4][2] In the 13th and 14th centuries blesseure had four syllables; in the 16th century Théodore de Bèze noted that good speakers already said blessure.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French blesser + -ure, from the stem of the verb.^[2][4][5] The verb, Old French blecier, goes back to a Gallo-Romance form of Frankish *blettjan (“to bruise”), derived from a noun or adjective also seen in Old High German bleizza (“bruise, livid mark”) and Old English blāt (“pale, livid”).^[5][6] The original sense “to bruise” survives in blet, said of overripe fruit.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as blescëure in the middle of the 12th century, in Wace's Vie de saint Nicolas, for a wound made by a blow;^[2][6] the GLLF and the Grand Robert date it to 1138, in the Vie de saint Gilles.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

From the physical wound the word passed by metaphor to a moral hurt (14th century, Guillaume de Machaut)^[2][6] and, in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538, to a hurt done to one's self-esteem.^[2][6] It also displaced the older blessement, which had meant a physical wound since 1394 and fell out of use in the 17th century.^[6]

The phrase rouvrir une blessure, first said of a wound that had begun to heal, is now mostly used of reviving an old grief.^[7][3] The word is also used of damage done to a tree or other thing.^[7]

Timeline

• 1138 – Blescëure in the Vie de saint Gilles.^[7][4]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses it for a wound from a blow.^[2][6]
• 13th century – Beaumanoir writes bleceure.^[3]
• 14th century – The spelling blessure appears, and Machaut uses the word in a figurative sense.^[2][4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records it for a wound to one's self-esteem.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wound or injury caused by a blow, a cut, a burn or a weapon: une blessure à la jambe.^[8][2][1]
2. The place on the body where one has been wounded.^[7]
3. The fact of being wounded: peu avant sa blessure.^[7]
4. Damage done to a thing, such as a cut in a tree.^[7]
5. (figurative) A moral hurt, an offence to someone's feelings or pride: une blessure d'amour-propre.^[8][2][3]

Related words

• blesser
• blet

Usage notes

Set phrases include coups et blessures and panser ses blessures.^[1]

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 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
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert