cesse

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɛs/^[1]

Forms

cesse f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French cesser.^[2][3][4][5] The verb continues Latin cessō (“to delay, be idle; to stop”), the frequentative of cēdō (“to go, withdraw”).^[5] Old French also had the nouns cessement and ces.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) has it in ne prendre cesse “to have no end”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ambroise's Guerre sainte (about 1199) has n'avoir ni fin ni cesse.^[2] Sans cesse “without stopping” is recorded about 1450, in the Mistère du Viel Testament.^[2] The 16th-century poets still used donner cesse à and prendre cesse “to come to an end”.^[6] Today the noun lives only without an article, in set phrases.^[7][2]

Timeline

• 1155 – Ne prendre cesse, in Wace.^[2]
• c. 1199 – N'avoir ni fin ni cesse, in Ambroise.^[2]
• c. 1450 – Sans cesse “without stopping”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Sans cesse: ceaselessly, continually: il me tourmente sans cesse.^[7][2]
2. N'avoir (pas, point) de cesse que (with the subjunctive): not to rest until.^[7][4]
3. (dated, literary) A stop, respite, in negative phrases: sans fin ni cesse, il n'a ni repos ni cesse.^[7][4][1]

Related words

• cesser
• incessant
• cessation
• Latin cessō

Usage notes

A separate regional word cesse, a kind of wild cherry in Normandy, continues Latin cerasus (“cherry”).^[8][9][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 601a
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF