combattre

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔ̃.batʁ/^[1]

Forms

combattre^[1] Old French cumbatre, combatre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cumbatre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *combattō, an alteration of Late Latin combattuō (“to fight with”) (6th century), formed from cum (“with”) and battuō (“to beat”), the source of battre.^[3][2][4][5] Wiktionary adds that the Latin verb is of Gaulish origin.^[1] Cognate with Old Occitan combatre, Spanish combatir and Italian combattere.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) soi cumbatre a means to fight against someone: Puis m'en cumbatre a Charle e a Franceis.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb was intransitive, often in the pronominal form; it became transitive in the 15th and 16th centuries (combatre qqn, late 14th century).^[6][3][2] Since the 17th century it has had figurative values: to measure oneself against someone, as in Corneille's Rodrigue dans mon cœur combat encor mon père (1636), and to fight against a thing (1636, Monet).^[3][2] The sense “to vie with someone” (combattre de politesse, 1740) is obsolete, but other metaphors have widened its use, as in combattre l'inflation.^[2][3] Derivatives are combattant (1080 in the DHLF, 1472 in Bloch and Wartburg) and combat (1530).^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cumbatre in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• Late 14th century – Transitive combatre qqn.^[3]
• 1530 – The noun combat.^[7]
• 1636 – Corneille: to struggle against, Monet: to fight a thing.^[3]
• 1740 – The Académie: to vie with someone.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fight (an enemy, an opponent); to wage war on: combattre l'ennemi.^[8][1]
2. (intransitive) To fight, take part in a battle: combattre pour la liberté.^[8][3]
3. To oppose, struggle against (an idea, a person): combattre une hérésie.^[8][1]
4. To try to stop or overcome (an evil, a phenomenon): combattre un incendie, combattre la maladie.^[8][2]
5. Combattre le mal par le mal: to fight fire with fire.^[1]

Word family

• combat
• combattant
• combativité
• combatif

Related words

• battre
• Late Latin combattuō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 936a
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert