confondre

Forms

confondre^[1] Old French cunfundre, confundre;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also confoundre.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French confondre, borrowed from Latin cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix; to throw into disorder; to confuse”),^[2][5][1][6] from con- and fundō (“to pour”) (the source of fondre).^[5][7] In Christian Latin it also meant “to silence in argument” and “to cover with shame”.^[2][5]

The sources differ on how it came in.^[2][8] The TLFi and Rey call it a borrowing;^[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg think the popular Latin of Gaul kept it with the sense “to destroy”, the main medieval one, while translators of the Bible took up “to cover with shame”.^[8] All agree that the sense “to mix” came only in the 16th century, which Rey treats as a fresh learned borrowing.^[5][8] Its history runs parallel to that of confusion.^[2][5]

Cognate with Occitan confondre, Spanish confundir and Italian confondere.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), spelled cunfundre, it means “to destroy, annihilate an enemy”: en cest païs nous est venuz cunfundre “he has come into this country to destroy us”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to destroy” is found only in the Middle Ages and died out by the 15th or 16th century.^[2][5] Figurative senses followed early: “to throw into disorder” (about 1160, Aiol), “to humiliate, cover with shame” (about 1170) and, in Jean de Meun, “to leave someone with nothing to answer” (about 1265).^[2] The psychological sense “to disconcert” was very much alive in the 17th century; today it survives mainly in confondre un coupable and se confondre en excuses.^[5]

Robert Estienne records “to blend together” in 1538, and Montaigne “to take one thing for another” about 1580; this sense, now the usual one, made the older ones sound archaic.^[2][5] The adjective confondant “astounding” is recorded in 1845.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cunfundre “to destroy”, in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1170 – “To humiliate”, in the Livre des Rois.^[2]
• c. 1265 – “To reduce to silence”, in Jean de Meun.^[2]
• 1538 – “To mix together”, in Robert Estienne.^[2]
• 1580–1592 – “To mistake one thing for another”, in Montaigne.^[2]
• 1845 – The adjective confondant.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To mix or merge things so that they can no longer be told apart.^[2][9]
2. To take one person or thing for another, to confuse: confondre deux sœurs jumelles, confondre le sel avec le sucre.^[2][1]
3. To astonish, dumbfound: son audace me confond.^[10][9]
4. (literary) To expose, unmask a guilty person: confondre un menteur.^[10][5]
5. (dated) To confound, thwart, que le ciel te confonde !^[10]
6. Se confondre: to merge, to coincide, se confondre en excuses, to apologise profusely.^[1][5]

Word family

• confondant

Related words

• confus
• confusion
• fondre
• Latin cōnfundō

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 l m n o p q 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1046a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert