crever

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʁə.ve/^[1]

Forms

crever^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French crever, inherited from Latin crepō (“to rattle, crack, burst”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin verb belongs to an expressive group built on the sound “kr-”, as in Ancient Greek κράζω (krázō, “to cry”); it was said of anything that splits or bursts noisily, and in late popular Latin of living beings that die.^[3][7] The idea of noise has disappeared in French but survives in crépiter, from the frequentative.^[3][7]

Cognate with Romanian crăpa, Italian crepare, Occitan crebar, Catalan crebar, Spanish quebrar (“to break”) and Portuguese quebrar; the familiar sense “to die” is shared with the Italian and Romanian words.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (late 10th century) has lis ols crever, to put out his eyes.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

Wace uses it intransitively for dying (1130–1140) and for bursting (1155), and transitively for killing (1160–1170).^[2][3] In Old French crever of a person only implied a violent death; it became familiar in the 17th century while still poetic, and since the early 19th century it is pejorative and aggressive, as in crever la paillasse à qqn (1808).^[3] Until the 17th century the dawn could crever, break: L'aube creva, si prist à ajourner.^[3][9]

Crever d'ire “to burst with anger” is in Gautier de Coinci (about 1223) and crever d'en rire in d'Aubigné (before 1630), now felt as “to die laughing”.^[2][3] Faire crever un cheval dates from 1613, se crever “to wear oneself out” from 1680, crevant “exhausting” from 1876 and “hilarious” from 1880; a petit crevé was a dandy (1867).^[2] Crever les yeux “to be obvious” and the puncture of a tyre are modern uses.^[8][7]

Timeline

• late 10th century – Lis ols crever, Vie de saint Léger.^[2]
• 1130–1140 – “To die”, Wace.^[2]
• 1155 – “To burst”, Wace.^[2]
• c. 1223 – D'ire crever, Gautier de Coinci.^[2]
• 1554 – “To stuff with food”, Calvin.^[2]
• 1680 – Se crever “to wear oneself out”, Richelet.^[2]
• 1808 – Crever la paillasse à qqn.^[3]
• 1880 – Crevant “hilarious”, Zola.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To burst, split open: le ballon a crevé, un abcès qui crève; to have a puncture.^[7][1]
2. (transitive) To burst, puncture: crever un pneu, crever les yeux, to be glaringly obvious.^[8][1]
3. (familiar) To die (of animals; vulgarly of people): crever de faim, crever de rire.^[3][1]
4. (familiar) To wear out, exhaust: ce travail me crève, se crever, to work oneself to death.^[2][1]
5. Crever de…: to be bursting with: crever d'envie, de jalousie.^[7][2]
6. (slang) Crever la dalle: to be starving.^[1]

Word family

• crevaison
• crevant
• crevasse
• crève-cœur
• increvable

Related words

• crépiter
• décrépit
• Latin crepō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1316b
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette