désister

Forms

désister^[1] Middle French desister.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēsistō (“to leave off, give up, cease”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin verb is formed from dē- and sistō (“to stop, to bring or appear before a court”), the reduplicated derivative of stō (“to stand”).^[5][7] Rey notes that French has many other compounds in -sister from the same verb, such as consister.^[5]

Cognate with Occitan desistir, Spanish desistir and Italian desistere.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the word to 1358,^[8][9] the year of a letter of Marcel, provost of Paris, quoted by Littré: ne voudrent desister des choses qu'ils faisoient “they would not give up the things they were doing”.^[2][7] It was first construed with de, meaning “to renounce something, to cease”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “to give up, cease” was common in Middle French: about 1398 the Ménagier de Paris advises que vous vous desistez de boire ou mangier à nuit “that you refrain from drinking or eating at night”.^[2][7] By the end of the 17th century only the pronominal se désister remained, and its general sense “to renounce, abandon” has since gone out of use.^[5][6]

The legal use, renouncing a suit or action already begun, is recorded from 1420 in the customs of Lille.^[3][5] By extension the verb came to be used of an election candidate who withdraws, a 20th-century sense according to the GLLF.^[5][7] Bloch and Wartburg describe the word as now only legal and political.^[6]

Timeline

• 1358 – A letter of Marcel, provost of Paris, uses desister de “to give up”.^[2][7]
• c. 1398 – The Ménagier de Paris uses the pronominal se desister de “to refrain from”.^[2][7]
• 1420 – First legal use, in the customs of Lille.^[3][5]
• before 1547 – The noun désistement is formed in legal language.^[5]
• late 17th century – Only the pronominal se désister remains in use.^[5]
• 20th century – It is used of a candidate withdrawing from an election.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law, pronominal) Se désister de: to withdraw or abandon a lawsuit, claim or appeal already begun: Le voisin s'est désisté de sa requête.^[3][9][2]
2. (pronominal) To withdraw one's candidacy, especially to stand down in an election, often en faveur de another candidate: Au second tour, la candidate s'est désistée en faveur de son allié.^[3][9]
3. (dated, literary) Se désister de or désister de: to give up, renounce or cease something.^[7][2][5]

Word family

• désistement

Related words

• consister
• résister
• persister
• insister
• Latin dēsistō

Usage notes

The verb is now used almost only in the pronominal form se désister, under which the dictionaries list it.^[5][3][9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 54a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert