dévaster

Forms

dévaster^[1] The first record has the form devastar;^[2][3] devaster appears in 1499.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēvastō (“to lay waste, ravage”), borrowed at several different times.^[2][3][4] The Latin verb is formed from dē- and vastō (“to make empty, lay waste”), from vastus (“empty, desolate”), the source of vaste.^[3][5][6]

The word is found once at the end of the 10th century and again in 1499, and only spread after the Académie took it in 1718, helped by the noun dévastation.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date it instead to 1339 and note that it is missing in the 17th century.^[7] Littré held that the inherited outcome of the Latin verb was the Old French degaster, and that the modern verb was modelled on the Latin.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as devastar in the Vie de saint Léger at the end of the 10th century, meaning “to ravage (a country)”.^[2][3] The GLLF cites an early 14th-century pronominal use meaning “to spill over”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

After its isolated medieval records, the verb was taken up again in the 18th century, when it settled into the concrete sense of ravaging a land and its riches.^[3][2] From the late 1790s it was also used of passions and other forces that bring ruin to a person or a domain: the GLLF cites Mme de Staël in 1796, the TLFi and Rey Chateaubriand in 1802.^[6][2][3]

The related nouns took hold equally slowly: dévastation, from Late Latin, is found in the 14th century and in 1502 but is rare before 1690, and dévastateur is recorded in 1581.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Devastar “ravage” appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[2][3]
• 1339 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the word.^[7]
• 1499 – Jean d'Auton writes devaster.^[2][6]
• 1718 – The Académie records the verb, which then spreads.^[2][3]
• 1796 – Mme de Staël uses it figuratively.^[6]
• 1802 – Chateaubriand uses it of the passions in René.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To devastate, ravage: to ruin (a country, a place) by destroying it thoroughly: La tempête a dévasté les vignes.^[9][2][1]
2. (figurative) To bring ruin and desolation to (a person, a mind, a life).^[2][6][9]

Related words

• dévastation
• dévastateur
• vaste
• Latin devasto

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 59b
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert