dévorer

Forms

dévorer^[1] Old French devurer, devourer.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēvorō (“to swallow, gulp down, devour”),^[2][4][1] an intensive of vorō (“to eat greedily”) with dē-.^[4][5][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg see the modern form as a remaking after the Latin of Old French devourer, and note that neither its form nor its sense shows whether the word is popular or taken from the written language.^[3] The adjective vorace goes back to the same Latin verb.^[4][5]

Cognate with Italian divorare, Spanish devorar and Old Occitan devorar.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as devurer in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1135), of an animal swallowing greedily.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb was first used of beasts eating their prey,^[4] and in Old French it could also mean to tear to pieces or, figuratively, to curse.^[4] The sense “to swallow up, annihilate” appears in the first half of the 12th century in the Oxford Psalter.^[2][4]

Since the 16th century one dévore a book or an author, reading it eagerly.^[4][8] The classical language added psychological senses: to take in eagerly (1662, Molière's L'École des femmes) and to torment.^[2][4] The participle dévorant is found as an adjective from about 1340, of hunger about 1765, and in La Fontaine's soucis dévorants (1685).^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1121–1135 – Devurer in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[2]
• early 12th century – The participle devuranz in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2]
• first half of 12th century – “To swallow up, annihilate” in the Oxford Psalter.^[2][4]
• c. 1250 – The derivative devourable.^[4][2]
• 1549 – Used for reading greedily.^[8]
• 1662 – Molière's dévorer ces leçons.^[2][9]
• 1685 – La Fontaine's soucis dévorants.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a beast of prey: to eat, tearing with the teeth, to devour: le loup dévore la brebis (the wolf devours the ewe).^[8][2]
2. To eat completely, to destroy by gnawing; by exaggeration, of insects, to bite all over.^[8][2]
3. Of people: to eat greedily.^[8][6]
4. (figurative) To read eagerly: dévorer un roman (to devour a novel).^[8][9]
5. (figurative) To consume, destroy: of fire, time, or a fortune squandered.^[6][2]
6. (figurative) To torment: être dévoré de remords (to be eaten up with remorse).^[4][2]

Word family

• dévorant
• dévorable
• dévoreur
• entre-dévorer

Related words

• vorace
• Latin dēvorō

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 n o p 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 60b
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF