effondrer

Forms

effondrer^[1] Old French esfondrer and esfundrer.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French esfondrer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *exfunderō (“to break the bottom of”), formed with ex- on Latin fundus (“bottom”).^[2][4][5][6] The ⟨r⟩ reflects a Late Latin inflection of the noun with stems in ⟨-er-⟩ and ⟨-or-⟩, and a popular plural *fundora.^[2][7] The GLLF instead forms the verb in Gallo-Romance from the prefix es- and that plural,^[3] and Littré, who derives it from the same prefix and fond, took the ⟨r⟩ for an inserted sound, as the Occitan form esfondar has none.^[8]

Cognate with Catalan esfondrar and esfondrar.^[5][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as esfondrer in the Roman de Thèbes (about 1150), meaning “to break in, smash”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the Latin sense of breaking in, then became a cooking term for gutting an animal (1379).^[4][2] The pronominal s'effondrer “to collapse” is recorded in 1690, and in agriculture effondrer meant to dig the soil deeply (1704).^[4][2]

In the mid-19th century it took the figurative sense “to crush, dishearten” (Balzac, 1846), now more common in the pronominal, said of things that vanish (1856) and of people who break down (1862).^[4][2] From there came “to fall sharply” of prices and markets (1886, Zola), a sudden failure in sport (1901) and “to fall dead or wounded” (1915).^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Esfondrer “to break in” appears in the Roman de Thèbes.^[2]
• 1379 – Jean de Brie uses it for gutting animals.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records s'effondrer “to collapse”.^[2]
• 1704 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the farming sense.^[2]
• 1846 – Balzac uses it for crushing someone's spirit.^[2][4]
• 1862 – Hugo uses s'effondrer of a person who breaks down.^[2]
• 1886 – Zola uses it of falling prices.^[2]
• 1915 – It is used for falling dead or wounded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, rare) To break in, make collapse: effondrer une cloison.^[2][9]
2. (agriculture) To dig the soil deeply, mixing in manure.^[9][8]
3. (dated, cooking) To gut a fowl or animal.^[8][4]
4. S'effondrer: to collapse, cave in under weight or for lack of support: le toit s'est effondré.^[9][1]
5. S'effondrer: of a person, to fall heavily or to break down.^[9][2]
6. S'effondrer: of prices or a currency, to plunge.^[2][4]

Word family

• effondrement

Related words

• fond
• Latin fundus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 r s 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 875a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert