empêtrer

Forms

empêtrer^[1] Old French empaistrier (12th century); empestrer from about 1460 (Villon), empêtrer from the 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French empaistrier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *impastōriō (“to put a hobble on”), derived from Medieval Latin pastōria, recorded in 643 for the rope that held a grazing horse.^[5][4][2] That noun is from Latin pāstus (“pasture”),^[5][4] itself from pāscō (“to graze, pasture”).^[4][3] Old and Middle French also had empasturer (about 1200), formed on pasture, which the TLFi and Rey keep apart.^[5][4] Littré rejects an old explanation from Latin petra (“stone”), as if “in stone”, though he thinks it may lie behind the separate form empietrer, which was mixed up with empestrer.^[6]

Compare Italian impastoiare and pastoia (“hobble”), and Old Occitan empastrar (“to block”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, in a figurative sense, “to put someone in difficulty”: so many prisoners that the victors would have been enpaistrié (burdened) with lodging and guarding a third or half of them.^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to put in a difficult position” came first and is still in use.^[4] In the 14th century the verb took the sense of its Latin source, “to hobble an animal, tie it up” (Ovide moralisé, 1316–1328), now only regional.^[5][4] From it came the modern sense “to catch the feet or legs in something that holds them back”, from the mid-16th century, common in the pronominal s'empêtrer dans, both literally (before 1559, Du Bellay) and figuratively (1580).^[4][3]

Littré notes that in the 17th century the word was written empestrer and that some still sounded the ⟨s⟩.^[6] The derivative empêtrement “hindrance” is recorded in 1242 and was taken up again in the 19th century; it is rare.^[5][4]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Enpaistrié appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[5][6]
• 1242 – First record of empêtrement.^[5]
• 1316–1328 – The Ovide moralisé uses it for hobbling an animal.^[5]
• c. 1460 – Villon writes empestrer.^[3]
• Before 1559 – Du Bellay uses the sense “to entangle the feet”.^[3][4]
• 1580 – S'empêtrer is used figuratively.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To entangle someone's feet or legs in something that holds them back; reflexive s'empêtrer, to get tangled up: il s'est empêtré dans les ronces.^[7][8][9]
2. (figurative) To involve someone in a difficult or awkward situation; reflexive, to get bogged down.^[7][9][1]
3. (dated or regional) To hobble an animal so that it stays in its pasture.^[5][3]

Word family

• empêtrement

Related words

• dépêtrer
• paître
• paturon
• Latin pāscō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)