ensuivre

Forms

ensuivre (defective)^[1] Old French ensurre, ensieure and ensievre in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2] It is defective: only the infinitive and the third persons of each tense are used.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *insequere, from Latin īnsequor (“to come right after, follow”), with a development parallel to that of suivre.^[2][4] The ending of the Latin verb was remade after the French one;^[5][6] the Latin verb is formed with in- on sequor (“to follow”).^[5]

The GLLF instead analyses the reflexive verb as en, the adverbial pronoun of place, with the simple verb.^[7] Littré separated the senses: in the sense of following or pursuing the word continues the Latin verb, while in the sense of resulting it would be the pronoun from Latin inde (“thence”) with the simple verb.^[8]

Cognate with Italian inseguire, Old Occitan enseguir and Catalan enseguir.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, as an intransitive verb meaning “to follow, come after”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The reflexive soi ensuivre (1323) took over the sense “come after”, which survives in the familiar et tout ce qui s’ensuit “and all the rest”.^[5][7] From the 13th century s’ensuivre meant “to follow as a consequence, result”, above all in the impersonal il s’ensuit que (about 1240) and in jusqu’à ce que mort s’ensuive “until death follows”.^[5]

As a transitive verb ensuivre had several of the senses of suivre: “to imitate, conform to” (about 1190), “to obey a law” (late 13th century), still given as a legal sense by Trévoux in 1771, and “to pursue, harass” (1262), last recorded by Oudin in 1660 and gone by the end of the 17th century.^[5] Littré still listed “pursue” as a term of old legal procedure.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses ensurre, ensieure and ensievre for “follow”.^[2]
• c. 1190 – It is used for “imitate, conform to”.^[5]
• c. 1240 – First record of the impersonal il s’ensuit que.^[5]
• 1262 – It is used for “pursue, harass”.^[5]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun writes il s’ensieut.^[7]
• 1323 – The reflexive soi ensuivre is recorded.^[5][7]
• c. 1361 – Oresme writes il s’ensuit.^[7]
• 1440 – The spelling s’ensuivre is found.^[7]
• 1660 – Oudin still records “pursue”, which dies out by the end of the century.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, literary) To follow, come after in time: la fête qui s’ensuivit.^[2][1]
2. Et tout ce qui s’ensuit: and everything that goes with it, and all the rest.^[3][5]
3. (literary) To ensue, result as a natural effect or a logical consequence; impersonally il s’ensuit que “it follows that”: Il s’ensuit que le projet est abandonné.^[3][2]
4. Jusqu’à ce que mort s’ensuive: until death follows, until the condemned person dies.^[3][5]

Related words

• suivre
• Latin īnsequor

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert 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. 4, 710b
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter