entrevoir

Forms

entrevoir^[1] Old French entrevedeir, later entreveeir and entreveoir;^[2][3] entrevoir is a remaking after voir from about 1190.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French entre- + voir, first with the reciprocal sense of the prefix.^[4][5][3][6] Wiktionary instead traces it to a Vulgar Latin *intervideō.^[1] The verb voir is from Latin videō (“to see”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), meaning “to see each other”: Bien s'entreveient en mi la plaine terre.^[4][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Reflexive s'entrevoir meant “to visit each other” from about 1190, a sense still recorded in 1798, and “to have a meeting” at the end of the 15th century; from it came entrevoir quelqu'un “to go and see someone” and “to visit a sick person”, uses that have gone, though the noun entrevue (1498) kept the idea of a meeting.^[2][7]

The sense “to see imperfectly” appears in the second half of the 13th century, “to see briefly, in passing” in 1504.^[4][2] From the half-seen image came the figurative “to have a vague idea of, foresee”, recorded in Racine in 1670.^[5][2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – S'entreveient “they see each other” in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][7]
• c. 1190 – The form entrevoir replaces entreveeir;^[2] s'entrevoir means “to visit each other”.^[2]
• 2nd half of the 13th century – First record of the sense “to see dimly”.^[4]
• 1498 – The noun entrevue appears.^[6][2]
• 1504 – The sense “to see in passing” appears.^[2]
• 1670 – Racine uses it for “to foresee, glimpse in the mind”.^[5][8]
• 1900 – Mirbeau uses the derivative entrevision.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To see dimly or only half, as through a screen: on entrevoyait un clocher dans la brume.^[4][8][9]
2. To glimpse, see only for a moment: je n'ai fait que l'entrevoir à la gare.^[8][7]
3. (figurative) To have a vague idea of something present or to come, to foresee or guess: entrevoir une solution.^[8][5][10]
4. (obsolete, reflexive) S'entrevoir: to visit each other, to meet briefly.^[7][2]

Word family

• entrevue
• entrevision

Related words

• voir
• entrapercevoir
• Latin videō

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)