exagérer

Forms

exagérer^[1] Spelled exaggérer in the 16th century, exagérer from the 17th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exaggerō (“to heap up, increase, amplify”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin verb is formed from ex- and aggerō (“to heap up, accumulate”), itself from agger (“material heaped up, mound of earth, rampart”), a mainly military and rural word of obscure origin.^[5][7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Georges de Selve's translation of Plutarch's Pericles, written before 1542 and printed in 1547;^[4][6][7][2] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert date it to 1535.^[4][6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

French took over the figurative senses of the Latin verb.^[5] From the first records it meant to present something as larger or more important than it is.^[5] In the 16th and 17th centuries it could also mean simply to praise or set off something (exagérer quelque chose à quelqu'un), or to overrate someone; these constructions are now out of use, and the modern sense prevailed in the 17th century.^[5][6][3]

At the end of the 17th century it came to mean to accentuate beyond the usual norms, as of a gesture or the forms of a figure in painting and sculpture, with the reflexive from 1656.^[5][2][3] Used absolutely, from the early 19th century, it means to go too far, to take liberties.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1542 – Georges de Selve uses it in his Pericles.^[4]
• 1549 – The noun exagération is borrowed.^[6][5]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it in the sense “to make more of something than it is”.^[2][3]
• 1656 – The reflexive is recorded.^[5]
• late 17th century – It is used of accentuating a feature beyond the norm.^[5][2]
• early 19th century – Used absolutely for “to go too far”.^[5]
• 1805 – The adverb exagérément is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To exaggerate, to present something as bigger or more important than it really is: il exagère toujours la longueur du trajet.^[8][4][9]
2. S'exagérer quelque chose: to overrate something in one's own mind.^[4][3]
3. (absolute) To overstate things; to go too far, to overdo it: tu exagères !.^[8][1][5]
4. (dated or literary) To accentuate or enlarge beyond the norm, as of features in painting or sculpture.^[8][3]

Word family

• exagéré
• exagérément

Related words

• exagération
• exagérateur
• Latin exaggerō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c 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)