exhausser

Forms

exhausser^[1] Old French eshalcier (1119), exalcier (early 12th century) and essaucier (about 1175).^[2][3] Middle French exaulcer (14th century); the spelling exhausser dates from the 17th century.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French es- + hausser; the prefix was later remade with ⟨ex⟩ after Latin exaltō (“to raise, exalt”).^[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg date this remaking to about the 15th century.^[5] The FEW files it under Vulgar Latin *exaltiō.^[6]

hausser goes back to *altiō, from altus (“high”), with the ⟨h⟩ of haut.^[5] Littré took the verb straight from that Latin verb and compared Old Occitan esalsar and Old Spanish exalzar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1119 as eshalciez in Philippe de Thaon's Comput, meaning “raised, given greater dignity”;^[2][8] early in the 12th century the Oxford Psalter has exalcier “to praise, glorify”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the verb mostly meant to raise in dignity, after Latin exaltare.^[5] From about 1174–1176 it also meant to hear a prayer or request favourably, by extension of the first sense or perhaps under the influence of Latin exaudiō (“to hear, grant”);^[8][5] with that sense it became a separate verb, exaucer,^[8] a spelling that specialised in the 16th century according to the Grand Robert and dates from the 17th according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[4][5] Littré still treated the two as one word written differently.^[7]

Exhausser kept the concrete sense of raising something higher, recorded in 1352–1355 for a chimney at Tournai.^[2][8] The figurative sense “to elevate, ennoble” survives only in literary use,^[8][9] and the derivative exhaussement likewise passed from “glorification” (1165) to its concrete architectural sense.^[8]

Timeline

• 1119 – Eshalciez “raised in dignity” appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]
• early 12th century – Exalcier “to glorify” is found in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1174–1176 – The verb is used for granting a request, the sense later kept by exaucer.^[8]
• 1352–1355 – A document from Tournai uses it for raising a chimney.^[2][8]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “to make higher”.^[3]
• 17th century – The spelling exhausser appears.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To increase the height of a construction, to make it higher: exhausser une grange d'un étage.^[9][10][2]
2. (figurative, literary) To elevate, ennoble.^[9][3]
3. (reflexive) s'exhausser: to become higher.^[7]

Word family

• exhaussement

Related words

• hausser
• exaucer
• rehausser
• surhausser
• haut
• Latin exaltō

Usage notes

Exhausser is a homophone of exaucer “to grant (a wish)”, which grew out of the same Old French verb.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 257a
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)