expirer

Forms

expirer^[1] Old French espirer, soon replaced by expirer.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman expirer is recorded from 1267.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exspīrō (“to breathe out, exhale, breathe one's last”),^[2][3][1] formed from ex- and spīrō (“to blow, breathe”), a word of the same family as spīritus.^[3][6] The first French form, espirer, soon gave way to the present form because it was confused with its homonym meaning “to blow, breathe”, which came from the same Latin verb.^[2][3][4] The same confusion is found in Old Occitan, where Old Occitan espirar meant both “to breathe” and “to expire”.^[4][3] Cognate with Portuguese expirar and Italian spirare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cambridge Psalter, in the first half of the 12th century, espirer is intransitive and means “to breathe”; about 1176 Chrétien de Troyes uses it transitively for breathing out the soul.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 12th century the verb is used intransitively in its usual sense “to die”, the soul being likened to the breath that leaves the chest.^[2][3][7] In 1330 Digulleville uses it for something with a fixed duration that comes to an end, the sense of a lease or a mandate that expires.^[2][3] The physiological sense “to breathe air out of the lungs”, the opposite of inspirer, is first recorded in 1700, in a memoir of the Académie des sciences.^[2][3]

The noun expiration, rare before the 18th century, followed the same senses, with “cessation” in the 17th century.^[4] English expire comes from Old French and is first recorded about 1400 in the sense “to die”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1100–1150 – Espirer “to breathe” in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1176 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for breathing out the soul in Cligès.^[2]
• Late 12th century – First used intransitively for “to die”.^[2][3]
• 1267 – Anglo-Norman espirer is recorded.^[5]
• 1330 – First used of something that comes to an end.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – English expire “to die” is recorded.^[8]
• 1667 – Racine uses the adjective expirant.^[3]
• 1700 – The physiological sense “to breathe out” appears.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To exhale, to breathe out (air, a gas) from the lungs; also used without an object.^[9][10][2]
2. (intransitive, literary) To breathe one's last, to die.^[9][10]
3. (intransitive) Of something with a fixed term, to come to an end, to expire: Le contrat expire en juin.^[9][7][1]
4. (figurative) To die away, to fade.^[7][9]

Word family

• expirateur

Related words

• expiration
• inspirer
• respirer
• esprit
• Latin exspīrō
• English expire

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)