férir

Forms

férir (defective: used almost only in the infinitive and the past participle féru)^[1][2] Old French ferir; third person singular past firid in the Vie de saint Léger.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ferir, inherited from Latin feriō (“to strike”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Bloch and Wartburg suggest that the /e/ of the modern pronunciation may come from a crossing with fer.^[5] The Petit Robert's word-family note and the DHLF connect the Latin verb, like forō (“to pierce”), with the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to pierce”), also seen in English bore and German bohren.^[2][4]

Cognate with Italian ferire, Spanish herir, Catalan ferir, Portuguese ferir and Old Occitan ferir.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first found in the Vie de saint Léger in the second half of the 10th century, meaning “to strike”; the Chanson de Roland has De cops ferir, receveir et doner (“to strike, receive and give blows”).^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Férir was a common verb until the 16th century, when frapper replaced it;^[4][5] Bloch and Wartburg find a few traces in the 17th.^[4][5] At the end of the 12th century the Châtelain de Coucy used ferir au cuer, “to strike to the heart”, of making someone fall in love.^[3][4][8]

The verb survives in the phrase sans coup férir, at first “without a fight” (early 13th century) and now “without any difficulty”,^[4][3][2] and in the participle féru, “wounded” in the 11th century, then “smitten” (1433) and “keen on something” (1651).^[4][3] In veterinary use a nerf féru is a horse's struck tendon (1597).^[3]

Timeline

• Second half of the 10th century – Firid “struck” in the Vie de saint Léger.^[3][4]
• c. 1100 – Ferir in the Chanson de Roland.^[8][9]
• Late 12th century – Ferir au cuer “to make fall in love”.^[3][9]
• Early 13th century – Sans cop ferir in the prose Lancelot.^[3][4]
• 1433 – Féru “smitten”.^[3][4]
• 1651 – Scarron uses féru for “keen on something”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, literary) To strike, to hit.^[2][3][9]
2. Sans coup férir: formerly, without fighting; now, without meeting any resistance, effortlessly: l'équipe a gagné sans coup férir.^[2][3][8]

Word family

• féru

Related words

• frapper
• interférer
• forer
• Latin feriō

Usage notes

Old French also had s'entreferir “to exchange blows”, which passed into English as interfere and came back into French as interférer.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 465b
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse