frire

Forms

frire (defective)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French frire, inherited from Latin frīgō (“to roast, grill, fry”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin verb first meant “to dry by cooking”; it is an expressive word related to Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “to roast, parch”), and Rey links these forms with an Indo-European root,^[3][6][7] given by Wiktionary as Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.^[1] It is a homonym of the Latin verb frīgeō (“to be cold”), the family of froid.^[7]

Cognate with Romanian frige, Italian friggere, Catalan fregir, Occitan fregir, Spanish freír and Portuguese frigir.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1180, in the Proverbe au vilain.^[2][3] A line of Aliscans has frire un poisson, et un oisel torner “fry a fish and roast a bird”.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old French it was also used of a person burning or seething with desire or rage: se frit de lecherie in the Roman de Renart, feras ton cuer frire in the Roman de la Rose.^[6][9] It then narrowed to “to cook in boiling fat”, used intransitively from 1668.^[3]

Figuratively être frit meant “to be done for” (about 1460), like être cuit.^[2][3] Il n'y a rien à frire “there is nothing to eat, nothing to be had” is recorded from Furetière (1690).^[8][10][6] In 19th-century slang frire meant “to eat” and “to steal”.^[3] The past participle gave the noun frite (1842), short for pomme de terre frite (1808).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – First recorded, in the Proverbe au vilain.^[2][3]
• 1212 – Recorded in Anglo-Norman.^[9]
• c. 1460 – Estre frit “to be done for”.^[2][3]
• 1668 – First intransitive use.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records il n'y a rien à frire.^[8][10]
• 1808 – Stendhal writes pomme de terre frite.^[3]
• 1842 – The noun frite appears.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To fry: to cook in boiling fat or oil.^[7][11][2]
2. (intransitive) To cook in hot fat; usually faire frire: faire frire des pommes de terre.^[7][11]
3. (familiar, dated) Il n'y a rien à frire: there is nothing to eat, or nothing to be gained.^[6][8][2]

Word family

• friand
• frite
• friture
• friteuse

Related words

• friser
• Latin frīgō

Usage notes

The verb is defective: it has only the singular of the present indicative, the future, the conditional, the imperative, the past participle and the compound tenses; the other forms are supplied by faire frire.^[11][7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 789a
6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)