froisser

Forms

froisser^[1] Old French fruissier and froissier.^[2][3] The form with ⟨oi⟩ replaced fruisser in the 13th century.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fruissier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *frustiāre (“to break into pieces”), a derivative of frustum (“piece, fragment”).^{[5][6][3][7][1]} The older form with ⟨ui⟩ was remade with ⟨oi⟩ in the 13th century.^[3][4] Rey thinks that the Latin noun, said mostly of pieces of food, is of Indo-European origin, comparing Irish bruid (“breaks”) and words in Slavic.^[3]

Outside French, Bloch and Wartburg and Meyer-Lübke cite Italian frusciare (“to rub, to bother”) and the Sursilvan furschar (“to clean, to scrub”);^[7][8] Meyer-Lübke finds the shift from “cut into pieces” to “rub” unclear.^[8] Littré adds dialect forms such as Walloon frohî.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) fruisser means “to shatter, break into pieces”: Fruisset l'acer e la teste e les os “he breaks the steel and the head and the bones”.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Through the Middle Ages the dominant sense was “to break into small pieces”, which led to “to strike, beat (someone)” (about 1165) and then “to bruise, injure by a blow” (1319–1322).^[5][3][7] Weakened further, it came to mean “to bruise by a violent blow” (about 1360, in Froissart) and, in modern use, “to bruise by pressure”, as in se froisser un muscle (1651).^[2][3]

From about 1460 it was said of cloth and paper, “to crease, crumple”, deforming without tearing.^[5][3] The figurative sense “to offend, hurt the feelings of” (1829, Boiste) is a metaphor drawn from this crumpling, not from the Old French figurative sense “to defeat, overcome” (Chrétien de Troyes, 1176–1181).^[5][3] Bloch and Wartburg date a moral sense to the end of the 17th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Fruisser “to shatter” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1165 – Used for “to strike, beat (someone)”.^[5][3]
• 1176–1181 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it figuratively for “to defeat, overcome”.^[5]
• 13th century – The form froisser replaces fruisser.^[3]
• 1319–1322 – Renart le Contrefait has it for “to bruise, injure”.^[5]
• c. 1360 – Froissart uses it for “to bruise by a violent blow”.^[2]
• 1456–1467 – The Cent Nouvelles nouvelles use it of crumpling paper or cloth.^[5]
• 1651 – Scarron uses it for “to bruise by pressure”.^[2]
• 1829 – Boiste records the sense “to offend”.^[5][2]
• 1911 – The prefixed verb défroisser is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete) To break, shatter.^[10][2]
2. To bruise by a blow or by violent pressure, especially in se froisser un muscle.^[10][3]
3. To damage something soft by pressing or rubbing, to crush: tôle froissée, crumpled car bodywork.^[10][11]
4. To crumple or crease fabric or paper: elle froissa la lettre.^[10][12][1]
5. (figurative) To offend, hurt someone's feelings or pride.^[9][1]
6. (pronominal) Se froisser: to take offence; of a fabric, to crease.^[1][10]

Word family

• froissement
• froissis
• défroisser
• froissure
• froissable
• infroissable
• froissant

Related words

• Latin frustum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 831a
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)