fuir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fɥiʁ/^[1]

Forms

fuir^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fugire, a 3rd-century change of conjugation of classical fugere (“to flee; to be exiled”).^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} The Latin verb goes back to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to flee”), also in Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō).^[3][7][1]

Cognate with Romanian fugi, Italian fuggire, Occitan fugir, Catalan fugir, Spanish huir and Portuguese fugir.^[7][8] In the dialects of Franche-Comté and Lyon it came to mean “to run”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Séquence de sainte Eulalie (late 9th century) uses it transitively, “to shun, renounce”: the pagans urge Eulalia qued elle fuiet lo nom christiien “that she should forsake the Christian name”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is intransitive, “to run away from danger”: Nostre Franceis n'ont talent de fuïr “our Frenchmen have no wish to flee”.^[2][9] Chrétien de Troyes (1176–1181) uses it for giving way under pressure, as the ground does underfoot.^[2][3]

Robert Estienne (1538, 1549) records “to escape someone's mind” and “to shirk”; from Corneille (1640) passing time fuit, and, from 1704 lines in a picture recede in perspective.^[2][3] The Académie (1762) has it of a vessel that leaks, and, from 1872 of the liquid escaping.^[2][3] The noun fuite (about 1190) was remade after suite from Old French fuie.^[3][5]

Timeline

• late 9th century – Transitive fuiet, Séquence de sainte Eulalie.^[2]
• c. 1100 – Intransitive “to flee”, Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 1176–1181 – To give way, Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 1538 – To escape the memory, Robert Estienne.^[2]
• 1640 – Un jour qui fuit, Corneille.^[2]
• 1704 – To recede in perspective.^[2]
• 1762 – Ce vase fuit, Académie.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To flee, run away: fuir devant le danger, faire fuir qqn.^[7][1]
2. To shun, avoid: fuir le monde, fuir comme la peste.^[1][2]
3. To pass quickly, slip away (of time); to recede (in perspective).^[2][3]
4. To leak: le robinet fuit.^[2][1]
5. (literary) To escape someone: le sommeil me fuit.^[3]

Word family

• fuite
• fuyard
• faux-fuyant
• enfuir

Related words

• fugace
• fugitif
• fugue
• fuguer
• fuie
• refuge
• Latin fugiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c 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, 836b
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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