geler

Forms

geler^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French geler, inherited from Latin gelō (“to freeze”),^[2][1][3][4] which is formed on gelū (“frost”).^[4][5] Bloch and Wartburg note that it exists in all the Gallo-Romance dialects, and that the noun Late Latin gelata is already in the Reichenau Glosses.^[3]

Cognate with Italian gelare, Spanish helar, Portuguese gear, Catalan gelar and Old Occitan gelar.^[3][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1140 in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, used impersonally for the freezing weather: E si gelot e feseit freit “and it froze and was cold”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The transitive sense “to turn into ice, cover with ice” is found in Chrétien de Troyes (1174–1180), and the intransitive “to be damaged by frost”, of seeds and plants, in the Ménagier de Paris (about 1393).^[2][4] By exaggeration it came to mean “to feel very cold” (1567), as does se geler, and the familiar se les geler dates from the 1980s.^[2][4]

Figurative uses began with a cold, chilling welcome (1552), and avoir le bec gelé meant “to keep silent” (1611).^[2][4] Stendhal used it in 1805 for numbing the mind.^[2] In slang geler meant “to make drunk” and gelé “drunk” (1896).^[4] About 1930 it began to mean “to block an activity”, and then to freeze money or credit, a sense that the TLFi compares with English frozen credits (1921).^[4][2] In Quebec it also means “to numb”, as a tooth.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Gaimar uses it impersonally of freezing weather.^[2]
• c. 1174–1180 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it transitively, of frozen meadows.^[2]
• c. 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses it of seeds killed by frost.^[2]
• 1552 – Estienne records the sense of a cold, chilling welcome.^[2]
• 1567 – Amyot uses it for “to feel very cold”.^[2][4]
• 1611 – Avoir le bec gelé “to keep silent”.^[4]
• 1896 – Slang gelé “drunk”.^[4]
• c. 1930 – It begins to mean “to block an activity”.^[4]
• 1953 – Economic use for freezing credit is recorded.^[2]
• 1980s – Se les geler “to be freezing”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To freeze, turn into ice: le froid a gelé la rivière.^[8][5]
2. To harden by cold: le froid gèle la terre.^[8][5]
3. To damage or destroy by excessive cold: la gelée a gelé les fleurs.^[8][5]
4. To make very cold: ce courant d'air me gèle, also se geler and, familiar, se les geler.^[8][4]
5. (figurative) To block or suspend: geler les crédits, geler les prix.^[8][5]
6. (figurative) To make ill at ease, chill.^[8][5]
7. (intransitive) To turn to ice, and of plants or limbs, to be damaged by frost.^[8][9]
8. (intransitive) To be very cold: on gèle dans cette salle.^[8][9]
9. (intransitive, games) To be far from the answer: tu gèles.^[8]
10. (impersonal) Il gèle: it is freezing, also il gèle à pierre fendre, it is bitterly cold.^[8][1]
11. (Quebec) To numb, as a tooth.^[4]

Word family

• dégeler
• gelée
• dégel
• engelure
• regeler

Related words

• congeler
• gel
• gelure
• Latin gelū

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)