gercer

Forms

gercer^[1] Old French jarser (late 12th century), then gerser (mid-14th century, Machaut); Palsgrave writes garscher in 1530, and the spelling gercer dates from 1690 (Furetière).^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][3] It is inherited from Old French jarser, probably inherited from Late Latin charaxō (“to cut, incise”), more often written caraxō (“to scratch, furrow, tear”),^[4][3][5][6] from Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō, “to make a notch”), itself from χάραξ (khárax, “stake”).^[3][2] The TLFi notes that this etymon is difficult phonetically, but it may have become *garassō and then, by dissimilation and loss of the inner pretonic vowel, *garsō.^[4][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg think the borrowing took place in medical circles, the sense “to scarify” being attested in the Greek compound ἐγχαράσσω (enkharássō).^[5][3]

Diez proposed instead *carptiō, from carpō (“to pluck”);^[7][1] Littré preferred the Late Latin verb, through Medieval Latin garsa (“scarification”).^[7] Galician sarxar and Spanish sajar are borrowed from Old French.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the first quarter of the 13th century Reclus de Molliens uses it reflexively for “to prick, to hurt oneself”; the sense “to scarify” follows in the second half of the century.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French jarser meant “to wound, to damage”;^[3] the sense “to scarify” gave way to scarifier before the 16th century and survives in Walloon garsi “to cup”.^[4][5][3] The modern sense, of cold or wind making small cracks in the skin, is recorded from 1530 in Palsgrave, perhaps as an extension of “to cut, damage”.^[4][3][2]

The noun gerce first named a lancet (13th century), then a moth that eats cloth and paper (1607), from the sense “to damage”, and a crack in wood (1777), from the modern sense;^[3][5] gerçure meant “scarification” (1375–1379) before it named a chap.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – Reflexive use in Reclus de Molliens.^[4]
• Late 13th century – Used for “to scarify”.^[4][3]
• 1375–1379 – The noun gerçure appears.^[3][5]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the modern sense, of wind chapping the lips.^[4][7]
• 1690 – Furetière spells it gercer.^[3][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To chap, to make small cracks in the skin, of cold, wind or dryness: le vent du nord gerce les mains.^[8][4]
2. (transitive) By extension, to crack the surface of the earth, wood or a coating.^[4][7][2]
3. (intransitive, reflexive) To become chapped: ses lèvres se gercent l'hiver.^[8][7][1]

Word family

• gerce
• gerçure

Related words

• caractère
• Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 2, 625b
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert