Etymologically
Log in

guérir

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 03:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

guérir[1] Old French guarir, garir;[2][3] guerir is a Champagne form of the late 13th century, and garir and guérir lived side by side until the 17th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French guarir, borrowed from Frankish *warjan (“to defend, protect”),[2][3][4] restored from Old High German werian (German wehren (“to defend”)).[2][3] Wiktionary takes the Frankish verb from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, guard”) and compares Old English werian.[1] The modern form is a regional variant, first found in Champagne in 1288.[2][3]

Cognate with Old Occitan guerir, Occitan garir, Spanish guarir and Italian guarire.[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first record, the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050), guarir means “to protect, keep safe”.[2][3][6] In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is used both for saving and for recovering: Deus le guarit qu'al cors ne l'a toché (“God saved him, so that it did not touch his body”).[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Used intransitively, the verb came to mean “to recover one's health” (about 1100), and by extension, of a wound, “to heal over” (1176–1181).[2][3] The transitive “to restore to health” follows about 1130 in Wace, and the pronominal soi garir in 1210–1225.[2] The figurative sense “to be relieved of a moral ill” dates from the late 12th century, transitively from 1564.[3][6]

In the 17th century La Mothe Le Vayer still defended guarir, but Vaugelas noted that guérir had prevailed.[5] The derivative guérison followed the same path, from “protection” (1080) to “cure” (1155).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Guarir “to protect” in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1100 – “To recover one's health”, in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1130–1140 – Wace uses it transitively, “to restore to health”.[2]
  • 1176–1181 – Said of a wound healing.[2]
  • 1288 – The form guerir in Champagne.[2]
  • 1564 – Used transitively for curing a moral ill.[3][6]
  • 17th century – Guérir finally replaces garir.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To cure, heal: to rid someone of an illness, or to make an illness go away.[6][1]
  2. (transitive, figurative) To cure someone of a moral ill, a habit or a feeling.[6][1]
  3. (intransitive or pronominal) To recover; of a wound, to heal.[1][2]

Word family

  • guérison
  • guérissable
  • inguérissable
  • guérisseur

Usage notes

The proverb mieux vaut prévenir que guérir corresponds to English “prevention is better than cure”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 527a
  5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse