imboire

Forms

imboire (transitive verb, conjugated like boire)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French emboire, an older verb, remodelled after its participle imbu.^[2][1][3][4] That participle is embu, the past participle of the old verb, reshaped after Latin imbūtus (“soaked, imbued”), the past participle of imbuō.^[2][5] The old verb goes back to Latin imbibō (“to drink in, absorb”), formed from in- and bibō (“to drink”).^[2][6] Bloch and Wartburg describe the remodelled verb as very rare and already out of use.^[5]

Littré instead derived it from en- and boire, and thought the participle might be partly confused with the Latin participle.^[7] He noted that the 13th-century embeü still belonged to the old verb, not to the Latin word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is from Amyot in 1572, in the reflexive sense “to become steeped in”.^[2][1][4]

Semantic evolution

Littré quotes Montaigne using the verb of a pupil who should absorb the temperaments of his masters rather than learn their precepts.^[7] The pronominal s'imboire de “to become imbued with” is also found in Rousseau, in 1762.^[3] From 1845 it was also used in technical language as a synonym of emboire.^[4]

In the 19th and 20th centuries it remained a literary word for imbuing someone with an influence, an idea or an author's work, mostly through its participle imbu, and rarely in the concrete sense of absorbing a liquid.^[2][4] The GLLF and the TLFi label it old or literary.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 13th century – Embeü, the participle of emboire, is used figuratively in Floire et Blancheflor.^[7]
• 1572 – Amyot uses imboire in the sense “to become steeped in”.^[2][4]
• 1762 – The pronominal s'imboire appears in Rousseau.^[3]
• 1845 – It is used as a technical synonym of emboire.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (technical) To emboire.^[1][2]
2. (rare) To absorb a liquid: la terre imboit la pluie.^[2]
3. (figurative, literary) To imbue someone with an idea, a feeling or an influence: ses maîtres l'ont imbu de leurs principes.^[2][1][7]
4. (pronominal) s'imboire de: to become imbu with something, such as prejudices or ideas.^[3][1][7]

Related words

• emboire
• imbu
• embu
• boire
• imbiber
• Latin imbibō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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. 4, 568b
7. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette