languir

Forms

languir^[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include languyr, langwyr and launguir.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French languir, inherited from Late Latin languiō, an alteration of the classical verb Latin langueō (“to be faint, listless, sluggish”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} The Late Latin form is found after the 6th century.^[4] Rey traces the Latin verb to an Indo-European root expressing slackness, the one also behind lâcher and laisser.^[4] Littré compared Ancient Greek λαγγάζω (langázō, “to linger, hang back”) and thought that Latin longus might be related.^[7]

Cognate with Italian languire and Occitan languir.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1130 in a translation of the Song of Songs, d'amors languis rendering the Latin amore langueo: the sense is to be worn down by a pain that weakens body and mind, especially the torments of love.^[3] About 1140 Geoffrey Gaimar uses it of a person who is ill and wasting away.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old French languir meant to be overcome by an exhausting pain and, specially, to suffer for love (1140), the sense it shares with langueur and langoureux;^[4][3] faire languir (1288) was to make the lover suffer.^[4][3] The first sense has aged.^[4]

From Middle French (about 1350) it was also said of things lacking vigour or activity.^[4][3] From 1660 the present participle languissant was applied to a weak work of the mind.^[4] Of a person, the sense “to be bored” (1636) has aged too, though languir d'ennui was recorded in 1694.^[4]

What lives on is the idea of longing: faire languir “to keep someone waiting” (1645), with languir de (1465) and languir après (1671) “to long for”.^[4][8] The reflexive se languir “to pine, be bored”, first recorded in Daudet in 1869, is regional, mainly in the south of France: se languir de quelqu'un is to miss them.^[3][4][9] Rey notes that the word has moved far from its etymological “slackness” to a tension between desire and absence.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1130 – First record, of the pains of love, in a translation of the Song of Songs.^[3]
• c. 1140 – Geoffrey Gaimar uses it of a sick person wasting away.^[3]
• 1180 – The present participle languissant is recorded.^[4]
• 1288 – Faire languir “to make someone suffer” appears.^[3][4]
• c. 1350 – Bersuire uses it of a thing that lacks vigour.^[3][4]
• 1465 – Languir de “to long to” is recorded.^[4][8]
• 1539 – The derivative alanguir appears.^[5][4]
• 1645 – Corneille has faire languir quelqu'un “to keep someone waiting”.^[8][4]
• 1671 – Languir après “to long for” appears.^[4]
• 1869 – Daudet uses se languir “to pine, be bored”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To lose one's strength slowly, to waste away; of plants, to wilt.^[9][3]
2. To lack energy or activity; of a thing, to flag: la discussion languissait.^[9][10]
3. (literary) To suffer a pain that wears one down, to pine: languir d'ennui, languir d'amour.^[9][11]
4. To wait impatiently for, to long for: languir après une réponse;^[9][11] faire languir quelqu'un, to keep someone waiting.^[9][11]
5. (regional, south of France) Se languir: to be bored, to pine;^[9][4] se languir de quelqu'un, to miss someone.^[9][4]

Word family

• alanguir
• languissant

Related words

• langueur
• langoureux
• languide
• lâcher
• laisser
• Latin langueō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. 5, 161b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)