lever

Pronunciation

• IPA: /lə.ve/^[1]

Forms

lever^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lever, inherited from Latin levō (“to lighten, relieve; to lift up”),^[2][1][3] a verb formed from levis (“light (in weight)”), so properly “to make light”.^[4][5] Rey explains that the sense “relieve” led to “raise, lift up”, which in imperial Latin displaced surgō, tollō and orior, and that the Late Latin sense “to rise (of dough)” is first found in the 6th century.^[4][6] The classical sense “relieve” did not survive in French.^[6]

Cognate with Italian levare, Occitan levar, Catalan llevar, Spanish llevar, Portuguese levar and Romanian lua;^[4][7] in Romanian, southern Italian, Spanish and Portuguese the verb came to mean “take, take away”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the late 10th-century Passion of Clermont, has levet sa man “raises his hand”, the sense “move from low to high”;^[2] the same text has the reflexive “to stand up”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1100 the verb meant “to get out of bed” (Chanson de Roland), and the present participle levant was used of the rising sun;^[2] the rising of storms and winds followed in the 12th century.^[2] The hunting sense “to start (game) from its lair” appears about 1170 in Chrétien de Troyes,^[2] and the baker's sense of dough rising about 1200.^[2] In the 13th century it took the senses “to raise (taxes)” (1242) and “to levy (troops)” (1268), and lever le siège “to raise the siege” (1263) gave the sense “to bring to an end”.^[2]

Many phrases name a gesture of the body: lever les yeux (about 1360), lever le coude “to drink” (1752), lever le pied “to make off” and ne pas lever le petit doigt “not to lift a finger” (1936).^[4] In popular speech lever meant “to pick up (a woman)” from 1776.^[2] The infinitive used as a noun, le lever “getting up; sunrise”, is recorded from the 12th century.^[5] In Belgian and Luxembourg French être bien, mal levé means “to be in a good, bad mood”.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Levet sa man in the Passion of Clermont.^[2]
• c. 1100 – “To get out of bed” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace writes ancres lever “to weigh anchor”.^[2]
• c. 1200 – First used of dough rising.^[2]
• 1242 – Lesver “to collect (a tax)”.^[2]
• 1263 – Rutebeuf has lever le siege.^[2]
• 1596 – Lever le plan “to survey, map”.^[2]
• 1776 – Popular sense “to pick up (a woman)”.^[2]
• 1878 – Stock-exchange sense “to take delivery of (securities)”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To raise or lift; to move upward.^[5][8]
2. To raise a part of the body: lever la main, lever les yeux.^[5]
3. To take away, remove or end something: lever un obstacle, lever une punition, lever le siège.^[5][9]
4. To levy or collect (taxes) or raise (troops).^[2][5]
5. (hunting) To start (game) from cover.^[2][5]
6. To draw up (a map or plan) by surveying.^[2][9]
7. (intransitive) Of dough, to rise; of plants, to come up.^[9][5]
8. (reflexive) Se lever: to stand up; to get up from bed; of the sun, to rise; of the wind or weather, to rise or clear.^[5][1]
9. (familiar) To pick up (someone) for sex.^[2][5]

Noun

1. Le lever: the act or time of getting up; the rising of a heavenly body (le lever du soleil); the raising of the theatre curtain.^[5][9]

Word family

• levage
• levant
• levée
• levure
• levé
• levier
• élever
• élevage
• éleveur
• élévation
• élévateur
• enlever
• soulever
• surélever

Related words

• léger
• levain
• Latin levis
• English levy
• English lever

Usage notes

The past participle survives in pont-levis “drawbridge” and in au pied levé “at a moment's notice”.^[6][1]

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 n o p q r s t u v 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 267b
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)