lutter

Forms

lutter^[1] Old French loiter (about 1100), then luitier and luiter;^[2][3][4] luiter lasted until the 17th century.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French luiter, inherited from Old French luitier, inherited from Latin luctō (“to wrestle, struggle”), a less usual active form of the deponent luctor.^[2][3][4][5] The Old French spellings with ⟨oi⟩ and ⟨ui⟩ show an initial vowel that wavered, although the vowel of the Latin verb was long; the TLFi finds this development unclear.^[2][4] The reduction of ⟨ui⟩ to ⟨u⟩ dates only from the beginning of the 17th century, according to the TLFi and Rey,^[2][3] while the Grand Robert and the GLLF date the modern spelling to about 1460, in Villon.^[6][7]

In Latin the verb was first a term of the gymnasium, and its form probably marks it as a frequentative.^[3] Rey considers the likeliest connection to be Ancient Greek λυγίζω (lugízō, “to bend, twist the limbs”), from λύγος (lúgos, “chaste tree; pliant twig”), perhaps with other Indo-European words for bending, such as Lithuanian lùgnas (“flexible”) and Old Norse lykna (“to bend the knee”).^[3]

Cognate with Italian lottare, Occitan luchar, Catalan lluitar, Spanish luchar, Portuguese lutar and Romanian lupta.^[8][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) two fighters seize each other in their arms por loiter, “to wrestle”: to strain to throw each other down, holding each other round the body.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From wrestling the verb spread to any effort to overcome an obstacle: in Adenet le Roi's Berte (about 1274) someone struggles against the wind.^[2][3] Montaigne used it for “to vie with” (1588), Mathurin Régnier for two sides opposing each other to impose their will (1613), and Madame de Staël for things and forces acting against each other (1807).^[2] The construction lutter de (“to vie in”) is recorded later.^[7]

The transitive verb, “to fight (someone)” and, from 1545, “to repress (a feeling or desire)”, belonged to the classical language and is now archaic, like the pronominal se lutter “to fight one another”.^[2][3] From 1342 the verb was also said of a ram covering a ewe,^[2][9] and the hunting term luites for a boar's testicles (1656) is a noun formed from that sense.^[4]

The noun lutte (about 1155) followed the same path, from bodily wrestling to any violent opposition and, in the 19th century, to the codified sport;^[3] lutte des classes is first found in Guizot (1828).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Loiter “to wrestle” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1155 – The noun lutte is first recorded.^[3]
• c. 1170 – The agent noun luiteor, later lutteur.^[3]
• c. 1274 – Adenet le Roi uses it for struggling against an obstacle.^[2]
• 1342 – Said of a ram covering a ewe, in Renart le Contrefait.^[2]
• c. 1460 – The form lutter in Villon, according to the Grand Robert.^[6][7]
• 1545 – Transitive use, “to repress (a vice, a desire)”.^[2]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it for “to vie with”.^[2]
• 1613 – Mathurin Régnier uses it for opposing someone to impose one's will.^[2]
• 1807 – Madame de Staël applies it to things.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wrestle: to grapple with an opponent and try to throw him down.^[10][2]
2. To fight or struggle against an opponent, a group or a nation, so as to impose one's will: lutter contre un ennemi, deux partis qui luttent l'un contre l'autre.^[10][2]
3. To strive hard against an obstacle, a force or an evil: lutter contre le froid, lutter contre la pauvreté.^[10][11]
4. Lutter de (something) avec (someone): to vie with someone in some quality.^[10][7]
5. Of things or forces: to act against each other.^[2][7]
6. (dated) Of a ram: to cover a ewe.^[9][2]

Word family

• lutte
• lutteur

Related words

• inéluctable
• Latin luctor

References

1. ^ a b 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 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 k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 439b
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)