massacrer

Forms

massacrer^[1] Old French macecler (about 1160), then masacrer (1306); the spelling massacrer is found from 1553.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French massacrer, inherited from Old French macecler, probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *matteuculō, a Gallo-Romance derivative of *matteuca (“club”), the word that gave massue “club”.^[4][2][5][1] The TLFi presents this as E. Poppe's hypothesis, given in the FEW.^[4][6] The noun massacre, recorded shortly before 1100 as macecre, suggests that the verb already existed in the 11th century.^[2] Wiktionary traces it further to *mattea or Late Latin mattia, from Latin mateola.^[1]

Littré instead derived the verb from Germanic, comparing German metzgern (“to slaughter”) and Metzger (“butcher”), since the noun had meant a butcher's shop.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1160 in the Moniage Guillaume, in the form maceclés, meaning “to kill by striking furiously, to club to death”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

From killing by repeated blows, the verb came to mean killing defenceless victims in great numbers, people or animals (1564, Thierry), and then killing a single person who cannot defend himself (1630, d'Aubigné).^[4][2] Furetière (1690) records the sense “to cover with wounds”.^[4]

A figurative line runs beside it: about 1550 massacrer meant to put a thing in a very bad state, from 1564 to disfigure a work by a poor performance, and in 1642 to do a job very badly, all in familiar use.^[2][4] Like the noun massacre, it is also used for criticizing someone savagely.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Maceclés appears in the Moniage Guillaume, “killed with furious blows”.^[4]
• 1306 – Guillaume Guiart writes masacrez.^[4][2]
• c. 1550 – First used for putting a thing in a very bad state.^[2]
• 1553 – The spelling massacrer is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1564 – Thierry's dictionary records the sense “to slaughter defenceless people or animals in great numbers”.^[4][2]
• 1574 – The noun massacreur “perpetrator of a massacre” appears.^[4]
• 1630 – D'Aubigné uses it of killing one defenceless person.^[4][2]
• 1642 – Oudin records the sense “to do a piece of work very badly”.^[4][2]
• 1777 – The adjective massacrant appears.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To massacre, slaughter: to kill savagely and in great numbers people or animals that cannot defend themselves: Les pillards massacrèrent les habitants du village.^[8][4]
2. To kill a single defenceless victim; to beat up badly an opponent who is in a weaker position.^[8]
3. (reflexive) se massacrer: to kill one another in a bloody fight.^[8]
4. (familiar) To wreck, to put something in a very bad state.^[8][7]
5. To botch, to spoil by a clumsy performance: Il a massacré cette sonate au violon.^[8][4]
6. To criticize savagely, to pan: La presse a massacré son dernier film.^[8][2]

Word family

• massacre
• massacreur
• massacrant

Related words

• massue

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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 g h i j k l m n o 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
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 515b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert