mirer

Forms

mirer^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mīrō (“to look at attentively”), the active form of Latin mīror (“to wonder, be amazed at”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Latin verb is from mīrus (“astonishing, wonderful”), a word of uncertain origin;^[7] Rey finds its comparison with Sanskrit स्मयते (smáyate, “smiles”) and the English smile hardly plausible in meaning.^[7]

In all the Romance languages except Romanian, where mira still means “to wonder”, the verb came to mean “to look at”: Italian mirare, Spanish mirar, Catalan mirar, Portuguese mirar.^[7][8][2] Bloch and Wartburg and Meyer-Lübke take the sense “to aim” (1562) from the Italian verb.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first records it about 1165, in the Roman de Troie, meaning “to look at attentively, contemplate, admire”;^[5] the GLLF and the Grand Robert date it to the end of the 11th century, in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of admiration faded as admirer took it over, and mirer kept the plain idea of looking closely.^[7] From Chrétien de Troyes (1172–90) it also meant to look into a mirror, and the reflexive se mirer “to look at oneself” grew under the influence of miroir.^[5][2][7] Ronsard (1552) used it for a surface reflecting an image.^[5]

From the 16th century it meant to aim with a weapon: Maurice Scève has the absolute use in 1562 and Robert Garnier the transitive one in 1574.^[5] The idea of looking has otherwise aged, except in the technical mirer des œufs, to examine eggs against the light, recorded from 1694, and mirer les draps (Savary, 1723).^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – First record, in the Roman de Troie, in the sense “to contemplate, admire”.^[5]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses the reflexive figuratively, “to see oneself in”.^[5]
• 1172–1190 – Se mirer “to look at oneself in a mirror”, in Chrétien's Perceval.^[5]
• 1552 – Ronsard uses it for “to reflect”.^[5]
• 1562 – Maurice Scève uses it for taking aim.^[5][2]
• 1694 – Mirer des œufs “to candle eggs” is recorded.^[5][7]
• 1753 – The derivative mirage is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete) To look at attentively, examine closely.^[4][5]
2. (obsolete) To aim at with a firearm.^[4][5]
3. To examine eggs against the light, to candle them, chiefly to check that they are fresh.^[4][10]
4. (literary) To reflect, give back the image of: le lac mire les arbres.^[4][11]
5. Se mirer (literary): to look at oneself, be reflected, in a mirror or in water.^[4][10]

Word family

• mirage
• mire
• miroir
• mireur
• mire-œuf

Related words

• admirer
• Latin mīror

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/2, 148b
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)