nerf

Forms

nerf m (plural nerfs)^[1] Old French nerf, plural ners, niers;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also nierf, nerve.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French nerf, inherited from Latin nervus (“tendon, sinew, string of a bow or lyre”).^[4][5][6] The Latin word also meant a leather strap and, figuratively, strength and the essential part of a thing.^[4][5] It is related to Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron) and, like it, goes back to an Indo-European root that Rey thinks is probably also behind verbs meaning “to twist, spin”, such as νέω (néō, “to spin”).^[5][2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the anatomical sense “nerve” developed first in Greek, passed into Latin and was taken up by French medicine, probably as early as the Middle Ages.^[7]

Cognate with Italian nervo and Italian nerbo, Occitan nervi, Catalan nervi, Spanish nervio and Romanian nerv.^[7][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) in the sense “tendon, ligament”, of Ganelon's sinews stretched by the horses that tear him apart.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The first French sense was “tendon, ligament”, especially of the tendons in meat (1202), whence nerf de bœuf (1278), the dried ligament used as a cudgel.^[5][4] From Latin it also took the concrete senses of a shield strap (1268), a bowstring (about 1282) and a string of a musical instrument (1552), all now lost, and it still names the cord on the back of a bound book (1680).^[5][4]

The anatomical sense of a fibre linking the body with the brain and spinal cord appears in Henri de Mondeville's surgery (1314) and long stayed technical.^[4][5] The figurative sense of vigour came in the 16th century from Latin: Rabelais (1534) called money les nerfz des batailles, the source of l'argent est le nerf de la guerre, and du nerf “vigour” is recorded from 1671.^[4][5][7] From the 18th century the plural nerfs expresses nervous tension, in maladie de nerfs (1755), crise de nerfs (1825), taper sur les nerfs (1871) and passer ses nerfs (1876).^[4][5] Quebec French says être sur les nerfs “to get worked up” and perdre les nerfs “to lose one's composure”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – “Tendon” in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1202 – A tendon in meat, in the Roman de Renart.^[4]
• 1278 – Nerf de buef.^[4]
• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses it for a nerve.^[4]
• 1534 – Rabelais calls money les nerfz des batailles.^[4]
• 1559 – Amyot uses the plural for “strength”.^[4][9]
• 1755 – Maladie de nerfs.^[4]
• 1825 – Crise de nerfs in Brillat-Savarin.^[4]
• 1871 – Taper sur les nerfs in Flaubert's letters.^[4]
• 1929 – Les nerfs à bout in Colette.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A tendon or ligament, a sinew in meat.^[8][2]
2. Nerf de bœuf: a dried ox ligament used as a cudgel.^[8][4]
3. (figurative) vigour, energy: avoir du nerf.^[8][1]
4. Le nerf de la guerre: money, as the means of action.^[8][5]
5. (bookbinding) A cord on the spine of a bound book.^[8]
6. (anatomy) A nerve, a fibre linking a nerve centre with an organ: le nerf sciatique.^[8][4]
7. (in the plural) The nerves as the seat of mental balance: avoir les nerfs solides, crise de nerfs.^[8][5]

Word family

• énerver
• innerver
• nerver
• nerveux
• nervure

Related words

• neuro-
• neurone
• névro-
• Latin nervus

Usage notes

The final f is now silent; the Académie's 8th edition still sounded it before a vowel and sometimes at the end of a sentence, a usage kept regionally in the south of France and in the sense “vigour”.^[6] Littré notes that it was always silent in nerf de bœuf and in the plural.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg call the pronunciation with /f/ in avoir du nerf expressive.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse