purger

Forms

purger^[1] Old French purgier.^[2][3][1] Anglo-Norman also has porger, pourger and purjer.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French purgier, inherited from Latin pūrgō (“to clean, cleanse”).^[1][5][6] Rey, by contrast, treats the Old French verb as a borrowing from Latin.^[2] The Latin verb meant “to clean” in a literal and a figurative sense, in medicine “to rid (the body) of something” and in law “to clear (an accused person)”, and it is derived from pūrus (“pure”), the source of pur.^[2][5] Littré notes that the Plautine noun expurigātiō points to an older form purigō.^[7]

Cognate with Italian purgare, Spanish purgar, Portuguese purgar and Occitan purgar;^[7][8] Catalan and Aragonese porgar came to mean “to sift”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hélinant uses it in 1197 in his Vers de la mort of making the soul pure, and about 1200 the Dialogues of Gregory the Great use it of cleaning wheat.^[5][9] Littré quotes a 12th-century line from the same Job translation in which a servant lo frument purgievet “was cleaning the wheat”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was to rid a substance of what spoils it;^[2] purger le blé was long said, and the verb is still used technically of silk thread.^[2] From this came the senses “to filter (water)” and, in 1904, “to empty completely of an unwanted fluid”, as of a radiator.^[2][9] The moral sense “to purify, cleanse (a guilty person)”, current in the classical language, has gone out of use, but the theatrical sense of purging the passions by catharsis, found first in Oresme about 1370 and taken up again by Corneille, is still understood.^[2][5]

The sense “to rid of something harmful” (about 1265) survives in literary style, and in politics it took the shade “to get rid of people” during the Revolution (1789), a use now carried mainly by the noun purge.^[2][10] In medicine it meant to rid an organ or humour of impurities (about 1265) and then to give someone a purgative (14th century).^[2][5] In law it took from Latin the sense “to clear (an accused person)” (14th century), whence “to wipe out (a penalty)” (1583) and, more commonly, to serve a sentence: purger une quarantaine (1869) and, above all, purger une peine.^[2][9] From the 16th century it also meant to free a property of the charges on it.^[2][5]

The reflexive se purger (about 1138) first meant to purify oneself of a sin and to clear oneself of a charge; today it means only to rid oneself of something, especially to take a purgative.^[2] English purge (about 1300, “to clear of a charge”) comes from the Anglo-French and Old French verb and directly from Latin.^[11]

Timeline

• 1197 – Hélinant uses purgier of making the soul pure.^[5]
• c. 1200 – The Dialogues of Gregory use it of cleaning wheat.^[5][9]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses it of ridding the body of impurities.^[5][2]
• c. 1300 – English purge is first recorded.^[11]
• 1372–1374 – Oresme uses it of purifying the passions through the arts.^[5]
• 1583 – Ragueau records the legal sense “to free a property of its charges”.^[5]
• 1651 – Corneille writes purger les passions.^[5]
• 1789 – The political sense “to rid of people” appears during the Revolution.^[2]
• 1869 – Littré records purger une quarantaine.^[9][2]
• 1904 – The Larousse records purger une peine and the sense “to empty of an unwanted fluid”.^[9][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (technical) To rid a substance of what spoils it, to refine: purger le métal, purger les fils de soie.^[12][5]
2. To bleed or drain a pipe or device of an unwanted fluid: purger le circuit de chauffage avant l’hiver.^[12][1]
3. (dated) To purify the soul, to expiate one's sins.^[12]
4. (literary) To rid of something harmful or of dangerous people: purger la ville de ses brigands.^[12][5]
5. (medicine) To give a purgative to.^[12][2]
6. (law) To serve a sentence: purger une peine.^[1][2]
7. (law) To free a property of its charges: purger les hypothèques.^[9][5]

Word family

• purge
• purgeur

Related words

• expurger
• pur
• purgatoire
• Latin pūrgō

Usage notes

Purger les passions renders the Aristotelian idea of catharsis in French classical theory of tragedy.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. 9, 611b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert