réagir

Forms

réagir^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin reagō (“to push again”), a 4th-century verb common in medieval school Latin, adapted after agir.^[2][3][4] The Latin verb is formed from re- and agō (“to drive, to do”).^[2][5][6]

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert analyse it as formed within French, and date it to the 14th century,^[7][8] as do Littré and the GLLF, from the alchemical poem in which it first appears;^[5][4] the TLFi dates that text to 1516.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg date the verb only to the 18th century (Voltaire).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The alchemical poem known as the Complainte de Nature à l'Alchymiste errant has Comme le feu en l'air agist, Aussi l'air sur l'eau réagist “as fire acts on air, so air reacts on water”, an isolated use for acting on a natural body.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is not found again until chemistry took it up about 1750, after the older noun réaction, for bodies or forces acting on one another (réagir contre, 1771); faire réagir dates from 1831.^[3][2] Physiology used it from 1774 (Diderot), then for responding to a stimulus (1809, Lamarck).^[3][2]

At the end of the 18th century it spread to people and things that influence each other (réagir sur, 1784) and to opposing something (réagir contre, 1788).^[2][8] In the 20th century it came to mean showing a response: ne pas réagir “to stay passive” (1905, Romain Rolland) and réagir à (1907, Barrès).^[2]

Timeline

• 1516 – Isolated alchemical use in the Complainte de Nature.^[2]
• c. 1750 – Taken up again in chemistry.^[3]
• 1771 – Réagir contre in physics, in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux.^[2]
• 1774 – Diderot uses it in physiology.^[2]
• 1784 – Réagir sur “to have a reciprocal influence on”.^[2][8]
• 1788 – Réagir contre “to oppose”, noted by Féraud.^[2][4]
• 1831 – Becquerel's faire réagir in chemistry.^[2]
• 1905 – Ne pas réagir “to remain passive”.^[2]
• 1907 – Barrès uses réagir à.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (physics) To act back on a body that has acted on it.^[8][2]
2. (chemistry) To enter into a reaction: ce métal réagit avec l'acide.^[8][1]
3. (physiology) Of a living being, to respond to a stimulus.^[8][2]
4. Réagir sur: to act in return on something, to influence it.^[8][2]
5. Réagir contre: to oppose, to resist by a contrary action, also absolutely, to pull oneself together.^[8][5]
6. Réagir à: to react, to respond to something: elle n'a pas réagi à la nouvelle.^[8][2]

Related words

• réaction
• agir
• Latin agō

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 132a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France