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réassurer

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Etymology and origin of the French word réassurer

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1647 Cleirac, Us et coustumes de la mer More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origin
Latin sēcūrus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French assurer
French réassurer
From the same root
French assurance ← assurer
French rassurer ← assurer

Pronunciation

Forms

réassurer[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French re- + assurer.[3][4][1][5] The verb assurer goes back to Vulgar Latin *assēcūrō (“to make sure”), from Latin sēcūrus (“sure”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1647, as reasseurer, in Cleirac's Us et coustumes de la mer, a work on maritime law.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to marine insurance: Bloch and Wartburg note that insurance contracts, from the 16th century, chiefly covered risks at sea.[4] It names the insuring of an insurer against the risks it has taken on, and the noun réassurance is found in the Ordonnance of August 1681.[3][6] Several dictionaries date the verb from 1661.[4][1][5]

Beside this legal sense, the TLFi records the verb as a compound of assurer in its general senses, “to make secure again” and “to steady again”, in 20th-century writers such as Jouve (1935) and Gide (1951).[3]

Timeline

  • 1647 – Reasseurer appears in Cleirac's Us et coustumes de la mer.[3]
  • 1661 – The date Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert dictionaries give for the verb.[4][1][5]
  • 1681 – The noun réassurance appears in the Ordonnance of August 1681.[3][6]
  • 1935 – Jouve uses it in the sense “to steady again”.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (law, insurance) To reinsure: to insure an insurer against all or part of the risks it covers: La compagnie a réassuré ses contrats maritimes.[3][5][7][8]
  2. Se réassurer: of an insurer, to take out reinsurance.[3][5]
  3. To make secure again; to set firmly again: réassurer sa prise sur la rampe.[3]

Word family

  • réassurance

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Réassurer.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/r%C3%A9assurer. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·