réduire

Forms

réduire^[1] Middle French also had a form closer to the Latin, reducer, in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin redūcō (“to lead back, bring back”), with its form adapted to French after conduire and the other verbs in ⟨-duire⟩ such as déduire.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin verb is formed from re-, marking movement backwards, and dūcō (“to lead”).^[2][6][7]

The TLFi and Rey date the first record to about 1170, in Chrétien de Troyes;^[8][2] Bloch and Wartburg give 1370, when Oresme uses it in the senses “to bring back, restore”, which they call its main senses until the 16th century.^[3] Wiktionary treats it as an alteration of the Latin verb that came down through Old and Middle French.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan reduire, Catalan reduir, Spanish reducir and Italian ridurre.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the reflexive soi reduire, “to withdraw to a place, to hide”, in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide (about 1170).^[8][2] Rey thinks this use was probably influenced by the noun réduit, a retreat.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century the main sense was “to bring back, restore (to a place or state)”.^[2][3] It survives in surgery, for setting a bone or putting back a displaced organ (14th century, then about 1560), supported by the noun réduction.^[2][3] In Swiss French (recorded in 1611) and in the Franco-Provençal regions the verb still means “to put away, tidy”, and in rural use “to bring in (cattle, hay)”.^[2]

The modern uses appear in Middle French and settle in the 16th century.^[2] Oresme uses it about 1370 for making a thing consist in, or conform to, something else.^[8] With a person as object it meant “to subdue” (about 1460), then “to force (someone) into a state of dependence or hardship” (1538), as in être réduit à (1673) and réduire au silence (about 1695).^[2] With a thing as object it meant bringing something back to a simpler form, as in mathematics réduire une fraction (1520), and turning a body into another state, as in réduire en poudre (1538) and réduire en cendres (1665, Racine); the chemical sense is recorded by Richelet in 1680.^[8][7][2]

The commonest sense today, “to make smaller in quantity, size or value”, dates from 1538 (Estienne); it was applied to drawings and models (1690, Furetière) and to music arranged for piano (1863, Sainte-Beuve).^[8][2][10] The intransitive use, of a liquid that thickens by boiling, is dated by Rey to 1808 and by the TLFi, in cooking, to 1831 (Viard).^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Soi reduire “to withdraw, hide” in Chrétien de Troyes.^[8]
• 1370 – Oresme: reduire qqc. à “to make it consist in”.^[8][3]
• c. 1460–1470 – “To subdue” a people.^[2][8]
• 1520 – Réduire une fraction; the surgical sense in Jean Falcon.^[8][7]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne: to lower to a smaller amount or value, reduire en pouldre.^[8]
• 1611 – Swiss French “to put away, tidy”.^[2]
• 1665 – Racine: réduire en cendres.^[7]
• 1680 – Richelet records the chemical sense.^[8]
• 1831 – Viard: sauces that are left to reduce.^[8]
• 1874 – À prix réduits (Mallarmé).^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make smaller in number, size, value or importance; to cut, lower: réduire ses dépenses de moitié.^[11][1][4]
2. To reproduce on a smaller scale (a drawing, a map, a picture).^[8][1]
3. Réduire qqn à, en: to bring someone by force into a state of submission or hardship: réduire au silence, en être réduit à, to be driven to.^[4][12][2]
4. To bring back to a simpler form or to its basic elements: réduire une fraction.^[4][8]
5. Réduire en: to turn into: réduire en poudre, réduire en miettes, réduire en cendres.^[4][1]
6. (medicine) To set, put back in place (a bone, a displaced organ).^[4][12]
7. (chemistry) To reduce (an oxide, a compound).^[1][9]
8. (music) To arrange (an orchestral work) for a smaller set of instruments, such as the piano.^[8][10]
9. (intransitive, cooking) Of a sauce or juice: to thicken by evaporation, faire réduire.^[11][2]
10. Se réduire à: to amount to, come down to.^[1][2]

Word family

• réduit

Related words

• réduction
• réductible
• conduire
• Latin redūcō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 181a
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)