réforme

Forms

réforme f (plural réformes)^[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from French réformer.^[2][3][4] The verb was borrowed in 1174 from Latin reformō (“to restore to its first form, remake”), formed from re- and formō (“to form”).^[5] Bloch and Wartburg date the noun to 1640.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in the letters of Peiresc (1625), names the restoring of the old discipline in a religious house.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

By the middle of the 17th century the noun had the same range as the verb: the reform of a religious order (1625), the change brought into Christian doctrine by the Protestant theologians of the 16th century (1640), and any change for the better (1640).^[5] It partly took the place of the older borrowing réformation.^[5][6] La Réforme as the name of a period of history, beside the Renaissance, developed in the 19th century.^[5] The sense “regular conduct, piety” (before 1696, La Bruyère) died out after the classical period.^[5]

In the army it meant first a measure by which officers were dismissed while keeping part of their pay (1671), then the partial disbanding of troops (1680), and, after 1762, the removing of a man or horse unfit for service; later it named the exemption of a conscript from military service.^[2][5] The political sense dates from the last third of the 19th century (1870); since the middle of the century réforme has been opposed to révolution.^[5]

Timeline

• 1625 – Peiresc uses it of the restoring of discipline in a religious house.^[2][5]
• 1640 – Oudin records the senses “Protestant Reformation” and “change for the better”.^[4][5]
• 1660 – La Réforme is recorded for the 16th-century religious movement.^[2]
• 1671 – Pomey records the military sense “dismissal of officers on part pay”.^[2][4]
• 1680 – Richelet records “partial disbanding of troops”.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records “suppression of abuses”.^[2][4]
• 1762 – The Académie records the discharge of a man or horse unfit for service.^[2][4]
• 1870 – The political sense appears.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The return of a religious order to its original rule.^[7][2]
2. La Réforme: the Reformation, the 16th-century religious movement that gave rise to Protestantism.^[7][2]
3. A deep change made to an institution to improve it, a reform: la réforme de l’orthographe, réforme agraire.^[7][8]
4. A partial, gradual improvement of the social order, as opposed to révolution.^[7]
5. (military) The taking out of service of what has become unfit for it.^[7][2]
6. (military) The status of a serviceman exempted from service as physically or mentally unfit.^[7][2]

Word family

• contre-réforme
• réformette

Related words

• réformer
• réformation
• réformiste
• forme
• Latin reformō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)