réfuter

Forms

réfuter^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin refūtō (“to drive back, repel, to refute”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} An earlier form refuder “to refuse, reject” is found once, in the Passion poem of about 980, close to Old Occitan refudar (“to refuse, reject”);^[2][3][6][7] Rey and the Robert dictionaries treat the modern verb as that word remade after Latin.^[2][3][6][7]

Rey analyses the Latin verb as re- with an old simple verb futāre (“to knock down”), which Festus records; he finds a link with fundō (“to pour”) unconvincing in meaning.^[3] Littré instead follows the Latin grammarians, who connected it with fūtilis and with the verb for “to pour”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In about 1330 Guillaume de Digulleville uses it in his Pèlerinage de vie humaine for rejecting or contradicting a person who has stated a fact or an opinion.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “to refuse, push back”, with which the verb was borrowed, did not survive the 15th century.^[3] It narrowed to showing that a person is wrong, then, with a thing as object, to rejecting an assertion (1546) and to disproving it with arguments, as in Amyot's refuter ce point (1559).^[2][3] The Académie recorded refuter un Autheur in 1694.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 980 – The form refuded “rejected” appears once, in the Passion.^[2][3][6]
• c. 1330 – Guillaume de Digulleville uses refuter of a person.^[2][7]
• 1520 – Date given by Bloch and Wartburg, with réfutation.^[4]
• 1546 – Refuter l'injure “to reject the insult”, in Palmerin d'Olive.^[2][7]
• 1552 – The derivative réfutable is recorded.^[4]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for disproving a point.^[2][8]
• 1694 – The Académie records refuter un Autheur.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To refute or disprove an argument or claim by showing that it is false: réfuter une hypothèse point par point.^[9][2][1]
2. By extension, to refute a person, an author or a book: Il passa sa vie à réfuter Descartes.^[9][8][2]

Word family

• réfutable

Related words

• réfutation
• irréfutable
• Latin refūtō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 201a
6. ^ a b c 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert