Etymologically
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répéter

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁe.pe.te/[1]

Forms

répéter[1] Spelled repeter by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, répéter since 1740.[2] An Old French popular form, repeïr, meant to read a psalm a second time (about 1200).[3][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin repetō (“to seek again; to resume; to recall; to claim back”), from re- and petō (“to seek to reach, to ask for”) (compare pétition).[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary takes it as inherited, through Old French “repeter”.[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan repetir, Spanish repetir and Italian ripetere.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Raoul de Houdenc's Meraugis (about 1210), has the sense “to say again”, which is still its main one.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Like the Latin verb it meant “to claim back” from about 1360, a sense that survives in law for reclaiming what one has paid or lent (1626).[2][3] Répéter une leçon “to revise” is in Palsgrave (1530); in the theatre, to rehearse is in Molière's Impromptu de Versailles (1663).[2][3] It meant to do again what one had done (La Fontaine, 1682), to coach pupils in a teacher's lesson (1660), and, pejoratively, to pass on what one has heard (1798).[2] The reflexive se répéter, to use the same turns of phrase, is in Fontenelle (1693).[2] In mountaineering, to repeat a climb is recorded from 1903.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – Popular Old French repeïr.[2]
  • c. 1210 – Repeter “to say again”, Meraugis.[2]
  • c. 1360 – “To claim back”.[2]
  • 1530 – Répéter une leçon, Palsgrave.[2]
  • 1663 – Rehearsing a play, Molière.[2]
  • 1682 – “To do again”, La Fontaine.[2]
  • 1693 – Se répéter, Fontenelle.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To repeat, say again (what one or another has said): je vous répète que c'est impossible.[8][9]
  2. To pass on, report (what one has heard).[2][3]
  3. To do again; to reproduce: répéter une expérience.[2][9]
  4. To rehearse (a play, a piece); to go over (a lesson).[1][2]
  5. Se répéter: to repeat oneself; to happen again.[1][2]
  6. (law) To claim back.[3][2]

Word family

  • répétition
  • répéteur
  • répétiteur

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 266a
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert