réprouver

Forms

réprouver^[1] Old French repruver, reprover, later reprouver; written with an accent, réprouver, since the 18th century (1721).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French repruver, inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin reprobō (“to reject, condemn”),^[4][2][5][1] formed with re-, marking a backward movement or setting aside, on probō (“to find good, approve, prove”).^[4][2] The initial ⟨ré-⟩ is a remodelling after the Latin verb, since the word expresses moral and religious notions; compare réprobation.^[6][2]

Cognate with Italian reprovare, Spanish reprobar, Portuguese reprovar and Occitan reprobar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means “to reproach someone with something”: Mon escient, nel me reproveront “to my knowledge, they will not reproach me with it”.^[4][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French reprouver meant “to reproach”, a sense the Middle Ages kept.^[2][6] From about 1120 it took its strong modern sense “to reject while condemning severely”, and lost the neighbouring senses “to refute” and “to challenge” (about 1370) and a weakened use “to regret” (15th century, Charles d'Orléans).^[2][4] In the language of religion, with God as subject, it came to mean “to reject and doom to eternal punishment”, mostly in the passive (early 14th century).^[4][2]

The past participle réprouvé was used for one who sets himself against divine law by sin (about 1354); les réprouvés were the damned (1608), then in the classical period a worthless person (1680) and since the Romantic period (about 1820), an outcast at war with society.^[2] The Old French noun reprouvier meant a proverb, since a proverb readily becomes a reproach.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Repruver “to reproach” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][3]
• c. 1120 – The Psautier d'Oxford uses reprover “to reject, condemn”.^[4][3]
• early 14th century – Jean Chapuis uses it in the theological sense “to doom to damnation”.^[4][8]
• 1370 – Oresme has reprouver and reprouvable.^[3][2]
• 1608 – Les réprouvés “the damned” is recorded.^[2]
• 1721 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux spells it réprouver.^[3]
• c. 1820 – Réprouvé comes to mean a social outcast.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To condemn, reject with strong disapproval: tout le village réprouve sa conduite.^[8][9][4]
2. (theology) Of God: to exclude a sinner from salvation, to damn.^[8][9]

Word family

• réprouvé
• réprouvable

Related words

• prouver
• réprobation
• approuver
• Latin reprobō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 277a
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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)