résilier

Forms

résilier^[1] Middle French resiler (1501) and résilir (1583).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin resiliō (“to spring back, rebound, withdraw”), which in Late Latin legal language took the sense “to renounce, go back on one's word”.^[2][3][4] The Latin verb is formed from re-, marking backward movement, and saliō (“to jump, leap”) (see sauter).^[3][4][5]

It was first adapted as Middle French resiler (1501), then as résilir (1583), the form closest to the Latin and the only one the Académie gave in 1694.^[2][3] The present form, with the ending ⟨-ier⟩, comes from a change of conjugation;^[2][6][5] it is dated 1641 by the TLFi and the Petit Robert and 1679 by Bloch and Wartburg and Rey.^[2][7][6][3]

Wiktionary compares the English word resilient, from the same Latin verb.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1501, as resiler, in diplomatic negotiations between France and Austria.^[2][4] In the 16th century it meant to withdraw from a promise: Pasquier writes il ne lui est pas, puis après, loisible se resiler de sa parole (“he is not free afterwards to go back on his word”).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is a legal term for ending a contract or agreement, either by mutual consent or by one party.^[3][2] The direct transitive construction prevailed over résilier de and se résilier de, which appeared in the 16th century and are recorded until the middle of the 18th.^[3] The Académie gave the transitive verb in 1718.^[4]

In current use it also means to cancel a subscription or a service.^[1]

Timeline

• 1501 – Resiler is recorded in diplomatic negotiations between France and Austria.^[2]
• 1583 – The form résilir appears.^[3]
• 1611 – The noun résiliement is recorded.^[3]
• 1641 – Résilier is used for annulling a deed.^[2]
• 1675 – Savary has se résilier d'un contrat “to withdraw from a contract”.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie gives only résilir.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records the transitive résilier.^[4]
• 1740 – The noun résiliation becomes established, after an isolated record in 1429.^[3][6]
• 1815 – Lamennais uses the adjective résiliable.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law) To terminate or cancel a contract or agreement, by mutual consent or by one party: résilier un contrat de location.^[7][2]
2. To cancel a subscription or service.^[1]

Word family

• résiliation
• résiliable

Related words

• sauter
• Latin resiliō

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 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 i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert