résurgence

Forms

résurgence f (plural résurgences)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin resurgēns (“rising again”), a learned formation on the present participle of resurgō (“to rise again, recover; to rise from the dead”), made on the model of French pairs in -ent / -ence such as décadent and décadence.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from the adjective résurgent instead.^[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg date it to about 1900 and credit its coining to the speleologist Martel.^[7]

The Latin verb is formed from re- “again” and surgō (“to rise”), the source of sourdre and surgir.^[3] Old French had inherited the verb as resurdre (about 980) and ressourdre (13th century), whose feminine past participle survives as ressource.^[3] Middle French had an unrelated earlier coinage resurgence “resurrection”, recorded in 1565.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1896 in the geologist Martel's writing on the uses of speleology, of an underground river or body of water that comes back up to the surface as a large spring.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word was made as a technical term of geology and speleology, and by metonymy it also names the spring itself where the water reappears.^[2][6] From 1924 it was used figuratively for the reappearance of anything, as when Albert Thibaudet wrote of the résurgence of Valéry.^[2][3]

The adjective résurgent, borrowed in the early 16th century in the sense “risen from the dead” of Christ, had fallen out of use; it was taken up again under the influence of résurgence for reappearing river water (1923) and figuratively (1925).^[3]

Timeline

• 1565 – Middle French resurgence “resurrection” is recorded, a separate formation.^[2]
• 1896 – Martel uses résurgence in geology.^[2][3]
• 1901 – Martel uses it again in a note to the Académie des sciences.^[2]
• 1924 – Thibaudet uses it figuratively for a reappearance.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geology) The coming back to the surface of an underground river or of groundwater, as a large spring; the spring where it reappears.^[2][6][4]
2. (figurative) A reappearance or resurgence, as of an idea or a doctrine: la résurgence d'une vieille querelle.^[6][9][4]

Related words

• résurgent
• ressource
• résurrection
• surgir
• sourdre
• Latin resurgō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)