Etymologically
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réveiller

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁe.vɛ.je/[1]
  • IPA: /ʁe.ve.je/[1]

Forms

réveiller[1] Old French resveillier; spelled reveiller by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, réveiller since 1740.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French re- + éveiller, with an intensive prefix.[2][3][4] Éveiller is from Vulgar Latin *exvigilō, for classical ēvigilō (“to wake up”), from vigil (“awake, watchful”).[5][6] The TLFi notes that the prefix first gave the sense of waking someone by unusual means or at an unusual hour, and that “réveiller” tends to oust the simple verb in everyday French.[2][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan revelhar and Italian risvegliare.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Wace's Brut (1155), meaning to wake a person from sleep; the reflexive se réveiller is found in the first half of the 13th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1440 it meant to bring someone round from a faint.[2] Figuratively it meant to rouse from inactivity: Jean de Meun (1269–78) has oxen roused with the goad.[2] Froissart (about 1360) uses it for reviving a claim, and Racine has quel feu mal étouffé dans mon cœur se réveille? in Phèdre (1677).[2][4] The proverb il ne faut pas réveiller le chat qui dort warns against stirring up trouble.[8]

Timeline

  • 1155 – Wace, Brut: to wake someone up.[2]
  • c. 1165 – Au resvillier, “on waking”.[2]
  • 1269–78 – Figurative “to rouse”, Jean de Meun.[2]
  • c. 1440 – To bring round from a faint.[2]
  • 1677 – Se réveiller of a feeling, Racine's Phèdre.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wake (someone) up: réveillez-moi à six heures.[9][8]
  2. Se réveiller: to wake up.[1][10]
  3. To bring back to consciousness, un bruit à réveiller les morts, loud enough to wake the dead.[8]
  4. (figurative) To rouse, stir up (a person) from inactivity.[8][2]
  5. (figurative) To revive, rekindle (a feeling, a memory, a pain): réveiller de vieux souvenirs.[4][2]

Word family

  • réveil
  • réveille-matin
  • réveillon
  • réveilleur

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 n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 336a
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)