réversal

Forms

réversal (feminine réversale, masculine plural réversaux).^[2][1] As a feminine plural noun, réversales, and as a masculine plural noun, réversaux.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin reversales, used in the phrase ⟨reversales litterae⟩, from the supine reversum of revertō (“to come back, return”).^[2][3] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and the Wiktionnaire derive it from the past participle reversus.^[1][4][5] Littré analyses the Latin verb as re- and vertō (“to turn”).^[6] The TLFi relates it to revers.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1594 in the Coutumes de Lorraine, as a feminine plural noun for letters by which one concession is granted in return for another.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A word of law and diplomacy, it qualified a document given in support of an earlier commitment, as in diplôme réversal, a phrase the Académie recorded from 1798 to 1878.^[2] In the history of the Holy Roman Empire, lettres réversales or réversaux were decrees by which a state declared that an act contrary to a general rule set no precedent and did no harm to earlier customs or privileges; the Académie's supplement of 1842 notes that emperors crowned elsewhere than at Aix-la-Chapelle always gave such letters to its chapter.^[2] The Académie now marks the word as old.^[3]

Timeline

• 1594 – Réversales appears in the Coutumes de Lorraine.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records diplôme réversal.^[2]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement explains réversaux in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (law, diplomacy, dated) Of a document: given in support of an earlier commitment.^[2][6]
2. Lettres réversales: letters setting out reciprocal concessions between two parties.^[4][3]

Noun

1. Réversales (feminine plural), réversaux (masculine plural): (history) reversal letters, by which a state declared that an exception set no precedent, or by which one concession was granted in exchange for another.^[2][4]

Related words

• revers
• Latin revertō

References

1. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette