réversion

Forms

réversion f (plural réversions)^[1] Old French reversion (13th century) and revercioun (1304), later reversion, spelled réversion from 1611.^[2][3] The Académie wrote re- in 1694 and 1718 and ré- from 1740.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reversiō (“turning back on the way, reappearance, anastrophe”), from reversum, the supine of revertō (“to return”).^[4][2][5] Littré gives the verb as re- and vertō (“to turn”) and compares Old Occitan reversio and Spanish reversión.^[6] It is related to revers.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A single 13th-century record of reversion means “outpouring of tears”, with another sense of the Latin versio.^[2][3] The word was formed again in law, as revercioun de tenemenz (1304), for the right by which property given to someone returns to the giver when that person dies without children.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense has remained the main one;^[4][2][3] pension de réversion, the pension paid to the surviving spouse of a deceased worker, dates from 1932.^[4][2][3]

Other technical senses appeared in the 19th century, more or less linked to the adjective réversible: in rhetoric (1842) a figure that repeats the words of a clause in reverse order to give a different meaning, and in biology (1870) the reappearance in a crossbred line of an individual of the original type.^[2][4] In the 20th century it named a short heat treatment of aluminium alloys after quenching (in general dictionaries in 1968),^[2] and in modern genetics a change in DNA that reverses or compensates for a mutation.^[7]

Timeline

• 13th century – A single record of reversion “outpouring of tears”.^[2][3]
• 1304 – Revercioun appears as a legal term.^[4][2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the spelling réversion.^[3][5]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records the rhetorical sense.^[4][2]
• 1870 – Littré records the biological sense.^[4][2]
• 1932 – Pension de réversion is recorded in the Larousse.^[4][2]
• 1968 – The metallurgical sense reaches general dictionaries.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The right of return by which property given away returns to the giver when the recipient dies without children, reversion.^[4][6][8]
2. Pension de réversion: a pension paid to the surviving spouse of a person who had earned it.^[9][3]
3. (biology) The return, after several generations of crossbreeding, to the type of the original stock.^[6][5]
4. (genetics) A change in DNA that reverses or compensates for an alteration caused by a mutation.^[7][9]
5. (rhetoric) A figure that repeats the words of a clause in reverse order, giving a different or contrary sense.^[6][3]
6. (literary) A return to an earlier state.^[4]
7. (technical) A form of rancidity in some oils, giving an unpleasant taste, also a defect in a metal after over-long tempering.^[8]

Related words

• revers
• réversible
• réversibilité
• Latin reversiō

Usage notes

The Petit Robert notes that in law it is sometimes pronounced with /ʁə/, under the influence of reverser.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)