révolutionner

Forms

révolutionner^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French révolution + -er, from the noun with the verb ending.^[2][3][4] The noun is from Late Latin revolūtiō (“a return, revolution of time”), borrowed about 1190.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is from 1789, in a speech by the comte d'Antraigues at the club of 1789 on a plan to révolutionner la Suisse, meaning to stir a country up into a state of political revolution.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the GLLF date the verb from 1793,^[5][3][6] the year of a diary passage on whether to organize or révolutionner the inhabitants.^[2]

Semantic evolution

During the Revolution the verb was used only in its political sense and in the extended sense of transforming something radically, applied to the arts as early as 1794.^[7][2] The general sense “to change something radically” is dated 1821 (Morellet),^[6][7] and the figurative sense “to throw someone into a turmoil, to upset” appears in 1832,^[2][7] a use that matches 18th-century uses of the noun révolution.^[7] Littré still labelled the verb a neologism and gave the familiar cela m'a tout révolutionné.^[8]

The action noun révolutionnement (1797) followed the same development but is rarer than the verb.^[7]

Timeline

• 1789 – D'Antraigues speaks of a plan to révolutionner la Suisse.^[2]
• 1793 – The verb is recorded in the political sense, the date most dictionaries give.^[5][3][7]
• 1794 – Grégoire's report on the patois speaks of révolutionnant les arts, “transforming the arts”.^[2]
• 1797 – The noun révolutionnement appears.^[7]
• 1821 – Morellet uses it for bringing great changes to an established order.^[6][7]
• 1832 – Raymond's dictionary records the figurative sense “to stir up the senses or the mind”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To put a country into a state of political revolution, to stir it up with revolutionary ideas.^[2][6]
2. To transform something radically, to revolutionize it: l'informatique a révolutionné l'imprimerie.^[9][6]
3. (familiar) To throw someone into a turmoil, to upset or excite them.^[9][8]

Word family

• révolutionnement

Related words

• révolution
• révolutionnaire
• contre-révolution
• Latin revolūtiō

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert