Etymologically
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rêve

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Europe): /ʁɛv/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /ʁaɛ̯v/[1]
  • IPA (Canada, common): /ʁaɪ̯v/[1]

Forms

rêve m (plural rêves)[1] Spelled resve by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, rêve since 1740.[2]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French rêver (“to dream”).[2][3][1][4] The verb, Old French resver (about 1130), is of uncertain origin.[2][5][1] Wartburg takes it from an unrecorded “*esver” “to wander” (also behind Old French “desver” “to go out of one's mind”, compare endêver), from a Gallo-Romance “*esvo” “vagrant”, from Vulgar Latin *exvagus, built on vagus (“wandering”).[4][5] Guiraud proposed instead “*re-exvadere”, from ēvādō (“to escape”), Rey finds both hypotheses ingenious but unverifiable.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Malebranche's Recherche de la vérité (1674): a more or less confused combination of imaginary events that comes to the mind in sleep.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word was rare until the 19th century: Furetière called it old in 1690 and Trévoux “low and little used” in 1732, the usual word being songe.[3][7] It grew with the verb, which by the end of the 17th century tended to replace songer for dreaming in one's sleep.[2] From the 18th century it meant a groundless plan or a fancy (Académie, 1718, André Chénier, 1794), and, from 1819 an ideal one longs for.[6][2] De rêve, “ideal, perfect”, is recorded with Maupassant (1885), and ce n'est pas le rêve “it's not ideal” from the early 20th century.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1130 – The verb resver “to rave”.[2]
  • 1674 – Rêve, Malebranche.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière calls the word old.[3]
  • 1718 – A fancy, in the Académie dictionary.[6]
  • 1819 – A cherished aspiration.[2]
  • 1885 – De rêve, Maupassant.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dream, a sequence of images in sleep: faire un rêve, faites de beaux rêves.[7][1]
  2. A daydream, an illusion; a groundless plan: c'est un rêve.[6][2]
  3. An ideal one longs for: la maison de ses rêves, de rêve, ideal.[6][2]
  4. Ce n'est pas le rêve: it's not ideal.[6]

Usage notes

Littré records a separate rêve (14th–15th centuries), a duty levied on goods leaving the kingdom, of disputed origin.[8]

References

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