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rêverie

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Etymology and origin of the French word rêverie

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1210 Chardry, Set dormanz More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Old French resver,-erie

Pronunciation

Forms

rêverie f (plural rêveries)[1] Old French resverie (about 1210), reverie (about 1350), and rêverie from 1680.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French resverie, formed from Old French resver + -erie, the forerunner of rêver.[5][1][6] The origin of the verb is uncertain;[7][1] Bloch and Wartburg derive it from an older Old French *esver (“to wander”) and that from Vulgar Latin *exvagus, from Latin vagus (“wandering”).[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as resverie in Chardry's Set dormanz (early 13th century), meaning delirium or madness.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French it also meant noisy revelry and merrymaking, and later stubbornness and fury (about 1230); about 1320 it is used for drunkenness.[2][5] The sense “delirium from fever” lasted into the classical language.[2][4] In the 16th century it came to mean a deceptive idea, a chimera (1535), and faire une rêverie was “to have a strange idea” (1671, Mme de Sévigné).[2][4]

The modern sense, mental activity not directed by attention, appears in Montaigne (about 1580), and Descartes speaks of a recueil de rêveries (1631).[2][5] It took on its present resonance only with Rousseau and pre-Romanticism in the later 18th century, when it also named the thoughts produced in this state and their literary expression, as in Rousseau's Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (1776–1778).[2][5] English reverie, first “wild conduct” in the 14th century, was borrowed again for “daydream” in the 1650s.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1210 – First record, as resverie “delirium”, in Chardry.[5][2]
  • c. 1320 – Watriquet de Couvin uses reverie for drunkenness.[5]
  • 1535 – It means a chimera.[2]
  • 1580 – Montaigne uses it for meditation.[5][2]
  • 1631 – Descartes writes of a recueil de rêveries.[5]
  • 1680 – The spelling rêverie appears in Richelet.[4]
  • 1776–1778 – Rousseau writes the Rêveries du promeneur solitaire.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A state of the mind given over to vague thoughts and images, a daydream, reverie.[9][1]
  2. The thoughts or images produced in this state.[4][6]
  3. (dated) Deep reflection, meditation.[9][5]
  4. (dated) A fanciful idea, a chimera.[6][5]
  5. (classical) Delirium caused by illness or fever.[5][4]
  6. (music, poetry) A title for certain pieces.[6]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Rêverie.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/r%C3%AAverie. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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