ramer

Forms

ramer^[1]

Etymology

It is from Old French raim (“oar”), an Old French noun recorded at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's glosses, which comes from Latin rēmus (“oar”).^[2][3][4][1] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert instead take it from a Vulgar Latin verb *remare, from the noun.^[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg add that the Old French noun was soon confused with its homonym meaning “branch” and dropped, Old French using aviron until the 15th century; the modern rame “oar” was formed from the verb.^[4][3]

Rey links the Latin noun to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *erə- (“to row”), also behind Ancient Greek ἐρέτης (erétēs, “rower”).^[3] The Latin word continues in Italian remo and Spanish remo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1213, in the Fet des Romains, meaning “to work the oar”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb is seldom recorded before the 16th century, when it was also used of a boat moving forward (1574) and, by the poets of the Pléiade, transitively for “to move with oars”.^[3][4] Sailors do not use it; they say nager.^[3][6]

The figurative and familiar sense “to take great pains, struggle” is recorded by the Académie in 1718; it is lively in the dialects of the East and of French-speaking Switzerland and has become common in familiar French.^[2][3] By analogy the verb was used in 1765 of a bird beating its wings, as against gliding, and in 1877 of a person beating the air with the arms.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1213 – Ramer “to work the oar” appears in the Fet des Romains.^[2]
• c. 1213 – The derivative rameur appears, as rameor.^[3]
• 1538 – The verb is recorded again.^[4]
• 1574 – It is used of a boat moving forward.^[3]
• 1718 – The Académie records the sense “to take great pains”.^[2][3]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it of a bird beating its wings.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To row, to work the oars of a boat; to move forward by rowing.^[6][1] Les pêcheurs ramaient vers la côte.^[6][1]
2. (rare) Of a bird, to fly by beating its wings.^[6][2]
3. (familiar) To toil, to struggle hard at something.^[6][1] Elle a ramé pour finir sa thèse.^[6][1]

Word family

• rame
• rameur

Related words

• Latin rēmus

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second verb ramer (1549), “to stake (climbing plants)”, from rame “stick, stake”; the TLFi dates it from 1326 and records s'y entendre comme à ramer des choux “to know nothing about it” (1688).^[5][2][4]

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 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 d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert