rançon

Forms

rançon f (plural rançons)^[1] Old French raençon (about 1130), raançon (about 1155), reanson (about 1250), rençon (1268); rançon from about 1360.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French raençon, inherited from Latin redēmptiō (“buying back, ransom; redemption”).^[4][2][5][6] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of redimō (“to buy back”), from emō (“to take, to buy”).^[2][7][8] The modern form is a contraction of the Old French one.^[8]

The word is the popular doublet of rédemption, borrowed from the same Latin noun, which took over the religious sense in the 13th century.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey and the GLLF date raençon to about 1130 (Eneas), as the price demanded to free a prisoner; the TLFi's first record is raançon in Wace's Saint Nicolas (about 1150).^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant the price paid to free a captive, notably in the phrase mettre a raançon (about 1155), now archaic.^[2][3] In biblical style it was used very early of Christ's sacrifice, pur raançun de nos pechez (about 1138), but from the 13th century that sense belonged to rédemption.^[2][4] C'est la rançon d'un roi “it is a king's ransom”, of an excessive price, is recorded by Furetière in 1690.^[2][3]

Much later, from 1723, la rançon de came to mean the unwelcome counterpart of something pleasant.^[2][7] Littré also records a sum paid to a privateer to release a captured merchant ship.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1130 – Raençon appears in Eneas.^[3][2]
• c. 1138 – Used of the redemption of sins by Christ.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace has raançon and mettre a raançon.^[3][2]
• 1260 – The verb ransonner is recorded.^[2]
• About 1360 – The form rançon appears, in Froissart.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records c'est la rançon d'un roi.^[3][2]
• 1723 – First used for the drawback of an advantage.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ransom, a sum of money demanded to set free someone held captive.^[7][9][10]
2. (figurative) La rançon de: the drawback that comes with an advantage or pleasure, the price paid for it: la rançon du succès.^[7][10]
3. (literary) Mettre à rançon: to hold to ransom.^[7][8]

Word family

• rançonner

Related words

• rédemption
• rédimer
• Latin redēmptiō

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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 176b
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)