raser

Forms

raser^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French raser, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rāsō (“to shave”), remade on Latin rāsus, the past participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; graze; shave”).^[2][3][4][5] Old French also kept the classical verb as raire, rere, which survives for shaving in Italian radere and Spanish raer.^[4][6] The further origin of the Latin verb is obscure: Rey finds no clear connection, its vowel differing from that of rōdō (“to gnaw”) and, from Sanskrit रदति (rádati, “he scratches, digs”), though the meaning of the latter is close.^[3] The sense “to fill to the brim”, recorded in the early 12th century, belongs with ras instead, according to Rey.^[3]

Cognate with Italian rasare, Occitan rasar, Catalan rasar, Spanish rasar and Portuguese rasar.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain (1176–1181) it means to cut something while passing very close to it; shaving the beard (reseies barbes) is recorded about 1200.^[2] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary dates the shaving sense to the first third of the 12th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From cutting close to the skin the verb came to mean passing close to something without touching, “to graze, skim” (end of the 12th century), the sense of ligne de défense rasante (1678) and of raser les murs.^[2][6] By the end of the 13th century it was used for razing a town to the ground, and later for levelling a grain measure or polishing a stone (1355).^[2][6] Cloth finishers' use, shearing the nap, is recorded in 1665.^[2][3]

In the 16th century raser la tronche meant to cut off someone's head (1598), and the sense “to strip, fleece” (about 1530) has died out.^[3] In 19th-century slang raser meant “to bore” (1851), with rasant “boring” (1872) and raseur “bore” (1853); the pronominal se raser “to be bored” followed in 1903.^[2][4][9] In Quebec French the compound rase-bol names a crew cut.^[3]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – Raser “to fill to the brim” in the Voyage de Charlemagne.^[2][10]
• 1176–1181 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for cutting close.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Shaving the beard.^[2]
• End of the 13th century – Razing a town.^[2]
• 1355 – Polishing a stone.^[2]
• 1598 – Raser la tronche “to cut off the head”.^[3]
• 1665 – Shearing cloth.^[2]
• 1678 – Ligne de défense rasante.^[2]
• 1851 – Slang sense “to bore”.^[2][6]
• 1903 – Se raser “to be bored”.^[9]
• 1932 – En rase-mottes, of a plane flying very low.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shave: to cut hair close to the skin; to shave someone: raser la barbe, se raser les jambes.^[6][2] Se raser: to shave oneself.^[6][2]
2. (technical) To shear the nap of cloth.^[6][2]
3. To cut a plant down to the ground.^[6]
4. (familiar) To bore: ses discours me rasent.^[6][1] Se raser: to be bored.^[6][1]
5. To raze, demolish to the ground: raser un quartier.^[6][1]
6. (technical) To level off: raser une mesure de grain.^[6]
7. To pass very close to, to skim: l'avion rase les toits.^[6][1] Raser les murs: to try to go unnoticed.^[6][1]

Word family

• rasant
• rasé
• raseur
• rasoir

Related words

• ras
• rasage
• araser
• Latin rādō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 76b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert