ravage

Forms

ravage m (plural ravages)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French ravir + -age, the verb being taken in its original sense “to carry off by force”.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *rapīre, an alteration of Latin rapere (“to carry off, seize”).^[2][5] The Middle French Dictionary places it in the FEW's article on the Latin verb.^[6] Meyer-Lübke lists it among the derivatives of the Latin verb, beside Old Occitan raben (“rushing”).^[7] Littré compared Old Occitan rabeg (“torrent”) and linked the word to the sense of the Latin verb seen in ravine.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1355, in Pierre Bersuire's translation of Livy, in the phrase pille et ravage, “plunder and ravage”: damage done by deliberate violence.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant plunder, and by analogy what floods carry away.^[9] In the 16th century it was also used of a violent rush of water (1543) and of sudden falls of rain or snow, as in Amyot and Montaigne.^[2][5][8] From 1586 it named damage done by the weather, and Montaigne used it figuratively in 1588.^[2]

From before 1680 it named the disastrous effects of something, and in 1718 the Académie spoke of the ravages of the passions in young hearts; from the classical period the plural also named the damage done by time, illness or worry.^[2][9] The once singular word is now mostly used in the plural.^[9] Faire des ravages “to win hearts and cause pain” dates from 1830, in George Sand.^[2][9] The word is no longer felt as a derivative of ravir.^[9]

In Quebec French a ravage is a stretch of forest where deer or moose gather in winter, and in the plural the trails they tread there.^[9] The verb ravager was formed on the noun, and English took ravage from French ravager in the 1610s.^[5][9][10]

Timeline

• 1355 – Pille et ravage in Bersuire's translation of Livy.^[2]
• 1543 – A violent rush of water, in Selve's translation of Plutarch.^[2]
• 1586 – Damage done by the weather.^[2]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it figuratively.^[2]
• Before 1680 – A disastrous consequence, in Patru.^[2]
• 1610s – English borrows the verb ravage from French ravager.^[10]
• 1718 – The Académie records the ravages of the passions.^[2]
• 1830 – Faire des ravages in the sense of seduction, in George Sand.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) The act of laying waste, devastation caused by people with sudden violence: les ravages des envahisseurs.^[4][2]
2. (usually plural) Heavy damage caused by natural forces or by people: les ravages d'un incendie; of an epidemic, faire des ravages is to take many lives.^[4][11]
3. The harmful effects of something on the body or the mind: les ravages du temps, les ravages de l'alcoolisme.^[4][11]
4. (familiar) Faire des ravages: to break hearts, to make people fall in love and suffer.^[4][11]
5. (Quebec) A forest area where deer or moose winter, and the trails they tread there.^[9]

Word family

• ravager
• ravageur

Related words

• ravir
• ravine
• Latin rapiō
• English ravage

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)