reculer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁə.ky.le/^[1]

Forms

reculer^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French re- + cul + -er,^{[2][3][4][1][5]} literally “to go backside first”; see cul.^[2][3] Littré analyses it as re- and the old verb culer.^[6]

Cognate with Walloon reskoulé, Old Occitan recular, Spanish recular and Italian rinculare.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Couronnement de Louis (about 1135) has it intransitively for “to go backwards”: Cuidiez vos ore qu'alasse reculant ?, “do you think I would go back?”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A transitive use “to drive someone back” appears about 1200 (Aiol), and the figurative “to give up a resolution” about 1209 (Guiot de Provins).^[2][3] Transitive use survived mainly for objects (1690) and, in time, for “to postpone” (late 14th century), still very much alive in reculer une date.^[3] In modern French the intransitive figurative sense is closer to “to hesitate”, except in negative phrases such as ne reculer devant rien (1875).^[3][7] Quebec French still says reculer for backing a vehicle, where France prefers faire marche arrière.^[3]

The phrase reculer pour mieux sauter (Cotgrave, 1611) replaced Adenet le Roi's reculer por le plus loing saillir (about 1274), a comparison with animals;^[2][3] Littré (1869) records its sense “to avoid a small trouble only to meet a greater one”.^[2][3] The back-formed noun recul is first figurative (13th century) and then usual for the recoil of a gun (about 1575).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – “To go backwards”, Couronnement de Louis.^[2]
• c. 1200 – Transitive “to drive back”.^[2]
• c. 1209 – Figurative “to back down”.^[2]
• c. 1274 – Reculer por le plus loing saillir, Adenet le Roi.^[2]
• 1559 – Reculer à “to shrink from”, Amyot.^[2]
• 1611 – Reculer pour mieux saulter, Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1869 – Littré records the sense “to defer an inevitable trouble”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move backwards, step back; to retreat: reculer d'un pas; of a gun, to recoil.^[8][1]
2. Of the sea, a frontier, a disease and the like: to recede, lose ground; to decline.^[8][1]
3. To back down, give up; to hesitate: ne reculer devant rien, to stop at nothing.^[8][3]
4. Reculer pour mieux sauter: to step back to take a run-up; figuratively, to put off an unavoidable difficulty.^[8][2]
5. (transitive) To move something back; to postpone: reculer une date.^[8][3]
6. Se reculer: to step back.^[3]

Word family

• recul
• reculade
• reculement
• à reculons

Related words

• culer
• cul

Usage notes

Reculer is also a rare masculine noun (1869), the act of moving back, used in the phrase au reculer.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1510b
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert