reflux

Forms

reflux m (uncountable)^[1] Older spelling reflus (Desportes); reflot was also used.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French re- + flux,^[4][5][6][7] and corresponds to the verb refluer.^[3] The base is from Latin fluxus (“a flowing”), from fluō (“to flow”).^[6] The TLFi dates the first record 1520, earlier than the 1532 of Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert.^[4][6][5]

Compare Italian riflusso.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Letters patent of August 1520 on the founding of Le Havre speak of flux et reflux de la mer, the rising and falling tide.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the ebb of the sea, the falling tide.^[4][3] In the second half of the 16th century Philippe Desportes used it as an image, of a fickle heart and of a crowd moving back (1573),^[4][8] and it came to mean any backward movement or withdrawal.^[3] Le flux et le reflux came to stand for the ups and downs of human affairs.^[2][8]

Medicine uses it for the flow of a liquid in a natural duct against its normal direction (reflux gastro-œsophagien),^[9][4] and chemistry for a distillation set-up (appareil à reflux).^[4]

Timeline

• 1520 – Flux et reflux de la mer in letters patent on the founding of Le Havre.^[4]
• 1532 – The date given by Bloch and Wartburg.^[6]
• 1573 – Desportes uses it figuratively and of a crowd.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ebb, the movement of the sea as it draws back at falling tide: le flux et le reflux.^[9][2]
2. A backward movement of a crowd or group after an advance; a retreat: le reflux de la foule.^[9][2]
3. (figurative) A decline, and with flux the vicissitudes of things.^[2][1]
4. (medicine) The flow of a liquid in a duct opposite to its normal direction: reflux gastro-œsophagien.^[9][4]
5. (chemistry) Appareil à reflux: a reflux distillation apparatus.^[4]

Related words

• flux
• refluer
• Latin fluxus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 646a
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert