refrain

Forms

refrain m (plural refrains)^[1] Old French refrait, also spelled refreit, refrai, refroit and reffroy (about 1460).^[2]

Etymology

It is from Old French refrait (“melody”), remade after the verb refraindre (“to break”).^{[3][2][4][5][6]} The noun is the past participle of the verb, used as a noun; the verb meant “to break”, then “to restrain, moderate” and, of the voice, “to modulate”.^[3][4][2] The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *refrangō, remade after frangō (“to break”) from classical refringō (“to break, tear”), a compound of intensive re- and the simple verb.^[3][2]

The senses “modulate” and “words that return at regular intervals” are not found in Latin; they may have grown up in dance songs, the refrain being the part that comes back to “break” the run of the song.^[2][4][3] Meyer-Lübke instead takes the French word from Old Occitan refranh (“refrain”), which also gave Spanish refrán (“proverb”) and Portuguese rifão.^[7] Cognate with Italian rifrangere (“to break”) and Old Occitan refranher (“to restrain, modulate”).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The older noun refrait is recorded at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's glosses, meaning “melody”, then as a liturgical response (early 12th century) and, figuratively, as words repeated over and over (about 1150, Roman de Thèbes).^[3] Refrain in the sense “words repeated at the end of each verse of a song” is dated 1260 by Rey and by Bloch and Wartburg;^[2][4] the TLFi's first record is Eustache Deschamps' L'Art de dictier (1392).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old French refrait also meant the song of birds (12th century).^[2] The figurative extension “talk, discourse” has gone out of use, while “what someone says again and again” (1580, Montaigne) survives, notably in c'est toujours le même refrain (1788).^[2][3] By metonymy the word also came to mean a song with a refrain, or any song.^[3][8]

Chateaubriand used refrain in its etymological sense, for the spray of waves breaking on rocks, a Latinism that had no following;^[2] Littré records a rare nautical sense “return of waves broken against rocks”.^[9]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Refrait “melody” appears in Rashi's glosses.^[3][10]
• c. 1112 – Refrait names a liturgical response, in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][10]
• c. 1138 – The verb refraindre “to break” is recorded.^[2][10]
• 1260 – Refrain is recorded in its present sense.^[2][4][5]
• 1392 – Eustache Deschamps defines it in L'Art de dictier.^[3]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it of what someone says at every turn.^[3][10]
• 1788 – Féraud records c'est toujours le même refrain.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A refrain, chorus: words or lines repeated at the end of each verse of a song or of a fixed-form poem.^[11][8][3]
2. By extension, a song with a refrain, or a song in general.^[8][3]
3. (figurative, familiar) Words or ideas repeated tiresomely: c'est toujours le même refrain, changer de refrain.^[11][12][8]
4. (military, historical) A bugle or drum call particular to each unit, by which it recognised the orders meant for it.^[8]

Related words

• réfréner
• réfringent
• fraction
• Latin refringō

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 196a
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)