Etymologically
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renvoyer

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁɑ̃.vwa.je/[1]

Forms

renvoyer[1]

Etymology

It is from French re- + envoyer, marking a return to an earlier state.[2][3][1] The base verb continues Late Latin inviō (“to travel”), which must have taken the sense “to send” early on.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Roman d'Eneas (about 1160) uses it for sending someone back where he was: mort li renveoit Eneas “Aeneas sent him back dead”.[2] Benoît de Sainte-Maure has it for sending a thing back: ainz les li renveia ariere “but he sent them back to him”.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 Jean Bodel uses it for dismissing an army, and by 1480 it meant “to dismiss (someone) from a post”.[2][3] In 15th-century law it took the sense “to refer (someone) to a more competent authority”, then “to refer (a reader)” (1538, renvoyer le lecteur aux notes).[3] From 1665 it meant “to acquit” in law, and, from 1690 “to postpone”;[2][3] renvoyer aux calendes is in La Fontaine (1668), and aux calendes grecques in Furetière (1690).[2][3]

Ball games gave renvoyer l'esteuf “to retort” (1593), se renvoyer l'esteuf “to pass the responsibility to each other” (1611), se renvoyer la balle (1787) and, much later, renvoyer l'ascenseur “to return a favour” (1909).[2][3] Descartes uses it in 1637 for reflecting light.[2] The noun renvoi (1396) means a dismissal, a cross-reference (1611) and, from about 1748, a belch.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – “To send back”, in the Roman d'Eneas.[2]
  • c. 1200 – “To disband (an army)”, in Jean Bodel.[2]
  • 1396 – The noun renvoi.[3][4]
  • 1480 – “To dismiss (soldiers, a servant)”.[2][3]
  • 1538 – “To refer (a reader)”.[3]
  • 1637 – “To reflect (light)”, in Descartes.[2]
  • 1665 – “To acquit”, in La Fontaine.[2]
  • 1690 – Renvoyer aux calendes grecques, in Furetière.[2]
  • 1787 – Se renvoyer la balle.[3]
  • 1909 – Renvoyer l'ascenseur, in Jules Renard.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To send back (someone) where they came from: renvoyer les soldats dans leurs foyers.[6]
  2. To send away; to dismiss, fire, expel: renvoyer un domestique.[6][1]
  3. To send or give back (a thing): renvoyer une lettre à l'expéditeur.[6][1]
  4. To throw or hit back (a ball): renvoyer la balle, renvoyer l'ascenseur, to return a favour.[6][1]
  5. Of a surface, to reflect (light, an image); to echo (a sound).[6][1]
  6. To refer (someone, a case) to another authority; to refer (a reader) to a passage.[6][1]
  7. To postpone, put off: renvoyer aux calendes grecques, to put off indefinitely.[6][1]
  8. To remind (someone) of something.[1]

Word family

  • renvoi

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert