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repas

Etymology and origin of the French word repas

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1112, Voyage de saint Brendan (repast)
Ultimate origin
Latin (pāscō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁə.pa/[1]
  • IPA: /ʁə.pɑ/[1]

Forms

repas m (invariable)[1] Old French repast, in use until the 15th century, repas from about 1350.[2][3]

Etymology

It is Old French repast, formed with re- on past (“food; meal”) after the verb repaître.[4][2][3][5][6] That noun continues Latin pāstus (“pasture, food of animals or of man”), from pāstum, the supine of pāscō (“to pasture, feed”) (see paître).[4][2][7] In hunting the Old French noun was also the quarry given to the hounds (about 1175).[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF and Rey date repast to the Voyage de saint Brendan (about 1112), in the general sense “food”; the TLFi's first record is Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–74).[7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century the word meant food in general, a sense still found in Marot, Rabelais (1534) has it for the food taken at set hours, the modern meal.[4][3][2] In that sense it was no longer felt to be linked with repaître and took on a strongly social, codified value, the meals of the day having names (déjeuner, dîner, souper) whose times have varied.[2] It was used of the food given to animals about 1350, and Musset (1829) of the food animals find for themselves.[4][2] Old phrases include repas de brebis, a meal without drink (Furetière, 1690), and repas de Bernardins, a cheerful meal (Lesage, 1735); compounds such as panier-repas and coin-repas are modern.[7][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1112 – Repast “food”, Voyage de saint Brendan.[7]
  • 1160–74 – Repast, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1350 – Repas; food for animals.[4][2]
  • 1534 – A meal taken at set hours, Rabelais.[4]
  • 1690 – Repas de brebis, Furetière.[7]
  • 1735 – Repas de Bernardins, Lesage.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A meal, food and drink taken at set times: faire un bon repas, repas de noces, prendre ses repas au restaurant.[8][1]
  2. Food given to animals at one time, (figurative) the prey an animal eats.[4][2]
  3. Panier-repas: a packed meal.[2]

Word family

  • panier-repas
  • repaître
  • paître
  • pâture
  • appât

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ 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. 7, 699a
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Repas.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/repas. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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