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reprise

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Etymology and origin of the French word reprise

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1213 Fet des Romains More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin reprehendo
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French reprendre
French reprise

Pronunciation

  • /ʁə.pʁiz/[1]

Forms

reprise f (plural reprises)[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from French reprendre: the feminine of its past participle, used as the action noun of the verb.[2][3][4][5][1][6] The verb is from Latin reprehendō.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Fet des Romains (about 1213) reprise des armes is the taking up of arms again.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts the word meant the act of taking something again; in Middle French it became general for “retaking” (1285, the TLFi's first record of this sense), with special uses in law and farming.[3][2] From the 13th century it also named each game played in a match.[3] From about 1307 it named the resumption of an activity after a break, with the phrases à plusieurs reprises “several times” (1559) and à diverses reprises (1636).[3][2] In the 17th century it named a repeated part in music and song (1690) and a lesson or set of figures in riding (1680, 1694); it was used of a play put on again from the 18th century, of the recovery of business in 1875, of the quick acceleration of an engine in 1906 and of a round in boxing in 1932.[3][2]

After reprendre “to mend”, reprise meant a repair (1611), now limited to darning (1762), which gave repriser.[3][2][7] In law, reprises were what a widow or heirs could take back from an estate (1694), and since the 20th century the word has named the sum a new tenant pays for the fittings left by the previous one.[2][3] In economics it names the end of a recession.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1213 – Reprise des armes in the Fet des Romains.[2]
  • 1234 – Used for the refrain of a song.[2]
  • 1285 – “Act of taking back” in a document from Champagne.[2]
  • 1559 – À plusieurs reprises in Amyot.[2][3]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “repair”.[2]
  • 1680 – Richelet records the riding term.[2]
  • 1760 – Voltaire uses it of a play staged again.[2][8]
  • 1762 – The Académie records the darning sense.[2][3]
  • 1875 – Reprise des affaires: economic recovery.[2][3]
  • 1906 – Used of an engine's acceleration.[2][3]
  • 1932 – A round in boxing.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of taking back or recapturing: la reprise d'une colline.[9][2]
  2. A resumption after an interruption: la reprise des cours.[9][1]
  3. À plusieurs reprises: several times, repeatedly.[2][1]
  4. The staging of a play again, a revival; a television repeat.[9][2][1]
  5. (music) A repeated passage; also a cover version of a song.[2][1]
  6. (sport) A round in boxing; the restart of play after a break.[3][1]
  7. Reprise de volée (football): a volley, a kick at the ball before it touches the ground.[2][1]
  8. An economic recovery.[3][1]
  9. The acceleration of an engine.[2][3]
  10. A sum paid by an incoming tenant for fittings left by the previous one.[2][3]
  11. (sewing) darning, and the darn itself.[2][7]

Word family

  • repriser

Usage notes

The TLFi gives darning a separate headword (reprise 2) of the same origin.[2] The Grand Robert's reprise 2 (1537) is a regional name of a kind of orpin, from reprendre said of plants taking root again.[4]

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 p q r s t u v w x y z 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 m n o p q r 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. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 274a
  7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Reprise.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/reprise. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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