ressortir

ressortir¹ go or come out again

Etymology tree of ressortir¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin sors

Catalan sort

French sort

Italian sorte

Romanian soartă

Spanish suerte

French sorte

Dutch soort

Latin sortior

French sortir

Italian sortire

French ressortir

From the same root · ressortir¹

English consort ← sors

Latin cōnsors ← sors

Latin exsors ← sors

Latin sortiārius ← sors

Spanish sortero ← suerte

Latin sortītiō ← sortior

Latin sortītō ← sortior

French sortie ← sortir

Pronunciation

• /ʁə.sɔʁ.tiʁ/^[1]

Forms

ressortir^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to go or come out again” is formed from French re- + sortir.^[2][3][4][1] It was first resortir, refashioned with ⟨ss⟩ in the 12th century.^[5] It is conjugated like sortir.^[3]

Its early sense “to rebound” is a problem for the history of the simple verb, which seems to have taken a sense of movement only much later.^[5] Bloch and Wartburg note that this frequent medieval use led some scholars to separate the simple verb “to go out” from the verb meaning “to obtain by lot”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as resortir in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), of a weapon that rebounds after striking.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

From the early 12th century it also meant “to stand out in relief”, and abstractly (1564) “to stand out by contrast”;^[2][5] faire ressortir “to bring out, highlight” is recorded in the 1780s.^[2][5] The now usual sense “to come out of a place after going in” dates from about 1155, while the sense “to retreat” (arriere resortir, in battle) did not last.^[2][5] Figuratively, Old French used it for “to change one's mind, go back on one's word” (1165–1170) and “to give up” (1255).^[5]

In the 16th century the prefix took an iterative value, “to go out a second time” (1549, Estienne).^[2][5] The sense “to lead to, end in” (1559, Amyot) gave “to follow from, result” (about 1790), now only impersonal: il ressort que (1821).^[5][2] In the 20th century the transitive verb came to mean “to bring out again” (a book, a film) or “to bring up again”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Resortir “to rebound” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][5]
• early 12th century – “To stand out in relief”, in the Voyage of St Brendan.^[2]
• c. 1155 – “To come out of a place after going in”, in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• c. 1160 – “To retreat”, in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 1549 – “To go out again”, in Estienne's dictionary.^[2][5]
• 1567 – Amyot uses it for “to lead to”.^[2]
• 1784 – Faire ressortir “to highlight”, in Beaumarchais.^[2]
• 1821 – Impersonal il ressort que “it follows that”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To go out again, or shortly after coming in: Elle est rentrée à midi et n'est pas ressortie.^[4][1][7]
2. (intransitive) To come out on the other side: La flèche est ressortie de l'autre côté du tronc.^[4]
3. (intransitive) To stand out in relief or by contrast: Le rouge ressort bien sur ce fond gris.^[4][7][1]
4. Faire ressortir: to bring out, highlight.^[2][5][7]
5. (impersonal) Il ressort de / il ressort que: it follows from, it emerges that: Il ressort de l'enquête que personne n'était prévenu.^[2][7][1]
6. (transitive) To take or bring out again: ressortir un vieux film.^[1][5]

ressortir² come under the jurisdiction of

Pronunciation

• /ʁə.sɔʁ.tiʁ/^[1]

Forms

ressortir^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to come under the jurisdiction of” is formed from French ressort + -ir, the noun being the legal term for “jurisdiction”.^{[3][4][6][5][1]} That noun had meant “appeal” and “the competence of a court” since 1265.^[6] The TLFi instead treats it as a specialized use of the verb meaning “to go out again”.^[2] Unlike that verb, it is conjugated like finir.^[8]

Littré traced it, with Diez, to Latin sortior (“to obtain by lot”) with the prefix re-: “to obtain again”, whence “to take refuge, have recourse”, then “to appeal to a court” and “to belong to it”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to about 1320 without giving the sense.^[6][5][8] The participle ressortissant “falling under a jurisdiction” is found in Eustache Deschamps in 1398, and the verb itself in 1462, meaning “to appeal to a higher court”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to appeal to a higher court” (1462) disappeared, as did “to appear in court” (1481); the verb kept “to fall within the competence of a court” (1474).^[2][5] It then took the figurative sense “to relate to, belong to (a field)”, constructed with de (1585, Cholières) and more often with à (before 1741, in Jean-Baptiste Rousseau).^[5][8][2]

The participle ressortissant became a noun in the early 20th century (1927 in an official text) for a person under the authority or status of a state; in African French it names a person living in one place who comes from another.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1320 – First record, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[6]
• 1398 – The participle ressortissant in Eustache Deschamps.^[2]
• 1462 – “To appeal to a higher court”.^[2][8]
• 1474 – “To fall within the jurisdiction of a court”.^[2][8]
• 1587 – Ressortir de “to depend on”, in Cholières.^[2]
• before 1741 – Ressortir à “to belong to a field”, in Jean-Baptiste Rousseau.^[8][5]
• 1927 – The noun ressortissant “national of a state”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law, ressortir à) To come under the jurisdiction of a court: Cette affaire ressortit au tribunal de commerce.^[4][2][1]
2. (literary, ressortir à) To belong to, relate to a field: Ces questions ressortissent à la morale plutôt qu'au droit.^[4][2][8]

Word family

• ressortissant