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restaurer

Etymology and origin of the French word restaurer

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
late 10th century, Vie de saint Léger
Borrowed from
Latin restauro
Ultimate origin
Latin (restaurō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin restauro
French restaurer

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁɛs.tɔ.ʁe/[1]
  • IPA: /ʁɛs.to.ʁe/[1]

Forms

restaurer[1] Old French restaurar (late 10th century), then restorer (about 1138).[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin restaurō (“to rebuild, repair; to resume, renew”),[3][2][4][5] first as “restaurar” and then in the more French form restorer;[4][2] the ⟨au⟩ was later restored after the Latin spelling.[1] Rey explains the Latin verb as formed on īnstaurō by a change of prefix to re-, on the model of īnstituō beside restituō.[2] Littré instead analysed it as re- and a simple verb meaning “to strengthen”.[6]

The Old French form restorer passed into Middle Dutch as restoren and into English as restore.[2] Cognate with Italian restaurare, Italian ristorare (“to refresh”), Occitan restaurar and Spanish restaurar.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (late 10th century) has La labia li ad restaurat “he restored his lips to him”, meaning “to heal, make whole again”.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1140 Gaimar uses restorer for rebuilding a town, and in 1155 Wace for reviving a tribute;[3] the restoring of works of art is recorded by Richelet in 1680.[3][2] From 1216 the verb meant “to give strength (by food)”, and the reflexive se restaurer “to refresh oneself by eating” is recorded in 1819.[3][8] In Old French it also meant “to replace”, “to compensate” and “to save (a soul)”, senses now lost.[2] Of a dynasty it meant “to put back on the throne” (Courier, before 1825), as with the Stuarts.[3]

The present participle restaurant named a restoring food (1521) and then a rich meat broth (1666);[2] from about 1765–1771 it named the establishments that served such broths, from which the modern restaurant comes.[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg tell that the restaurateur Boulanger took for his sign a Latin text from the Gospel with ego vos restaurabo “I will restore you”.[4] In computing, restaurer (a file, a system) follows English restore.[8]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Restaurar “to heal” in the Vie de saint Léger.[3]
  • c. 1140 – Restorer “to rebuild” in Gaimar.[3]
  • 1216 – “To strengthen with food” in Robert de Clari.[3]
  • 1521 – Restaurant “restoring food”.[2]
  • 1680 – Restoring works of art, in Richelet.[3]
  • 1771 – Restaurant “eating house”.[2]
  • 1819 – Se restaurer “to have something to eat”.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To restore (a building or a work of art) to its original state.[9][8]
  2. (literary) To re-establish (a custom, a regime, peace); to put (a king) back on the throne.[8][10]
  3. (computing) To restore (a file or system).[8][1]
  4. (literary) To feed (someone).[9][8]
  5. (reflexive) Se restaurer: to take some food, to refresh oneself.[8][1]

Word family

  • restaurant
  • restaurateur
  • restauratif
  • restauration

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e f g h i j k l 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 321a
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Restaurer.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/restaurer. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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