rester

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁɛs.te/^[1]

Forms

rester^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin restō (“to stop; to persist; to be left over”), formed with the intensive prefix re- from stō (“to stand”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The keeping of /st/, which a word inherited by the popular route would have reduced (to give “*rêter”), speaks for the borrowing, Wiktionary allows that it may be inherited and reshaped after Latin, and Meyer-Lübke lists it as taken from Italian restare.^[1][7] Latin “stāre” also supplied some forms of être (“étant”, j'étais).^[3]

Cognate with Italian restare, Occitan restar, Catalan restar and Spanish restar.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas (1174–1176) in the sense “to stop”, and about 1180 in Marie de France meaning “to stay in the same place”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant “to stay where one is”, competing with Old French remanoir, and “to stop on the way”, literally and figuratively, as in rester court (1559) and en rester là (1754).^[3][2] Y rester (1585) is a euphemism for “to die”, like rester sur le carreau (1771).^[3][5] From about 1240 it also meant “to remain in a position”, and, from 1671 “to continue in a state”.^[3][2]

In the 17th century it took the senses “to be left” (il reste à, 1580) and “to be still alive” (1604), and in the 18th “to endure in memory” (1773).^[2][3] The sense “to live, reside” (1647) was branded a Gascon usage in the 18th century, but it is common in many regions and in Belgian, Quebec, Lebanese and African French.^[3] The exclamation J'y suis, j'y reste ! is attributed to Mac-Mahon after the taking of the Malakoff fort in 1855.^[3]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – “To stop”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[2]
• c. 1180 – “To stay in the same place”, in Marie de France.^[2]
• 1382 – Rester à payer.^[2]
• 1585 – Y rester “to die”, in Noël du Fail.^[2]
• 1647 – “To live, reside”.^[3][5]
• 1754 – En rester là in Voltaire.^[2]
• 1855 – J'y suis, j'y reste !, attributed to Mac-Mahon.^[3]
• 1936 – Reste que “the fact remains that”.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay, remain in a place: rester chez soi, rester au lit.^[10][8]
2. To remain in a state: rester calme, rester debout.^[3][1]
3. To be left over: Il reste du pain, reste à savoir…, it remains to be seen.^[2][1]
4. To endure, last: Son œuvre restera.^[2][3]
5. (familiar) Y rester: to die.^[10][3]
6. En rester là: to stop there, go no further.^[2]
7. (regional, Belgium, Quebec, Africa) To live, reside.^[3][10][1]

Word family

• restant
• reste

Related words

• Latin restō

Usage notes

Rester is now conjugated with être; it formerly also took avoir, which Littré still allows when the subject is no longer in the place spoken of (il a resté deux jours à Lyon).^[11][9]

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 m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d 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, 316b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert