retourner

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁə.tuʁ.ne/^[1]

Forms

retourner^[1] Returnar (842), Old French retorner.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from tourner with the prefix re-,^[2][3][4][5] but has partly become independent of the simple verb.^[3] The verb “tourner” is from Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”).^[6]

Cognate with Old Occitan retornar, Spanish retornar and Italian ritornare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Strasbourg Oaths (842) have si io returnar non l'int pois “if I cannot turn him away from it”, the sense “to turn (someone) away from something”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The pronominal se retorner “to go back” is in the Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) and s'en returnerent in Saint Alexis;^[2] intransitively retourner meant “to go back to a place” from 1080.^[3] The transitive “to send back” is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165), and in 1832 Balzac uses it for returning a manuscript.^[2] From the 14th century it meant “to turn (an enemy's weapons) against him”, and by the 16th to turn an argument back on its author (Calvin);^[2] retourner le compliment (1918) is ironic.^[2][3]

Other senses are “to turn upside down or inside out” (early 14th century), retourner une carte (1680) and the figurative de quoi il retourne “what it's all about” (1739);^[2] retourner la terre (1660) and retourner la salade (Rousseau, 1761).^[2] Retourner sa robe (late 15th century), later retourner sa veste (1870), is “to change sides”.^[2][3] Familiarly it means “to shake, upset (someone)” (1851).^[2]

Timeline

• 842 – Returnar in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[2]
• Late 10th century – Se retorner “to go back”.^[2]
• c. 1165 – “To send back”.^[2]
• Early 14th century – “To turn over”.^[2]
• Late 15th century – Retourner sa robe.^[2]
• 1739 – De quoi il retourne.^[2]
• 1870 – Retourner sa veste in Zola.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, with être) To go back, return (to a place or state).^[1][8]
2. (transitive) To turn over, turn upside down or inside out: retourner un matelas, retourner une crêpe.^[9][1]
3. To turn over (soil); to toss (a salad).^[1][2]
4. To send back, return (an object, a letter).^[1][2]
5. To turn (an argument, a compliment) back on someone.^[2][3]
6. (familiar) To upset, shake (someone).^[2]
7. Retourner sa veste: to change sides, de quoi il retourne: what it is about.^[2][9]
8. (reflexive) To turn round; to overturn; to manage, find a way out: laissez-moi le temps de me retourner.^[1][3]

Word family

• retour
• retournement
• retournage

Related words

• tourner
• détourner
• English return

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 63a
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert