Etymologically
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retourner

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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
  • 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