rets

Forms

rets m pl (plural only)^[1] Old French rei, roi, reiz, rez, raiz and roiz; the spelling rets dates from 1538.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French rei, inherited from Late Latin retis (“net”), a masculine and feminine form recorded in the 4th century beside the classical neuter rēte.^[2][3][6] The ⟨t⟩ of the modern spelling is a learned one after the Latin, and the final ⟨s⟩ may come from the Latin plural retes, which was more frequent than the singular.^[2][5] Rey calls the Latin word of obscure origin.^[3]

Cognate with Occitan ret, Catalan ret, Spanish red, Portuguese rede and Italian rete.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine singular rei “net” appears in the Cambridge Psalter, in the first half of the 12th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French rei was feminine, like Latin retis; from the 16th century its final consonant made it feel masculine, and the feminine was gone by the 17th century.^[3][5][4] Used mostly in the plural, it named a net for catching birds, fish or game, a sense that is now archaic.^[3][2] The figurative sense of the snares by which someone's mind or heart is caught, found in Christine de Pisan at the end of the 14th century, is the one that has survived, in a formal or literary style.^[3][4] In anatomy rets admirable (about 1560, Paré) named a network of vessels, a use now obsolete.^[3][7] The word has given way to its diminutive réseau.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Rei, feminine, in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2][3]
• 1155 – The plural reiz in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• early 13th century – The masculine singular rez in the Poitevin sermons.^[2]
• late 14th century – Christine de Pisan uses it figuratively.^[3][4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne spells it rets.^[4][3]
• c. 1560 – Paré has rets admirable in anatomy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, literary) A net for catching birds, fish or game.^[2][8][1]
2. (figurative, literary) A snare or trap: tendre des rets, prendre quelqu'un dans ses rets.^[8][7]

Word family

• réseau

Related words

• Latin rete

Usage notes

The word was still feminine in the 16th century.^[6][5] Wiktionary treats it as plural only.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert