revancher

Forms

revancher^[1] Old French revenchier, revanchier and revengier.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French re- + vengier, or on its variant venchier, the old forms of venger.^[3][2][4] The Old French verb comes from Latin vindicō (“to claim at law, avenge”).^[5][1] Bloch and Wartburg explain the modern form as an alteration of revencher, built on vencher.^[5] Littré compares the ⟨ch⟩ of pencher from Vulgar Latin *pendicō, and gives the Berry form revanger.^[6]

The change of form cut the verb off from venger, though their senses stayed close.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1165 in the Roman de Troie, used reflexively for “to take one's revenge”.^[3][2] The transitive revengier “to avenge” follows about 1175, in the Roman de Horn.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb remained an intensive near-synonym of venger, which in the end weakened it.^[2] Reflexively it meant “to pay back harm with harm” from the late 13th century (Jean de Meun), and also “to repay a kindness” from 1593, a sense the 18th- and 19th-century dictionaries called familiar and which has since disappeared.^[2][3]

Classical usage took the reflexive mainly as “to hit back, defend oneself against an attack” (1345) and, with sur, “to make up for a loss at the expense of” (1690, Furetière).^[2][3] The transitive verb came to mean “to take someone's side so as to make good their defeat” (1669), which lasted in popular use into the 20th century.^[2][7] Its derivative revanche has done far better than the verb.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – The reflexive “to take one's revenge” in the Roman de Troie.^[3]
• c. 1175 – Revengier “to avenge” in the Roman de Horn.^[3]
• 1269–1278 – Soi revanchier in Jean de Meun's part of the Roman de la Rose.^[3][2]
• 1345 – Revengier “to defend oneself against an attack”, in the Miracles de Notre Dame.^[3]
• 1488 – Revancher “to take vengeance for” in a letter of Charles VIII.^[3]
• 1593 – The reflexive sense “to return a kindness”.^[2]
• 1669 – Widerhold's dictionary gives “to help and defend someone who is attacked”.^[3][7]
• 1690 – Furetière records se revancher sur “to make up for a loss with”.^[3][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated or literary, transitive) To give someone the chance to make up for a defeat, to stand up for someone who has been attacked.^[3][7]
2. Se revancher (dated or literary): to take one's revenge, to pay someone back, to get the upper hand again.^[3][8]
3. Se revancher sur (classical): to make up for a loss at the expense of something.^[3][2]

Word family

• revanche

Related words

• venger
• vengeance
• Latin vindicō

References

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