rosser

Forms

rosser^[1] Old French roiscier and roissier.^[2][3]

Etymology

In the traditional and most likely explanation it is inherited from Old French roissier (“to beat violently”), reshaped in the 17th century under the influence of rosse (“old nag”), as if it meant “to treat like a nag”.^[2][4][5] The Old French verb is traced to Vulgar Latin *rustiō (“to beat”), from *rustia (“stick”), from Latin rustum (“bramble”),^[2][6][1] which the TLFi supports with Corsican and Neapolitan words for “bramble” and Bloch and Wartburg with Occitan rouisso (“dead branch”).^[2][6]

Bloch and Wartburg also allow that the modern verb may have been formed directly on the noun, “to treat like a nag”.^[6][4] Pierre Guiraud gave it a separate source from the Old French verb: a Romance *ruptiō, from Latin ruptus (“broken”), the past participle of rumpō (“to break”), with the noun as a back-formation from the verb.^[4][3][1] Littré, following Raynouard, derived it from the noun, while Diez had proposed a Flemish verb meaning “to curry”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1165 as roiscier in Guillaume d'Angleterre, meaning “to beat violently”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern form appears in Scarron's Virgile travesti (about 1650), with the same sense of beating someone hard.^[2][6][4] By extension it meant to beat an enemy in battle (1690, Furetière; used by Voltaire in 1772).^[2][8][4] The verb is familiar; the TLFi marks it dated, while Rey calls it well alive.^[2][4]

The past participle gave the noun rossée “thrashing” (1834).^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Roiscier appears in Guillaume d'Angleterre.^[2]
• c. 1650 – Scarron uses the form rosser.^[2][6]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “to defeat in battle”.^[8][4]
• 1772 – Voltaire uses it of defeating an army.^[2]
• 1834 – The noun rossée is recorded.^[6][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (familiar) To thrash, beat someone violently: il a rossé le voleur.^[5][2]
2. (familiar, dated) To defeat someone in battle or in a contest.^[8][2][1]

Word family

• rossée

Related words

• rosse

References

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