ruine

Forms

ruine f (plural ruines)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ruīna (“fall, collapse”), whose plural meant the rubble of fallen buildings;^[2][3][4][1] the Latin noun comes from ruō (“to fall down, cause to fall”), the source also of ruer.^[3][5][6] Rey sees the sense “remains of a building”, before the end of the 12th century, as a second borrowing of the Latin plural.^[3]

Cognate with Italian rovina, Spanish ruina, Portuguese ruina and Catalan ruina.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Wace's Brut (1155) for devastation, destruction.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The broad sense “destruction, damage” of the first texts was usual until the 17th century and then became literary.^[3] About 1160 the word was used abstractly for a fall, decline or loss,^[2][3] and in the 13th century for a person's death, a sense archaic after the 17th century.^[3] From about 1213 it named the remains of a collapsed building,^[2] and in 1262 the collapse of a building itself.^[2][3] Tomber en ruine is recorded in 1549 by Robert Estienne,^[2][9] battre en ruine in 1611.^[3][10]

The sense of financial ruin starts in 1559 with être la ruine de qqn, in Amyot, and becomes the common “loss of one's fortune” in 1636.^[3][10] With the late 18th-century taste for ruins as objects of melancholy, the word also named a painting of ruined buildings (1765, the Encyclopédie).^[3][2] In 1833 Hugo and Balzac applied it to a person worn down by age or misfortune.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1155 – Wace uses it in the Brut for devastation.^[2]
• c. 1160 – “Fall, decline” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[10][3]
• c. 1213 – “Remains of a collapsed building” in the Faits des Romains.^[2]
• 1262 – “Collapse” in the Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres.^[2]
• 1549 – Tomber en ruine in Robert Estienne.^[2][9]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for the cause of someone's financial loss.^[3][10]
• 1636 – “Loss of one's fortune” in Monet.^[3][10]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it for a painting of ruins.^[2]
• 1833 – Applied to a person by Hugo and Balzac.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (often plural) The remains of a building decayed or destroyed: les ruines d'une abbaye (the ruins of an abbey).^[11][2]
2. A dilapidated building.^[11]
3. A person worn down by age, illness or grief.^[11][2]
4. The decay of a building leading to its collapse: tomber en ruine, menacer ruine.^[11][2]
5. Destruction, downfall, loss.^[11][3]
6. Loss of one's wealth, financial ruin: aller à la ruine.^[11][3]
7. What causes such a loss: ce procès sera sa ruine (that lawsuit will ruin him).^[3][10]

Word family

• ruiner

Related words

• ruineux
• ruer
• Latin ruīna

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 n o p q r 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 552b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert