torrent

Forms

torrent m (plural torrents)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin torrēns (“torrent”), a noun use of the present participle of torreō (“to dry up, to parch”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin noun first named a stream that dries up, and later only an impetuous one;^[2][6] Rey compares the irregular Mediterranean watercourse with the oued, and thinks that in mountain regions such as Gaul the word came to mean a rapid stream that never runs dry.^[3] The verb goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“to dry”), also seen in English thirst.^[3][7] Wiktionary instead takes the French word from Italian torrente.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan torrent and Spanish torrente, and Italian has the same form.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It was borrowed with a figurative sense, “great abundance”: the Psautier de Cambridge speaks of a torrent de delices, a torrent of delights; the GLLF, the Grand Robert and Rey date the text about 1120, the TLFi to the middle of the 12th century.^[2][8][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1273 it is used, as in Latin, of a rapid, impetuous stream of water, in a treatise of astronomy by Abraham ibn Ezra.^[2][3] The word is rare before the 15th century.^[5][3][4] In the 16th and 17th centuries it took figurative senses now lost, “conqueror whom nothing stops” (1579), “irresistible movement” (1580) and “force of things, of fashion” (1643).^[3][2] By analogy it named a rapid, violent flow of liquid (1607, d'Urfé's torrent de larmes).^[2][3][9] The usual pleuvoir à torrents replaced pleuvoir par torrents; both à torrents and par torrents are found in 1653.^[3][2] A 16th-century Latinism torrent also meant “torrid” (1540).^[3]

The adjectives torrentueux (1823) and torrentiel (1832) were formed late.^[3] English torrent, from about 1600, comes from the French word and directly from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – The Psautier de Cambridge has torrent de delices.^[8][3]
• 1273 – Used of an impetuous stream of water.^[2][3]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it of what moves with an irresistible force.^[2][3]
• c. 1600 – English borrows the word.^[7]
• 1607 – D'Urfé writes torrent de larmes.^[2]
• 1653 – Par torrens and à torrens in Le Moyne.^[2]
• 1823 – Torrentueux appears.^[3]
• 1832 – Torrentiel appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mountain stream with a steep slope, a rocky bed and a rapid, irregular flow with sudden floods.^[9][2]
2. A rapid and violent flow of liquid: des torrents de lave.^[9][6]
3. Il pleut à torrents: it is raining very heavily, in torrents.^[9][3]
4. (figurative) A great outpouring or abundance: un torrent de larmes.^[6][2][9]

Word family

• torrentiel
• torrentueux

Related words

• torride
• torréfier
• Latin torrēns
• English torrent

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert