Etymologically
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trouver

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tʁu.ve/[1]

Forms

trouver[1] Old French trover, truver, trouver from the 13th century; dialect treuver.[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French trover, probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *tropāre,[4][2][5][6] a derivative of Latin tropus (“figure of speech”), from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “turn, manner”).[2][7] The form is attested in Late Latin compounds such as “contropare” (see controuver) and “attropare” “to speak figuratively”.[2][5] Wartburg explains that “tropus” had come to mean “melody, song”, so that “*tropare” was first “to compose (a tune, a poem)”, then “to invent” and “to find”;[2][5] this sense survives in trouvère and troubadour.[5][2] P. Guiraud proposed instead a development from “to turn” to “to turn towards, meet”.[2]

Diez and Littré derived it from Latin turbō (“to disturb”), through “to stir up, search”,[3] and Wiktionary notes the fishermen's practice of churning the water to drive fish into the net, as in Sardinian “turbare”.[1] The verb replaced Latin inveniō in French;[5] Italian trovare comes from Gallo-Romance.[5] Compare Old Occitan trobar.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century) has it in the sense “to come upon by chance”;[4] the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) uses it for finding what one is looking for.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1100 the Chanson de Roland uses it for discovering by thought or invention,[4][2] and in 1155 Wace has trover “to compose in verse”, a sense lost in Middle French.[4][2] About 1145–1150 it meant “to find (someone) in a certain state” and “to judge, consider”, whence Jean de Meun's trouver + quality and trouver bon que (1547).[4][2] Aller trouver qqn dates from about 1200.[2]

The reflexive se trouver “to be somewhere” is in Chrétien de Troyes (1176–1181), and il se trouve que “it happens that” in Commynes (about 1500);[4] si ça se trouve “it may well be” is popular speech of 1953.[4] Familiar phrases include la trouver mauvaise (1883) and la trouver saumâtre (Queneau, 1952).[4]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – In the Vie de saint Léger.[4]
  • c. 1050 – “To find what one seeks”, in Saint Alexis.[4]
  • c. 1100 – “To invent” in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1155 – “To compose verse”, in Wace.[4]
  • 1176–1181 – Se trouver in Chrétien de Troyes.[4]
  • c. 1500 – Il se trouve que in Commynes.[4]
  • 1611 – Trouver chaussure à son pied.[2]
  • 1953 – Si ça se trouve.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To find (what one is looking for); to come across by chance: trouver ses clés, trouver un emploi.[7][1]
  2. To find out, discover, think up: trouver la solution, trouver le moyen de.[4][2]
  3. To find (someone or something) in a given state: je l'ai trouvé changé.[4][2]
  4. To think, consider: je le trouve sympathique, trouver que.[1][2]
  5. Aller trouver qqn: to go and see someone.[2]
  6. (reflexive) To be (situated); to find oneself, il se trouve que: it happens that, si ça se trouve: maybe.[1][4]

Word family

  • retrouver
  • trouvaille
  • trouvère
  • introuvable
  • trouvable
  • retrouvailles

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 319a
  7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert