Etymologically
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tuer

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /tɥe/[1]
  • IPA (France): /ty.e/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /t͡sɥe/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /t͡sy.e/[1]

Forms

tuer[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tuer (“to kill; to put out”), inherited from Latin tūtor (“to protect, guard; to ward off”), in its popular form “tūtāre”, a frequentative of tueor (“to look at; to watch over, protect”).[2][3][4][5][1][6] From the 1st century Latin used “tutare famem, sitim” “to ward off hunger, thirst” in place of “exstinguere famem, sitim”, so that the verb came to mean “to put out” and then “to kill”, Medieval Latin has “tutare candelam” “to put out a candle”.[2][4][7] Rey links the shift to the ancient belief that fire was a living being, which led many languages to speak of “silencing” or “calming” a fire.[3] The sense “to put out” survived in classical French (Malherbe) and in dialects from Brittany to Savoy.[4][2]

The derivation is not undisputed: the Grand Robert calls the origin uncertain, noting that Old French “tuer” first meant “to strike, stun”, like Latin “tundere”, Littré rejected both “tūtārī” and a Germanic source and proposed a Latin “tuditare” “to strike”.[7][8] Rey compares “tueor”, itself of uncertain origin, with Vedic “távīti” “he is strong”.[3]

Only French and Occitan have this verb: compare Old Occitan tudar (“to put out; to kill”), Occitan tuar, and Italian attutare (“to put out; to calm”).[9][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1140, in the poem Grant mal fist Adam, in the sense “to take someone's life violently”; at the same date Gaimar uses it for “to knock senseless”, and about 1150 soi tuer means “to faint”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb was soon used of slaughtering animals (about 1200, tuer le cochon, 1690) and of game (1551).[2][3] In the 16th century it meant “to cause the death of”, said of grief or a bad remedy (1553), later of an illness and of frost killing plants (1690).[3][2] Se tuer “to kill oneself” dates from 1538 and “to be killed in an accident” from 1718, se tuer “to wear oneself out” is much older (about 1276), with se tuer à (1659).[2][3]

The idea of destruction spread to abstractions: tuer l'espoir (1616), tuer le temps (1608), a colour killed by contrast (1746).[2][3] Tuer “to put out (a fire)” is recorded in 1468, and “to bore to death” in 1549.[2] The derivatives tueur (about 1205) and tuerie (1350) and the phrase à tue-tête (1658) followed.[4] Colloquially ça tue now means “it's terrific”.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – “To kill”, in Grant mal fist Adam.[2]
  • c. 1150 – Soi tuer “to faint”.[2]
  • c. 1205 – Tueur.[4]
  • c. 1276 – Soi tuer “to wear oneself out”, in Adam de la Halle.[2]
  • 1468 – Tuher “to put out (a fire)”.[2]
  • 1538 – Se tuer “to commit suicide”.[2]
  • 1608 – Tuer le temps in Régnier.[2]
  • 1658 – À tue-tête in Scarron.[4]
  • 1718 – Se tuer “to be killed in an accident”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To kill: tuer quelqu'un d'un coup de couteau.[1][5]
  2. To slaughter (an animal); to kill (game).[5][3]
  3. To cause the death of: Le froid a tué les plantes.[2][3]
  4. To destroy, ruin: tuer l'espoir, tuer le temps, to kill time.[2][3]
  5. To exhaust, wear out: Ce bruit me tue, se tuer au travail.[3][2]
  6. Se tuer: to kill oneself; to be killed in an accident.[2][3]
  7. (colloquial) To be terrific: Ça tue ![1]
  8. (regional, dated) To put out (a fire, a light).[4][2]

Word family

  • tuerie
  • tueur
  • tue-tête
  • entretuer

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 r s t u v 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 446a
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert