reformer

Forms

reformer v.^[1]

• refurmer, refourmer, refformer, reformeir, refrumer^[2]

The AND records the insular spellings refurmer, refourmer and refourmir.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin reformō (“to shape again, transform”), according to the DHLF, Gamillscheg and Bloch and Wartburg.^[4][5][6] The FEW gives the borrowing its own article, with the Old French verb meaning "to bring back to a better form" from 1174, beside Old Occitan reformar.^[7] The Latin verb is made of re- (“again”) and fōrmō (“to shape”),^[8][4] and in Classical Latin it meant to change the shape or appearance of something, to transform it.^[8][9]

The TLFi instead treats the sense "to form again" as a French formation, the verb former with the prefix re-,^[10] and the FEW also lists that sense in its article on the Latin verb for "to form".^[11] Bloch and Wartburg note that medieval spelling, written without accents, does not show when the prefix began to be pronounced as in modern French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Life of Thomas Becket, written in 1171–1174 and kept in a manuscript of about 1175, where refurmer means "to restore".^[2][10][3] The DEAF files this passage under the sense of correcting something, of bringing it back to a complete, pure or better state or form.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tobler–Lommatzsch divides the Old French senses into "to shape anew", "to bring back", "to make become, endow", and the reflexive "to change shape" and "to adapt oneself anew".^[1] In religious texts, from the French sermons of Saint Bernard on, the verb is used of God reshaping fallen man in his own image,^[12][3] and Greimas adds "to exalt, raise up" and the reflexive "to conform oneself".^[13] Jean de Meun uses the reflexive for "to take a new form".^[10]

In Middle French the verb split into two: reformer "to form again, recreate" and réformer "to improve, correct", said above all of institutions,^[14] as when Oresme describes politics as the science of founding, ordering and keeping realms and cities and of reforming them when needed.^[14] The religious and institutional sense became specific to the Protestant reform of Christianity in the middle of the 16th century.^[4] Modern French keeps both verbs, French reformer and French réformer.^[10]

Timeline

• 1171–1174 – refurmer "to restore" in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Life of Thomas Becket.^[2][10][3]
• 1175–1200 – reformer in the French sermons of Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs.^[2][13]
• c. 1200 – reforme in a text from Lorraine, the Dialogus anime conquerentis.^[15]
• 1269–1279 – reflexive, "to take a new form", in Jean de Meun's part of the Roman de la Rose.^[10]
• 13th century – the derivative reformement "reform, action of reforming".^[16]
• 1345 – reformer le païs "to reform the country" in a judgment of the Parlement of Paris.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. to reshape, form anew, recreate (in the image of God).^[3][1]
2. to restore, bring back to an earlier or better state.^[3][2]
3. to reform, improve, correct; to cause to abandon sin.^[3]
4. (law) to remedy, redress; to restore someone to his legal rights.^[3]
5. to exalt, raise up.^[13][17]
6. (reflexive) to take a new form; to conform oneself; to reform oneself, give up sin.^[18][13][3]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the verb from 1171–1174, the date of Guernes's poem, with the spellings refurmer, refourmer and refourmir.^[3] Its insular senses include restoring peace or a truce, comforting and cheering, and rehabilitating a person at law, and the AND records the noun reformeur, one who redresses a wrong, from about 1400.^[3][19] Middle English took the verb as reformen in the late 14th century, from Old French and directly from Latin, the source of the English word reform.^[20]

Word family

• reformement
• reformeor

Descendants

• Middle French reformer (→ French réformer, French reformer)^[14][10]
• Middle English reformen (borrowed; → English reform)^[20]

Related words

• former
• forme

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch has one verb reformer and the AND reformer 1,^[1][3] while the DMF and the TLFi separate reformer and réformer,^[14][10] and the FEW lists the word under both formare and reformare.^[11][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:563
2. ^ a b c d e f Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. reformer
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. reformer
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. réformer
5. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 801
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 581
7. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10:192
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. reformō
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. reformo
10. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
11. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3:717
12. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 10:517
13. ^ a b c d Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. reformer
14. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. reformer
15. ^ Stein, Achim; Kunstmann, Pierre; Gleßgen, Martin-D., eds., Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam, version 4 (lemmatised corpus of Old French texts, after A. Dees), Universität Stuttgart, github.com/michaniets/NCA (texts by DEAF siglum), p. DialAmeB
16. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10:193
17. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 6:721
18. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:564
19. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. reformeur
20. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com