Etymology and origin of the Old French word removoir
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- c. 1100 Chanson de Roland More words from the 11th century
- Inherited from
- Latin removeo
- Ultimate origin
- Latin moveō
Etymology tree
From the same root
Forms
removoir (present participle removant; past participle remeü; first-person singular present remuef)[1]
Chrétien de Troyes has the infinitive removoir and the forms remuet, remut and remeüst.[4]
Etymology
It is inherited from Latin removeō (“to move back, take away”),[1][3] formed in Latin from re- and moveō (“to move”).[5][1] Tobler–Lommatzsch refers to the simple verb movoir.[2] The DEAF gives the same etymon.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
The first record is in the Chanson de Roland, about 1100, in an Anglo-Norman manuscript of about 1125, where the form remut occurs once.[7][8] The earliest record the DEAF gives is Anglo-Norman, the Comput of Philippe de Thaon, dated 1119 or perhaps 1113.[6][9]
Semantic evolution
In Chrétien de Troyes the verb is mostly reflexive, for a person or a horse that does not stir, as in Yvain: Mes ainz por ce ne se remut “but for all that he did not move”; it also means leaving a place, as in Aprés mangier ne se remut Li rois d'antre ses conpaignons “after the meal the king did not leave his companions”.[4] Transitively it meant to move something from its place and to remove or take away a person or thing;[2] Tobler–Lommatzsch also has removoir le sanc for stirring the blood.[2] Greimas adds the senses of going away and of drawing back.[10]
The form remouvoir is recorded from the 13th century and ran on, according to the FEW, from Palsgrave in 1530 to Oudin in 1660.[3] In Middle French the verb still meant to set a person or thing apart from something.[11]
Timeline
- c. 1100 – remut in the Chanson de Roland.[7][8]
- 1113 or 1119 – in the Comput of Philippe de Thaon, an Anglo-Norman text.[6][9]
- c. 1170 – in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.[4]
- c. 1177 – removoir and remut in Chrétien's Yvain.[12][4]
- 13th century – the form remouvoir.[3]
Meanings
Verb
- to move or stir something from its place.[4][2]
- to remove, set aside or take away a person or thing.[13][10][3]
- (reflexive) to move, stir.[4][10]
- (reflexive) to go away, depart from a place.[4][10]
- (intransitive) to start moving; to draw back, retreat.[14][10]
Anglo-Norman
The AND heads the word remuver.[4] The earliest record the DEAF gives is the Anglo-Norman Comput of Philippe de Thaon.[6] Wiktionary lists the Anglo-Norman forms remover and removeir.[1] The MED derives the Middle English verb remeven from removoir, remuevre and remouvoir, compared with the Latin verb,[15] the source of the English word remove.[16]
Descendants
- Middle French remouvoir (→ French remouvoir)[11][1]
- Middle English remeven (borrowed; → English remove)[15][16]
Related words
- movoir
Usage notes
Tobler–Lommatzsch, Godefroy and the DÉCT head the word removoir,[4] the AND remuver and the DMF remouvoir.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:750
- ^ a b c d e Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10:245
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. removoir
- ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d 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. removoir
- ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. RolS
- ^ a b UD Old French PROFITEROLE and UD Middle French PROFITEROLE treebanks, Universal Dependencies (from the SRCMF and the Base de français médiéval; texts by DEAF siglum), p. RolS
- ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. PhThCompS
- ^ a b c d e 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. removoir
- ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. remouvoir
- ^ UD Old French PROFITEROLE and UD Middle French PROFITEROLE treebanks, Universal Dependencies (from the SRCMF and the Base de français médiéval; texts by DEAF siglum), p. YvainF
- ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:751
- ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 8:752
- ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Removoir.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fro/removoir. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.
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