lever French · revision 15888

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion de Clermont|origins=la levis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /lə.ve/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lever'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|lever]], [[inh|la|levō|t=to lighten, relieve; to lift up]],^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|5, 267b) a verb formed from [[m|la|levis|t=light (in weight)]], so properly “to make light”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Rey explains that the sense “relieve” led to “raise, lift up”, which in imperial Latin displaced [[m|la|surgō]], [[m|la|tollō]] and [[m|la|orior]], and that the Late Latin sense “to rise (of dough)” is first found in the 6th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The classical sense “relieve” did not survive in French.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|levare]], [[oc|levar]], [[ca|llevar]], [[es|llevar]], [[pt|levar]] and [[ro|lua]];^(DHLF 1992)^(REW 1935) in Romanian, southern Italian, Spanish and Portuguese the verb came to mean “take, take away”.^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record, in the late 10th-century ''Passion'' of Clermont, has ''levet sa man'' “raises his hand”, the sense “move from low to high”;^(TLFi) the same text has the reflexive “to stand up”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By about 1100 the verb meant “to get out of bed” (''Chanson de Roland''), and the present participle ''levant'' was used of the rising sun;^(TLFi) the rising of storms and winds followed in the 12th century.^(TLFi) The hunting sense “to start (game) from its lair” appears about 1170 in Chrétien de Troyes,^(TLFi) and the baker's sense of dough rising about 1200.^(TLFi) In the 13th century it took the senses “to raise (taxes)” (1242) and “to levy (troops)” (1268), and ''lever le siège'' “to raise the siege” (1263) gave the sense “to bring to an end”.^(TLFi)

+

+ Many phrases name a gesture of the body: ''lever les yeux'' (about 1360), ''lever le coude'' “to drink” (1752), ''lever le pied'' “to make off” and ''ne pas lever le petit doigt'' “not to lift a finger” (1936).^(DHLF 1992) In popular speech ''lever'' meant “to pick up (a woman)” from 1776.^(TLFi) The infinitive used as a noun, ''le lever'' “getting up; sunrise”, is recorded from the 12th century.^(Petit Robert 2007) In Belgian and Luxembourg French ''être bien, mal levé'' means “to be in a good, bad mood”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Levet sa man'' in the ''Passion'' of Clermont.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – “To get out of bed” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1155 – Wace writes ''ancres lever'' “to weigh anchor”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – First used of dough rising.^(TLFi)

+ * 1242 – ''Lesver'' “to collect (a tax)”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1263 – Rutebeuf has ''lever le siege''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1596 – ''Lever le plan'' “to survey, map”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1776 – Popular sense “to pick up (a woman)”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1878 – Stock-exchange sense “to take delivery of (securities)”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(transitive)'' To [[m|en|raise]] or lift; to move upward.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # To raise a part of the body: ''lever la main'', ''lever les yeux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To take away, remove or end something: ''lever un obstacle'', ''lever une punition'', ''lever le siège''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # To [[m|en|levy]] or collect (taxes) or raise (troops).^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(hunting)'' To start (game) from cover.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To draw up (a map or plan) by [[m|en|surveying]].^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' Of dough, to rise; of plants, to come up.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' ''Se lever'': to stand up; to get up from bed; of the sun, to rise; of the wind or weather, to rise or clear.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' To pick up (someone) for sex.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Le lever'': the act or time of getting up; the rising of a heavenly body (''le lever du soleil''); the raising of the theatre curtain.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[levage]]

+ * [[levant]]

+ * [[levée]]

+ * [[levure]]

+ * [[levé]]

+ * [[levier]]

+ * [[élever]]

+ * [[élevage]]

+ * [[éleveur]]

+ * [[élévation]]

+ * [[élévateur]]

+ * [[enlever]]

+ * [[soulever]]

+ * [[surélever]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[léger]]

+ * [[levain]]

+ * [[la|levis]]

+ * [[en|levy]]

+ * [[en|lever]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The past participle survives in ''pont-levis'' “drawbridge” and in ''au pied levé'' “at a moment's notice”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}