remettre French · revision 16457

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 12th century, Benedeit, Voyage de saint Brendan|origins=la mittō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁə.mɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''remettre'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|remetre]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|remetre]], [[inh|la|remittō|t=to send back; to slacken; to give up, remit]], formed from [[m|la|re-]] and [[m|la|mittō|t=to send, let go]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|10, 239a) The Latin verb also meant “to soften”, of an illness “to abate”, in law “to remit (a debt, a penalty)” and, in Christian writers, “to forgive (sins)”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Soon felt as a prefixed form of [[mettre]], it was constantly remade on it, Bloch and Wartburg think the senses “to hand over” and “to forgive”, not found before the 15th century, were taken again from Latin, and find it hard to tell what is inherited and what borrowed.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The GLLF accordingly derives it from “re-” and “mettre” and/or from the Latin verb.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|rimettere]], [[pro|remeter]] and [[es|remitir]].^(REW 1935)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first sense, “to melt”, continues the Latin “to soften”: Benedeit's ''Voyage de saint Brendan'' (early 12th century) has it transitively, and the ''Oxford Psalter'' has ''cum cire remetanz'' (“like melting wax”).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “to melt”, with “to weaken”, had gone by Middle French, though Oresme still uses the participle ''remis'' for “slack, lazy”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) The repeated sense, “to put back, put again”, took over at once: Wace (about 1145) has ''Tost le remet en dreite veie'' (“he soon puts him back on the right road”), the reflexive is found about 1165 and the transitive in Villehardouin (about 1208).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Remettre quelqu'un à sa place'' is in Robert Estienne (1539), with its figurative, snubbing sense from 1823 (Stendhal).^(TLFi) Chrétien de Troyes (1174–1187) and then Ambroise Paré (1564) use it for setting a bone.^(TLFi)

+

+ Joinville (1306) has “to put on again (a garment)”, “to put in place of” and ''se remettre à'' “to start again”.^(TLFi) From the late 15th century ''remettre quelqu'un'' meant to recognize them, usual in the 17th century and now familiar.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Ne plus remettre les pieds'' “never to set foot again” is from 1848, and the slang ''remettre ça'' “to start (a fight) again”, or “to order another round”, from 1913.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early 12th century – “To melt”, in the ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1145 – “To put back (on the right road)”, in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–1187 – “To set (a bone)”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1306 – “To put on again”, ''se remettre à'', in Joinville.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1475 – ''Remettre quelqu'un'' “to recognize”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1539 – ''Remettre en sa place'' in Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1848 – ''Remettre les pieds''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1913 – ''Remettre ça''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To put back, [[m|en|replace]]: ''remettre une chose à sa place''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # To put on again (a garment).^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # To put again, add more: ''remettre du sel'', ''remettre en état'', ''remettre à neuf'', to restore.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To hand over, [[m|en|deliver]]: ''remettre une lettre à quelqu'un''.^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ # To [[m|en|postpone]]: ''remettre à plus tard''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # To [[m|en|remit]], forgive (a debt, a sin).^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ # ''(familiar)'' To recognize: ''je vous remets, maintenant''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(medicine)'' To set (a bone).^(TLFi)

+ # ''Se remettre'': to recover, ''se remettre à'': to start again.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Remettre ça'': to start again; to order another round.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(Belgium)'' To give change.^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[remise]]

+ * [[remettage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rémission]]

+ * [[mettre]]

+ * [[la|remittō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}