reculer French · revision 16835

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1135, Couronnement de Louis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁə.ky.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''reculer'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|re-|cul|-er]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 1510b) literally “to go backside first”; see [[cul]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Littré analyses it as [[re-]] and the old verb [[culer]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[wa|reskoulé]], [[pro|recular]], [[es|recular]] and [[it|rinculare]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Couronnement de Louis'' (about 1135) has it intransitively for “to go backwards”: ''Cuidiez vos ore qu'alasse reculant ?'', “do you think I would go back?”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A transitive use “to drive someone back” appears about 1200 (''Aiol''), and the figurative “to give up a resolution” about 1209 (Guiot de Provins).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Transitive use survived mainly for objects (1690) and, in time, for “to postpone” (late 14th century), still very much alive in ''reculer une date''.^(DHLF 1992) In modern French the intransitive figurative sense is closer to “to hesitate”, except in negative phrases such as ''ne reculer devant rien'' (1875).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Quebec French still says ''reculer'' for backing a vehicle, where France prefers ''faire marche arrière''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The phrase ''reculer pour mieux sauter'' (Cotgrave, 1611) replaced Adenet le Roi's ''reculer por le plus loing saillir'' (about 1274), a comparison with animals;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Littré (1869) records its sense “to avoid a small trouble only to meet a greater one”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The back-formed noun [[recul]] is first figurative (13th century) and then usual for the recoil of a gun (about 1575).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1135 – “To go backwards”, ''Couronnement de Louis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – Transitive “to drive back”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1209 – Figurative “to back down”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1274 – ''Reculer por le plus loing saillir'', Adenet le Roi.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – ''Reculer à'' “to shrink from”, Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – ''Reculer pour mieux saulter'', Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1869 – Littré records the sense “to defer an inevitable trouble”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move [[m|en|backwards]], step back; to [[m|en|retreat]]: ''reculer d'un pas''; of a gun, to [[m|en|recoil]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of the sea, a frontier, a disease and the like: to recede, lose ground; to decline.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To back down, give up; to hesitate: ''ne reculer devant rien'', to stop at nothing.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Reculer pour mieux sauter'': to step back to take a run-up; figuratively, to put off an unavoidable difficulty.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To move something back; to [[m|en|postpone]]: ''reculer une date''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Se reculer'': to step back.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[recul]]

+ * [[reculade]]

+ * [[reculement]]

+ * [[à reculons]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[culer]]

+ * [[cul]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Reculer'' is also a rare masculine noun (1869), the act of moving back, used in the phrase ''au reculer''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}