cesse French · revision 16854
18 Oct 2026, 13:38 by bogdan “French fr10k batch fr75p/b02 (10 entries)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=1155, Wace, Roman de Brut|origins=la cedo}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /sɛs/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''cesse''' ''f'' (uncountable)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is a deverbal noun [[der|fr|cesser]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb continues [[la|cessō|t=to delay, be idle; to stop]], the frequentative of [[m|la|cēdō|t=to go, withdraw]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Old French also had the nouns [[m|fro|cessement]] and [[m|fro|ces]].^(Littré 1873)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Wace's ''Roman de Brut'' (1155) has it in ''ne prendre cesse'' “to have no end”.^(TLFi)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Ambroise's ''Guerre sainte'' (about 1199) has ''n'avoir ni fin ni cesse''.^(TLFi) ''Sans cesse'' “without stopping” is recorded about 1450, in the ''Mistère du Viel Testament''.^(TLFi) The 16th-century poets still used ''donner cesse à'' and ''prendre cesse'' “to come to an end”.^(Littré 1873) Today the noun lives only without an article, in set phrases.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1155 – ''Ne prendre cesse'', in Wace.^(TLFi)
+ * c. 1199 – ''N'avoir ni fin ni cesse'', in Ambroise.^(TLFi)
+ * c. 1450 – ''Sans cesse'' “without stopping”.^(TLFi)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''Sans cesse'': [[m|en|ceaselessly]], continually: ''il me tourmente sans cesse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)
+ # ''N'avoir (pas, point) de cesse que'' (with the subjunctive): not to rest until.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)
+ # ''(dated, literary)'' A stop, [[m|en|respite]], in negative phrases: ''sans fin ni cesse'', ''il n'a ni repos ni cesse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[cesser]]
+ * [[incessant]]
+ * [[cessation]]
+ * [[la|cessō]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ A separate regional word ''cesse'', a kind of wild cherry in Normandy, continues [[la|cerasus|t=cherry]].^(REW 1935)^(FEW|2, 601a)^(BHVF)
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}