refermer French · revision 16932

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1130, Roman d'Eneas|origins=la firmus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁə.fɛʁ.me/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''refermer'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|re-|fermer]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) [[fermer]] continues [[la|firmō|t=to make firm, strengthen]], from [[m|la|firmus|t=firm]], and first meant “to make firm, fortify”; the sense “to close” appears in the 12th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 574a) Littré notes that the verb also had the sense of [[affermir]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman d'Eneas'' has it about 1130–1160 in the sense “to repair”;^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi) the modern sense “to close again” is in Chrétien de Troyes about 1175.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Villehardouin tells of defenders who could not ''les portes refremer'' in time, and a 14th-century text says a duke ''referma'' a castle, that is, rebuilt it.^(Littré 1873) The pronominal ''se refermer'' meant “to grow firm again” in ''Perceforest'' (15th century); in the modern sense, of something that closes after opening, it is in La Fontaine (1678).^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) The Académie recorded the verb in 1798.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1130 – “To repair”, in ''Eneas''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1175 – “To close again”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 15th century – ''Se refermer'' “to grow firm again”.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1678 – ''Se refermer'' “to close”, in La Fontaine.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1798 – Recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To close or shut again (what was open): ''refermer la porte'', ''refermer sa valise'', ''refermer un livre''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Se refermer'': to close (again); of a wound, to [[m|en|heal]] up.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Se refermer'' ''(figurative)'': to withdraw into oneself; of a face, to become closed, expressionless.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fermer]]

+ * [[rouvrir]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}