regretter French · revision 17082

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (regreter)|origins=non gráta}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁə.ɡʁɛ.te/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ʁə.ɡʁe.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''regretter'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''regreter'' (about 1050), rarely ''regrater'', ''regretter'' from about 1460 (Villon).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ Its origin is disputed.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi, following Wartburg, prefers a Germanic verb with the prefix [[re-]], which was probably added by analogy with the many verbs of feeling and thought beginning with “re-” (“repentir”, “remembrer”): Wartburg proposed [[non|gráta|t=to weep, lament]], related to [[got|𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽|tr=grētan|t=to weep]] and [[en|greet]] in its dialect sense “to weep”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) The form “regreter” instead of “regrater”, rare in Old French, is a difficulty; the alternation of vowels may be explained as in “acheter” beside “achater”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary derives it from [[frk|*grātan|t=to weep]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Latin etymologies have been proposed, the latest a doubly frequentative Latin verb of complaint proposed by Heinrich Meier, and Pierre Guiraud's [[m|la-vul|*recrepitō|t=to cry out one's grief]], from [[la|crepitō|t=to rattle]], but they raise serious difficulties.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) [[en|regret]] comes from French.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) the mother laments her dear son, ''sun ker filz suvent a regreter'': to mourn aloud for someone dead.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the Middle Ages the verb meant above all to lament a dead person; the modern sense, to feel the loss or absence of someone or something, appears about 1200 and prevailed in the 16th century.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Regretter que'' “to be sorry that” is in Rabelais (1534), and ''regretter de'' + infinitive, of what one has or has not done, in the Académie (1718).^(TLFi) La Fontaine (1668) uses it for giving something grudgingly, and the Académie (1694) has ''regretter son argent''.^(TLFi) ''Vous ne le regretterez pas'' appears in Proust (1918), and ''je regrette'' as a polite formula of apology or refusal in the 19th century (Goncourt, 1864).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Regreter'' “to mourn”, ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – To miss (something lost).^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1460 – The spelling ''regretter'', Villon.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1478 – The derivative ''regrettable''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1534 – ''Regretter que'', Rabelais.^(TLFi)

+ * 1718 – ''Regretter de'' + infinitive, Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1864 – “To apologize”, Goncourt.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|regret]], be sorry about: ''regretter une décision'', ''je regrette de ne pas être venu'', ''vous ne le regretterez pas''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To [[m|en|miss]]: ''regretter sa jeunesse'', ''regretter un ami disparu''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Je regrette'': I'm sorry (to apologize or to disagree politely).^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[regret]]

+ * [[regrettable]]

+ * [[regretté]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}