détruire French · revision 17132

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (destruire)|origins=la struō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /de.tʁɥiʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''détruire'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''destruire''; the Académie gave ''destruire'' in 1694 and 1718, ''détruire'' from 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|destruire]], from popular Latin [[inh|la-vul|*dēstrūgō]], a remaking of classical [[m|la|dēstruō|t=to pull down; to destroy]] on its perfect “dēstrūxī” and its participle “dēstrūctus”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|3, 56a)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb is the opposite, with [[m|la|dē-]], of [[m|la|struō|t=to build]] (see [[structure]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Compare [[pro|destruir]], [[es|destruir]] and [[it|distruggere]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) ''destruire'' means to pull down a building.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' it already means “to annihilate, make disappear”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It was used of killing a living being (1135), of undoing what was established (1172–74) and, in the 13th century, of discrediting someone.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Soi destruire'' meant to harm oneself (end of the 13th century); ''se détruire'' took the reciprocal sense “to cancel each other out” in Corneille (1648) and “to commit suicide” in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1784).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''S'entre-détruire'' is from 1559 and ''s'autodétruire'' from about 1950.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Destruire'', ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – “To annihilate”, ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1121 – ''Destructiun''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1135 – To kill, ''Couronnement de Louis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – ''S'entre-détruire''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1784 – ''Se détruire'', to commit suicide.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1950 – ''S'autodétruire''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|destroy]], [[m|en|demolish]]: ''détruire un bâtiment''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To ruin, devastate: ''l'incendie a détruit la récolte''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To do away with, abolish: ''détruire une institution''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To kill, wipe out: ''détruire les parasites''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To ruin (a person, a reputation): ''l'alcool l'a détruit''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Se détruire'': to destroy oneself; to cancel each other out, ''(dated)'' to commit suicide.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[s'autodétruire]]

+ * [[s'entre-détruire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[destructeur]]

+ * [[destructif]]

+ * [[destruction]]

+ * [[indestructible]]

+ * [[construire]]

+ * [[structure]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}