rêve French · revision 17293

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=1674, Malebranche}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Europe): /ʁɛv/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): /ʁaɛ̯v/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada, common): /ʁaɪ̯v/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rêve''' ''m'' (plural rêves)^(Wiktionary)

+ Spelled ''resve'' by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, ''rêve'' since 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun [[der|fr|rêver|t=to dream]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb, Old French [[m|fro|resver]] (about 1130), is of uncertain origin.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Wartburg takes it from an unrecorded “*esver” “to wander” (also behind Old French “desver” “to go out of one's mind”, compare [[endêver]]), from a Gallo-Romance “*esvo” “vagrant”, from [[la-vul|*exvagus]], built on [[m|la|vagus|t=wandering]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Guiraud proposed instead “*re-exvadere”, from [[m|la|ēvādō|t=to escape]], Rey finds both hypotheses ingenious but unverifiable.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Malebranche's ''Recherche de la vérité'' (1674): a more or less confused combination of imaginary events that comes to the mind in sleep.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word was rare until the 19th century: Furetière called it old in 1690 and Trévoux “low and little used” in 1732, the usual word being [[songe]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) It grew with the verb, which by the end of the 17th century tended to replace ''songer'' for dreaming in one's sleep.^(TLFi) From the 18th century it meant a groundless plan or a fancy (Académie, 1718, André Chénier, 1794), and, from 1819 an ideal one longs for.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi) ''De rêve'', “ideal, perfect”, is recorded with Maupassant (1885), and ''ce n'est pas le rêve'' “it's not ideal” from the early 20th century.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1130 – The verb ''resver'' “to rave”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1674 – ''Rêve'', Malebranche.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Furetière calls the word old.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1718 – A fancy, in the Académie dictionary.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1819 – A cherished aspiration.^(TLFi)

+ * 1885 – ''De rêve'', Maupassant.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|dream]], a sequence of images in sleep: ''faire un rêve'', ''faites de beaux rêves''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A daydream, an illusion; a groundless plan: ''c'est un rêve''.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # An ideal one longs for: ''la maison de ses rêves'', ''de rêve'', ideal.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Ce n'est pas le rêve'': it's not ideal.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rêver]]

+ * [[rêverie]]

+ * [[rêveur]]

+ * [[songe]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Littré records a separate ''rêve'' (14th–15th centuries), a duty levied on goods leaving the kingdom, of disputed origin.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}