retrouver French · revision 17462

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=early 12th century, Benedeit, Voyage de saint Brendan (retruver)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁə.tʁu.ve/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''retrouver'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''retruver'' (about 1112), ''retrover'' (mid-12th century), ''retrouver'' from the 13th century.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|re-|trouver]] in Old French.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|13/2, 321a) Bloch and Wartburg date it to the 12th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The base [[trouver]] probably comes from a popular Latin “*tropāre” “to compose a melody”, from [[la|tropus|t=figure of speech; melody]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the early 12th century Benedeit's ''Voyage de saint Brendan'' uses ''retruver'' for finding again something that was lost.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Jean de Meun (1269–78) has ''retrouver quelqu'un'' with an attribute (“to find someone again in such a state”), and Ronsard uses it of regaining one's strength (1555), of rejoining someone (1571) and of finding in one person what exists in another (1578).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The reflexive ''se retrouver'' meant “to be again” (late 15th century) and “to be somewhere again” (1553); Malherbe used it for regaining one's composure (1627), anticipated by Antoine Héroët in 1531.^(TLFi)^(BHVF) Madame de Sévigné has ''se retrouver'' “to meet again” (1680), and Racine ''se retrouver'' “to find one's way” (1677).^(TLFi) ''S'y retrouver'', “to break even”, then “to understand”, is a 20th-century phrase (1938).^(TLFi) ''Retrouvailles'' is derived from it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 12th century – ''Retruver'' in the ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1175 – Meeting a person again, in Chrétien de Troyes.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1555 – ''Retrouver sa force'' in Ronsard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1571 – “To rejoin someone”, in Ronsard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1627 – ''Se retrouver'' “to recover oneself” in Malherbe.^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – ''Se retrouver'' “to meet again” in Madame de Sévigné.^(TLFi)

+ * 1938 – ''S'y retrouver''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To find again, [[m|en|recover]]: ''retrouver ses clés''.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # To meet again, rejoin: ''je te retrouve au café''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # To recover, regain: ''retrouver la santé''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+ # To recognise in someone or something: ''on retrouve chez le fils le sourire du père''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To remember, [[m|en|recall]]: ''retrouver un nom''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Se retrouver'': to find oneself, end up; to meet again, ''s'y retrouver'', to make sense of something, or to break even.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[retrouvailles]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[trouver]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}