énerver French · revision 38592

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=first quarter of the 13th century, Renclus de Molliens, Charité|origins=la nervus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /e.nɛʁ.ve/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''énerver'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|esnerver]] (pronominal ''soi esnerver'').^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|ēnervō|t=to remove the sinews; to weaken, exhaust]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) from [[m|la|ex-]] in a privative sense and [[m|la|nervus|t=sinew, tendon]], the source of [[nerf]].^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in the first quarter of the 13th century, in the pronominal ''soi esnerver'' in the Renclus de Molliens, in the figurative sense taken from Latin, “to lose one's strength”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For centuries the verb meant “to deprive of strength or energy”, of the body, the mind or a thing: Jean de Meun uses it about 1265 for weakening a power.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) The literal sense “to cut the tendons” is recorded in 1594, and in the 17th century it named the torture of cutting a person's tendons (1694).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ The old meaning still lived in the 19th century, especially in the past participle ''énervé'' “listless, without vigour”, but it was driven out by a new and nearly opposite one, “to irritate, make nervous”.^(DHLF 1992) The present participle ''énervant'' has it in 1867 and the verb in 1882, after ''énervement''; the TLFi dates the sense of exciting the nerves to Barbey d'Aurevilly in 1836.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Bloch and Wartburg place this now dominant sense in the 19th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early 13th century – ''Soi esnerver'' “to lose one's strength”, in the Renclus de Molliens.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1413 – The noun ''énervement'' “weakening” is first recorded.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1594 – The literal sense “to remove the sinews”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1694 – It names the torture of cutting the tendons.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1836 – Barbey d'Aurevilly uses ''énervant'' of stormy weather that frays the nerves.^(TLFi)

+ * 1882 – The verb is recorded in the sense “to irritate”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|irritate]], get on someone's nerves; to make [[m|en|nervous]] or overexcited.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(pronominal)'' ''S'énerver'': to get worked up, lose one's [[m|en|calm]].^(Wiktionary)^(BHVF)

+ # ''(literary, dated)'' To deprive of strength or energy; to [[m|en|enervate]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(historical)'' To subject to the torture of cutting the tendons, ''(surgery)'' to cut a nerve.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(Quebec)'' To be excited.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[énervant]]

+ * [[énervement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nerf]]

+ * [[nerveux]]

+ * [[la|nervus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}