réduire French · revision 38604

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide|origins=la dūcō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʁe.dɥiʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''réduire'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle French also had a form closer to the Latin, [[m|frm|reducer]], in the 14th and 15th centuries.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|redūcō|t=to lead back, bring back]], with its form adapted to French after [[conduire]] and the other verbs in ⟨-duire⟩ such as [[déduire]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|10, 181a) The Latin verb is formed from [[m|la|re-]], marking movement backwards, and [[m|la|dūcō|t=to lead]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The TLFi and Rey date the first record to about 1170, in Chrétien de Troyes;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg give 1370, when Oresme uses it in the senses “to bring back, restore”, which they call its main senses until the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary treats it as an alteration of the Latin verb that came down through Old and Middle French.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|reduire]], [[ca|reduir]], [[es|reducir]] and [[it|ridurre]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is the reflexive ''soi reduire'', “to withdraw to a place, to hide”, in Chrétien de Troyes's ''Erec et Enide'' (about 1170).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Rey thinks this use was probably influenced by the noun [[réduit]], a retreat.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 16th century the main sense was “to bring back, restore (to a place or state)”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It survives in surgery, for setting a bone or putting back a displaced organ (14th century, then about 1560), supported by the noun [[réduction]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In Swiss French (recorded in 1611) and in the Franco-Provençal regions the verb still means “to put away, tidy”, and in rural use “to bring in (cattle, hay)”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The modern uses appear in Middle French and settle in the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992) Oresme uses it about 1370 for making a thing consist in, or conform to, something else.^(TLFi) With a person as object it meant “to subdue” (about 1460), then “to force (someone) into a state of dependence or hardship” (1538), as in ''être réduit à'' (1673) and ''réduire au silence'' (about 1695).^(DHLF 1992) With a thing as object it meant bringing something back to a simpler form, as in mathematics ''réduire une fraction'' (1520), and turning a body into another state, as in ''réduire en poudre'' (1538) and ''réduire en cendres'' (1665, Racine); the chemical sense is recorded by Richelet in 1680.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The commonest sense today, “to make smaller in quantity, size or value”, dates from 1538 (Estienne); it was applied to drawings and models (1690, Furetière) and to music arranged for piano (1863, Sainte-Beuve).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) The intransitive use, of a liquid that thickens by boiling, is dated by Rey to 1808 and by the TLFi, in cooking, to 1831 (Viard).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1170 – ''Soi reduire'' “to withdraw, hide” in Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1370 – Oresme: ''reduire qqc. à'' “to make it consist in”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1460–1470 – “To subdue” a people.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ * 1520 – ''Réduire une fraction''; the surgical sense in Jean Falcon.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1538 – Robert Estienne: to lower to a smaller amount or value, ''reduire en pouldre''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – Swiss French “to put away, tidy”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1665 – Racine: ''réduire en cendres''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1680 – Richelet records the chemical sense.^(TLFi)

+ * 1831 – Viard: sauces that are left to reduce.^(TLFi)

+ * 1874 – ''À prix réduits'' (Mallarmé).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make smaller in number, size, value or importance; to [[m|en|cut]], [[m|en|lower]]: ''réduire ses dépenses de moitié''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To reproduce on a smaller scale (a drawing, a map, a picture).^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Réduire qqn à'', ''en'': to bring someone by force into a state of submission or hardship: ''réduire au silence'', ''en être réduit à'', to be driven to.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # To bring back to a simpler form or to its basic elements: ''réduire une fraction''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Réduire en'': to turn into: ''réduire en poudre'', ''réduire en miettes'', ''réduire en cendres''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(medicine)'' To [[m|en|set]], put back in place (a bone, a displaced organ).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(chemistry)'' To [[m|en|reduce]] (an oxide, a compound).^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(music)'' To arrange (an orchestral work) for a smaller set of instruments, such as the piano.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ # ''(intransitive, cooking)'' Of a sauce or juice: to thicken by evaporation, ''faire réduire''.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Se réduire à'': to amount to, come down to.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[réduit]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[réduction]]

+ * [[réductible]]

+ * [[conduire]]

+ * [[la|redūcō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}