abreuver
French
Etymology
Inherited from Vulgar Latin *abbiberō, from Latin bibō (“to drink”), undergoing the following phonological process: /abbeβerare/ > /abbereβare/ > /abereβare/ > /abəreβærə/ >/abreuβer/ > /abʁœve/.
- Vulgar Latin *abbiberāre underwent metathesis and changed to *abbirebāre, due to dissimilation.
- The i became e in Italo-Western Romance.
- The double bb simplified into a single b, while the single b softened to /β/ in Western Romance, followed by a shift to the penultimate accent.
- The now-unstressed second and last vowels were reduced into /ə/, while penultimate a became /æ/, then finally becoming /e/, due to metaphony. Later, the schwas would disappear.
- The β then became /v/ and a preceding /u/ was added, making the word abreuver.
- The r then became an uvular /ʁ/, while eu regularly became /œ/.
(The verbal suffix -āre went through the same stages of other verbs, ending with final r becoming silent.)
Compare Italian abbeverare, Portuguese abeberar, Spanish abrevar.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.bʁœ.ve/
- Rhymes: -e
Audio (file)
Verb
abreuver
- (literary) to water (cattle, fields etc.), give water to (a person)
- Synonym: arroser
- (literary, takes a reflexive pronoun) to drink
- (figuratively, ditransitive, with the indirect object taking de) to shower (someone) in
- Elle l'a abreuvé d'injures. ― She insulted him copiously. / She showered him with insults.
Conjugation
Conjugation of abreuver (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | abreuver | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | abreuvant /a.bʁœ.vɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | abreuvé /a.bʁœ.ve/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | abreuve /a.bʁœv/ | abreuves /a.bʁœv/ | abreuve /a.bʁœv/ | abreuvons /a.bʁœ.vɔ̃/ | abreuvez /a.bʁœ.ve/ | abreuvent /a.bʁœv/ |
| imperfect | abreuvais /a.bʁœ.vɛ/ | abreuvais /a.bʁœ.vɛ/ | abreuvait /a.bʁœ.vɛ/ | abreuvions /a.bʁœ.vjɔ̃/ | abreuviez /a.bʁœ.vje/ | abreuvaient /a.bʁœ.vɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | abreuvai /a.bʁœ.ve/ | abreuvas /a.bʁœ.va/ | abreuva /a.bʁœ.va/ | abreuvâmes /a.bʁœ.vam/ | abreuvâtes /a.bʁœ.vat/ | abreuvèrent /a.bʁœ.vɛʁ/ | |
| future | abreuverai /a.bʁœ.vʁe/ | abreuveras /a.bʁœ.vʁa/ | abreuvera /a.bʁœ.vʁa/ | abreuverons /a.bʁœ.vʁɔ̃/ | abreuverez /a.bʁœ.vʁe/ | abreuveront /a.bʁœ.vʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | abreuverais /a.bʁœ.vʁɛ/ | abreuverais /a.bʁœ.vʁɛ/ | abreuverait /a.bʁœ.vʁɛ/ | abreuverions /a.bʁœ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ | abreuveriez /a.bʁœ.və.ʁje/ | abreuveraient /a.bʁœ.vʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) | present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) | present | abreuve /a.bʁœv/ | abreuves /a.bʁœv/ | abreuve /a.bʁœv/ | abreuvions /a.bʁœ.vjɔ̃/ | abreuviez /a.bʁœ.vje/ | abreuvent /a.bʁœv/ |
| imperfect2 | abreuvasse /a.bʁœ.vas/ | abreuvasses /a.bʁœ.vas/ | abreuvât /a.bʁœ.va/ | abreuvassions /a.bʁœ.va.sjɔ̃/ | abreuvassiez /a.bʁœ.va.sje/ | abreuvassent /a.bʁœ.vas/ | |
| (compound tenses) | past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | abreuve /a.bʁœv/ | — | abreuvons /a.bʁœ.vɔ̃/ | abreuvez /a.bʁœ.ve/ | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
- abreuvage
- abreuvement
- abreuvoir
Further reading
- “abreuver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.