sevrer

French

Etymology

From Old French sevrer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sēperō, apophonic form of Latin sēparāre, present active infinitive of sēparō. Doublet of séparer, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sə.vʁe/
  • (file)

Verb

sevrer

  1. to wean
    Sevrer son tout-petit, c'est grandir et devenir mère dans la réalité quotidienne.
    To wean your little one is to grow up and become a mother in everyday life.

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il sèvre rather than *il sevre. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.

Derived terms

Further reading


Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sēperāre, apophonic form of Latin sēparāre, present active infinitive of sēparō.

Verb

sevrer

  1. to separate
    • circa 1150, Thomas d'Angleterre, Le Roman de Tristan, page 144 (of the Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, line 1632:
      que sun cors puise de mei sevrer
      that his body may be able to separate from me
  2. to sever (to separate by cutting)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. In the present tense an extra supporting e is needed in the first-person singular indicative and throughout the singular subjunctive, and the third-person singular subjunctive ending -t is lost. This verb has a stressed present stem soivr distinct from the unstressed stem sevr. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants

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