google.com, pub-9220471781781135, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 Learn to speak English: July 2017

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Origin of the French word Renaissance

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The word Renaissance, literally meaning "Rebirth" in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelet's 1855 work, Histoire de France. The word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century.


Origin of Renaissance Expand
1830-40; French, Middle French: rebirth, equivalent to renaiss- (stem of renaistre tobe born again < Latin renāscī; re- re- + nāscī to be born) + -ance -ance

Word Origin and History for Renaissance Expand

n. "great period of revival of classical based art and learning in Europe that began in the fourteenth century," 1840, from French renaissance des lettres, from Old French renaissance, literally "rebirth," usually in a spiritual sense, from renastre "grow anew"(of plants), "be reborn" (Modern French renaître), from Vulgar Latin *renascere, from Latin renasci "be born again, rise again, reappear, be renewed," from re- "again" (seere- ) + nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci ; see genus ).


Online Etymology Dictionary
"great period of revival of classical-based art and learning in Europe that began in the fourteenth century," 1840, from French renaissance des lettres, from Old French renaissance, literally "rebirth," usually in a spiritual sense, from renastre "grow anew" (of plants), "be reborn" (Modern French renaître), from Vulgar Latin *renascere, from Latin renasci "be born again, rise again, reappear, be renewed," from re- "again" (see re-) + nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci, from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget").

An earlier term for it was revival of learning (1785). In general usage, with a lower-case r-, "a revival" of anything that has long been in decay or disuse (especially of learning, literature, art), it is attested from 1872. Renaissance man is first recorded 1906.

Summary of Paradise Lost Book 4 by John Milton

Satan lands atop Mount Niphates, just north of Paradise, the Garden of Eden. He becomes gripped with doubt about the task in front of him; s...