abreuver

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.

• IPA^(key): /a.bʁœ.ve/
• Rhymes: -e

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abreuver

1. (literary) to water (cattle, fields etc.), give water to (a person)

   Synonym: arroser

2. (literary, takes a reflexive pronoun) to drink
3. (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.

• abreuvage
• abreuvement
• abreuvoir

• “abreuver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.