What did “astonish” mean?
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Astonish.
To shake someone (physically), to cause him to undergo a violent concussion (by beating, violence, noise).
One "astonishes", in fact, as one "stuns" from the 12th to the 16th century, as we can read in the Dictionary of Middle French.
Fortunately, we no longer strike in the true sense of the word when we “amaze” in the Petit Larousse of the 21st century.
Otherwise, one would imagine the dreadful turn taken by surprise birthdays intended to amaze ...
Read also: Only a fervent lover of the French language will complete this test
What is the origin of the word astonish?
Nothing surprising, however, in the observation of the primary meaning of the verb to surprise, if we go back to its origins.
From the popular Latin extonare, itself derived from the classical Latin adtonare, attonare, the verb to astonish then means, in effect, "to strike with lightning".
We already find here the tonare form, which will give tonnere, that is to say “resound strongly, make resound like thunder” in French.
The image of thunder is, in essence, striking.
When we are astonished, we are struck down and therefore,
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