Etymograph

English

repose

Repose comes from Old French reposer ‘to rest’, from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς ‘ceasing, stopping’, and ultimately from παύω ‘stop, end’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπαύω1‘stop, end’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπαῦσῐς2paûsĭs‘ceasing, stopping’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErepausāre2
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400reposer2‘to rest’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400reposer2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500reposen2‘to rest’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1549repose2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek παῦσις
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English repose
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The : “[A]lthough they ſeme as holidaymenne, to repoſe theymſelfes from…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπαύωWiktionary, Ancient Greek παῦσις‘stop, end’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπαῦσῐςWiktionary, English reposepaûsĭs‘ceasing, stopping’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErepausāreWiktionary, English repose
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400reposerWiktionary, English repose‘to rest’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400reposerWiktionary, English repose
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500reposenWiktionary, English repose‘to rest’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1549reposeWiktionary, English repose. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1549, The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Ghospell of S. Luke. The : “[A]lthough they ſeme as holidaymenne, to repoſe theymſelfes from…”

The story

The verb is derived from Middle English reposen (‘to rest’), from Anglo-Norman reposer, reposir, and Middle French reposer, from Old French reposer, repauser (‘to become calm; to be peaceful; to rest; to be immobile; to lie or be placed; to cease, stop; to neglect’) (modern French reposer), from Latin repausāre, the present active infinitive of repausō (‘(Late Latin) to be at rest; to lie down, rest; to sleep; to calm, pacify; (Latin) to halt temporarily, pause’), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + pausō (‘to cease, halt; to pause’) (from pausa (‘a halt, stop; a pause; an end’), from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς (paûsĭs, “ceasing, stopping”), from παύω (paúō, “to cease; to make to cease, stop; to bring to an end; to hinder”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (‘few, little; smallness’)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result)). Noun etymology 1, noun sense 12.3 (‘technique of including in a painting an area or areas which are dark, indistinct, or soft in tone’) is borrowed from French repos.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- ‘few, little’

few, poor, fewer, puppy, pupil, puppet, pediatrics, pave, filly, pedagogy, menopause, paucity, pupa, orthopedics, puerile, 27 more

through Ancient Greek παύω ‘stop, end’

pause, menopausal, posada, depose, 7 more

Another origin of repose

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500reposen‘to put (something) back, replace’
  2. Englishtodayrepose

From Middle English reposen (‘to put (something) back, replace’), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + posen (‘to place (something)’), modelled after Latin repōnō (‘to put back; to restore; to store’). Posen is derived from Old French poser (‘to place, put’) (modern French poser), from Vulgar Latin pausāre, from Latin pausāre, the present active infinitive of pausō (see further at etymology 1), influenced by pōnere, the present active infinitive of pōnō (‘to lay, place, put’).

Today it means

verb To lay (someone, or part of their body) down to rest.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “repose”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek παῦσις. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek παύω / repose

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