It came from Latin, where it always had the meaning "to weaken", literally "to cut the sinews/nerves" https://www.etymonline.com/word/enervate
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Another etymological tip for you: French arose as a regional dialect of Latin and has obviously developed since. English absorbed many (Norman) French words after the conquest of 1066. English did not spring from Latin.
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Replying to @canpacinobox
Okay, and I just literally showed you an etymological dictionary saying the source was a direct borrowing from Latin in Middle English And that in all three of these languages the original meaning was "cut the sinews", i.e. "to weaken or to make collapse"
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Replying to @dickydickypand1 @canpacinobox
Yes, I am in fact googling rather than going off the top of my head, because it's the 21st century and it's amazingly easy and convenient More people should do it
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Replying to @arthur_affect @dickydickypand1
More people should “google” things of which they have little understanding or knowledge and then misrepresent them to the public? That sounds about your level, yes.
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Replying to @canpacinobox @dickydickypand1
Sure, as opposed to just insisting that they're right without evidence and making an ass of themselves
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Replying to @arthur_affect @dickydickypand1
I provided evidence that you didn’t like, so you ignored it. I forgot how triggered Americans get when anything to do with French is mentioned
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Replying to @canpacinobox @dickydickypand1
When someone is writing a book in English, for an English-speaking audience, and uses an *English word* (which is what "enervate" is), it actually doesn't matter if the word looks similar to a French word with a different meaning
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You're not even actually right about that Multiple people have chimed in on this thread to point out "énerver" in French means "to annoy" or "to piss off" (as a slow drift from its original meaning of "to weaken"), not "to wake up" or "to energize"
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I don't speak French but I imagine it's a natural meaning drift from calling a conversation "enervating" to mean it's energy-draining in the sense of being boring and aggravating, much like this one is Like Colin Robinson the "energy vampire" from WWDITS
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