traverser

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English traverse

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English traverser

From traverse + -er.

Noun

traverser (plural traversers)

1. Something which traverses or moves, such as an index on a scale.
2. Someone who traverses a region.
   • 1897, George William Rusden, History of Australia, Chapter 2:

     […] traversers of the continent.

3. (law, archaic) Someone who traverses, or denies.
   • 1839, William Cranch, Stettinius v. United States (opinion):

     A denial that the traverser passed the paper as currency, is not a denial that he passed paper currency; so that we think the verdict is not a verdict of acquittal.

   • 1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC:

     […] the upholding of the letter of the law (common, statute and law merchant) against all traversers in covin and trespassers acting in contravention of bylaws and regulations, […]

4. (rail transport) A traverse table.
   • 1954, Colliery Engineering - Volume 31, page 8:

     As the pithead (Fig. 15) had not been designed for large wide gauge cars it was necessary to replace the usual runround with a traverser.

   • 1961 March, ""Dalmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148:

     Before I left Paris I had the chance to visit La Chapelle depot. I was fascinated by the place. Basically, the steam depot is divided into two halves, the repair side and the steam side, with a traverser in between.

   • 2019 October, “Trackwatch: Wales”, in Modern Railways, page 90:

     The outside sidings and test areas are rail-connected at the western end to the Down Service line, whilst the test area and assembly area are connected via a traverser at the eastern end of the site.

References

• “traverser”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “traverser”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁa.vɛʁ.se/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

traverser

1. to cross, to go across

Conjugation

Conjugation of traverser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	traverser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	traversant /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		traversé /tʁa.vɛʁ.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	traverse /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traverses /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traverse /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traversons /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	traversez /tʁa.vɛʁ.se/	traversent /tʁa.vɛʁs/
	imperfect	traversais /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɛ/	traversais /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɛ/	traversait /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɛ/	traversions /tʁa.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	traversiez /tʁa.vɛʁ.sje/	traversaient /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɛ/
	past historic2	traversai /tʁa.vɛʁ.se/	traversas /tʁa.vɛʁ.sa/	traversa /tʁa.vɛʁ.sa/	traversâmes /tʁa.vɛʁ.sam/	traversâtes /tʁa.vɛʁ.sat/	traversèrent /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɛʁ/
	future	traverserai /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	traverseras /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	traversera /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁa/	traverserons /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/	traverserez /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁe/	traverseront /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	traverserais /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	traverserais /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	traverserait /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/	traverserions /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	traverseriez /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁje/	traverseraient /tʁa.vɛʁ.sə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	traverse /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traverses /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traverse /tʁa.vɛʁs/	traversions /tʁa.vɛʁ.sjɔ̃/	traversiez /tʁa.vɛʁ.sje/	traversent /tʁa.vɛʁs/
	imperfect2	traversasse /tʁa.vɛʁ.sas/	traversasses /tʁa.vɛʁ.sas/	traversât /tʁa.vɛʁ.sa/	traversassions /tʁa.vɛʁ.sa.sjɔ̃/	traversassiez /tʁa.vɛʁ.sa.sje/	traversassent /tʁa.vɛʁ.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	traverse /tʁa.vɛʁs/	—	traversons /tʁa.vɛʁ.sɔ̃/	traversez /tʁa.vɛʁ.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• traversable
• traversée
• traverser l'esprit
• traversier

Related terms

• travers

Further reading

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

Old French

Verb

traverser

1. to traverse; to cross; to go across

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-st are modified to s, st. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of traverser (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		traverser			avoir traversé
gerund		en traversant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		traversant
past participle		traversé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	travers	traverses	traverse	traversons	traversez	traversent
	imperfect	traversoie, traverseie, traversoe, traverseve	traversoies, traverseies, traversoes, traverseves	traversoit, traverseit, traversot, traverseve	traversiiens, traversiens	traversiiez, traversiez	traversoient, traverseient, traversoent, traversevent
	preterite	traversai	traversas	traversa	traversames	traversastes	traverserent
	future	traverserai	traverseras	traversera	traverserons	traverseroiz, traversereiz, traverserez	traverseront
	conditional	traverseroie, traversereie	traverseroies, traversereies	traverseroit, traversereit	traverseriiens, traverseriens	traverseriiez, traverseriez	traverseroient, traversereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	travers	travers	traverst	traversons	traversez	traversent
	imperfect	traversasse	traversasses	traversast	traversissons, traversissiens	traversissoiz, traversissez, traversissiez	traversassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	traverse	—	traversons	traversez	—

Descendants

• → English: traverse
• French: traverser

References

• “traverser”, in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2nd edition, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: Aberystwyth University, 2001–2026.