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I saw a thread here recently that said the verb s’envoler expresses the act of the subject flying away, or taking off, due to the pronominal s’ at the beginning. So what, then, does envoler mean, without the reflexive pronoun?

tssmith2425
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The word envoler is only used as a reflexive verb, so envoler alone is never used and does not mean anything on its own. Yet, from the root envol-, it will be obvious to a native speaker that it is a verb used to express an action of flying away.

There is however one usage where it is used without the reflexive pronoun: in a truncated form without an auxiliary, as past participle, in a usage that is close to an interjection. Then the meaning is "flown away", or metaphorically "suddenly gone".

Les oiseaux ne sont plus là: envolés !

On m'a volé mon portefeuille: je l'avais déposé là, et puis, hop ! Envolé !

You can also find a popular song named Envole-moi, by the famous French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman where he uses the verb envoler as a transitive, non-reflexive verb, but that is some sort of "poetic licence" and it is obvious that he uses it in the meaning of "to take away on a flight".

Envole-moi ! Envole-moi ! Loin de cette fatalité qui colle à ma peau...

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Greg
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    As a clarification for learners, the only reason envolé used alone lacks a reflexive pronoun is that particles are unable to host one (barring frozen archaisms like y compris or ce faisant). It's still transparent that envolé (e) used as an interjection is truncated from il/elle s'est envolé(e) – Eau qui dort May 17 '19 at 06:26
  • Thanks, good point, I'll add a clarification. – Greg May 17 '19 at 06:26
  • I understand now, thank you so much! It seems, in the French song you quoted, that it’s not reflexive simply because it’s in the imperative, and he’s asking to be taken away on a flight. – tssmith2425 May 17 '19 at 07:14
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    Even in the imperative, it is not "standard" French at all, no one would say "Envole-moi" to say "take me on a flight" eg to a pilot. It is clearly a poetic "deviation" from the standard usage but I guess it shows that "envoler", even misused as non-reflexive, will be understood intuitively by native speakers (I really can't imagine someone would say "hey Jean-Jacques, that does not mean anything ! Use some correct French please" : ) ). A correct reflexive imperative form will be "envole-toi", which means "fly away". – Greg May 17 '19 at 08:36