Etymologically
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abri

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.bʁi/[1]

Forms

abri m (plural abris)[1]

Etymology

It is a noun derived from the old verb abrier (“to shelter, cover”), found in Judeo-French in the 11th century and generally from the 13th.[2][3][4] The verb comes from Late Latin aprīcō (“to warm in the sun”), a variant of Classical Latin aprīcor, from aprīcus (“exposed to the sun”).[2][4][5] The Romans associated the adjective with aperiō (“to open”), “a place open to the sun”, but its origin is obscure.[2]

The verb must have meant “to put oneself in the sun out of the cold and wind”, hence “to shelter” in general;[4][6] Bloch and Wartburg support this with the old sense “to warm” of Spanish abrigar and with dialects that use the phrase for shelter only of the wind.[4][6] Cognate with Old Occitan abric, Catalan abric and Spanish abrigo.[7][6] Wiktionary gives a different source, Late Latin abrigō, from Frankish *biwrīhan (“to cover, protect”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1170, in the Livre des Rois, people enter an enclosure pur abri aveir when storm and rain come: a covered place protecting from the rain.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a covered place protecting from rain replaced the Latin idea of a place for warming oneself in the sun.[2] In the 13th century it took the abstract value of a refuge or moral protection, and in sailors' language it named a sheltered anchorage (1678).[2] En l'abri de (12th century) gave way to à l'abri de (1564).[2][6] The verb abriter was formed in the 15th century to replace abrier, which had disappeared, though it survives in Normandy for “to cover”.[2][3][4] In Canadian French abri d'auto is a carport.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1170 – Abri in the Livre des Rois.[2][6]
  • c. 1235 – Anglo-Norman abri, a shelter from the weather.[8]
  • 13th century – “Refuge, moral protection”.[2]
  • 1489 – The verb abriter.[4][2]
  • 1564 – À l'abri de.[2]
  • 1678 – A sheltered anchorage.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A shelter, a place protecting people or things from bad weather or danger: chercher un abri sous un arbre.[9][1]
  2. A rough or temporary dwelling: un abri de fortune; a sans-abri is a homeless person.[9]
  3. A roofed structure for travellers, as at a bus stop.[9][10]
  4. (military) A dugout or air-raid shelter: abri antiatomique.[9][10]
  5. (figurative) Protection from danger or hardship.[10][2]
  6. À l'abri (de): sheltered (from), safe (from).[10][9]

Word family

  • abriter
  • abribus
  • sans-abri

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 57a
  6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse