Etymologically
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beurre

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bœʁ/[1]

Forms

beurre m (plural beurres)[1] Old French bure (about 1120), burre (about 1200, still in the 17th century); beurre from the 15th–16th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French burre, inherited from Latin būtyrum,[5][2][6][3][1][7] borrowed from Ancient Greek βούτυρον (boúturon, “butter; ointment”), literally “cow cheese”, from βοῦς (boûs, “cow”) and τυρός (turós, “cheese”).[2][8][1][9] The French form kept the Greek stress, “bútyrum”, as in Occitan buire, while the Latin stress “butýrum” gave Italian burro, English butter and German Butter.[2] The form “beurre” is a dialectal variant, from the East according to Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF, from the West according to Rey.[6][4][2]

Bloch and Wartburg add that butter was first used as a kind of ointment, and the ancients learned to eat it from the Scythians of the Black Sea.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bure is found about 1120 for the fat obtained from milk.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Many phrases grew up around butter: beurre noir, œil au beurre noir “black eye”, entrer comme dans du beurre “to go in easily” and ne pas avoir inventé le fil à couper le beurre “to be no genius”.[4]

Derivatives include beurrier (1270), beurrer (13th century) and beurrée “slice of bread and butter” (1585).[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Bure.[2][3]
  • c. 1200 – Burres.[2]
  • 1270 – Beurrier “butter dish”, in a form with bu-.[6]
  • 15th–16th century – The form beurre.[3][4]
  • 1585 – Beurrée.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Butter: beurre doux, beurre salé.[8][1]
  2. Petit beurre: a butter biscuit.[4]

Word family

  • beurrée
  • beurrer
  • beurrier
  • babeurre
  • butyrique
  • English butter

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 663b
  8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette