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butte

Etymology and origin of the French word butte

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Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1225
Ultimate origin
Old Norse (butr)

Pronunciation

Forms

butte f (plural buttes)[1]

Etymology

It is the feminine form of but (“target, aim”),[2][3][1][4][5] Littré noting that “but” and “butte” were long confused and differ only in gender.[6] The origin of “but” is doubtful: it is perhaps from Old Norse butr (“log, block of wood”), a piece of wood that may have served as a target for archers,[7][8] akin to English butt (“log”) and Dutch bot;[7] its spread in Normandy seems to support this, while a Frankish “*but” does not fit the sound changes.[7] P. Guiraud took “but” as another form of bout, arising from “butte”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1225 it named the point to be reached in a race;[7][2] the sense “mound” is first recorded about 1360–1375, in the hunting treatise Modus: mettez vostre huant sur une bute assez haute, set your owl on a fairly high mound.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

First confused with but, the word named the marked point at which one aims (1451) and the target itself (1530), a sense still current in the 16th and 17th centuries (Marot's Amour a faict de mon cœur une bute).[7][8][6] From this comes être en butte à “to be exposed to” (1580, Montaigne).[7][6]

The mound against which the target was set gave the general sense “small hill, knoll” (about 1375), as in la butte Montmartre and the Buttes-Chaumont;[7][9] in horticulture a butte is a heap of earth round a plant (1697), whence butter (1694).[7] Geology has butte-témoin, an outlier left by erosion.[7][9] English butte was taken from French in American English (1805), in the journals of Lewis and Clark.[10]

Timeline

  • 1225 – The goal of a race.[7]
  • c. 1375 – “Mound”, in Modus.[2][6]
  • 1451 – The point aimed at.[7]
  • 1530 – A target.[7]
  • 1580 – Être en butte à.[7]
  • 1697 – A heap of earth round a plant.[7]
  • 1805 – English butte.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small hill, mound, knoll: la butte Montmartre, or simply la Butte.[9][3]
  2. A mound or bank behind a target: butte de tir.[9][11]
  3. (geology) Butte-témoin: an outlier, butte.[9][11]
  4. (agriculture) A heap of earth round the foot of a plant.[9][4]
  5. Être en butte à: to be exposed to, the target of: en butte aux moqueries.[9][3]

Word family

  • butter
  • but
  • buter
  • English butte
  • English butt

Usage notes

In 19th-century slang butte meant the scaffold (1821), from the mound on which it stood; from this came buter “to kill”.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 34a
  6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Butte.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/butte. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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