colline

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɔ.lin/^[1]

Forms

colline f (plural collines)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin collīna (“hilly ground, hill”), probably through Italian collina, in use since the 14th century; the naturalist Pierre Belon, who first used it, had travelled in Italy.^[2][3][1] The Late Latin noun comes from a phrase meaning “hilly places”, made with collīnus (“of a hill”), from collis (“hill”).^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg trace the phrase to the land-surveyors of the late Empire and think the French word is not a borrowing but a regional word of the west.^[4]

The Latin noun belongs to an Indo-European root also seen in Lithuanian kálnas, English hill, Ancient Greek κολώνη (kolṓnē) and Russian холм (xolm, “hill”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Belon's Nature des oyseaux (1555) is the first text to use it, for a low hill.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed that of a low, rounded rise of ground.^[3][6] Oudin records the 16th-century slang gaigner la colline, to run away.^[7] In the French of Rwanda and Burundi colline names a geographical unit with a certain social and economic unity.^[3] The rare diminutive collinette (1596–1614) and the adjective collinaire (1838) are derived from it.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1555 – First record, in Pierre Belon.^[2]
• 1596–1614 – The diminutive collinette.^[2]
• 1838 – Collinaire.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hill, a low rounded rise of ground with gentle slopes.^[6][1]
2. Les sept collines de Rome: the seven hills of Rome.^[6][5]
3. (Rwanda, Burundi) A rural community and territorial unit.^[3]

Related words

• coteau
• Latin collis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette