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dôme

Etymology and origin of the French word dôme

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French dôme
English dome

French has two nouns dôme: “cathedral” (of Italian and German cities), from Italian duomo, and “dome, cupola”, from Provençal doma; both go back to words for “house”.[1][2][3]

dôme1 cathedral

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1502, Jean d'Auton
Borrowed from
Italian duomo
Ultimate origin
Latin (domus)

Pronunciation

Forms

dôme m (plural dômes)[4] Domme (1502), dome.[5][4]

Etymology

“Cathedral” is borrowed from Italian duomo (“cathedral church”) (13th century),[5][2][6][7] probably shortened from Medieval Latin “domus episcopi” “the bishop's house”: “domus episcoporum” is used of the cathedral of Lucca in 766, and in Tuscany “domus” alone meant “cathedral” by the mid-9th century.[5][2][6] The source is Latin domus (“house”),[2][8] from an Indo-European root “*dem-” “house”.[2] Rey calls it the most direct French descendant of “domus”, which was otherwise displaced by “mansio” (see maison).[2]

The Latin word also passed into German, older “Thum”, today German Dom, reshaped after French.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean d'Auton's Annales de Louis XII (1502) has L'eglise de S. Laurent qui est le grand domme de Genes;[5][9] Pierre Desrey (before 1512) describes Charles VIII taken to the great church of Pavia appellée le dome.[5][9]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been used of the principal churches of Italian and German cities (le dôme de Milan, le dôme de Florence), the German use following Dom.[2][6][3] For Italy the Italian form duomo is also used.[1]

Timeline

  • 766 – Medieval Latin domus episcoporum for the cathedral of Lucca.[5]
  • 13th century – Italian duomo.[5]
  • 1502 – Domme in Jean d'Auton.[5]
  • Before 1512 – Dome in Pierre Desrey.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The cathedral or principal church of certain Italian and German cities: le dôme de Milan.[3][10]

dôme2 dome

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1600, Olivier de Serres
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (δῶμα)

Pronunciation

Forms

dôme m (plural dômes)[4] Dosme (1600), whence the circumflex.[6][8]

Etymology

“Dome” is borrowed from Old Provençal Old Occitan doma (“roof shaped as a cupola”), whose single attestation is somewhat unclear,[2][6][1][11] from Ancient Greek δῶμα (dôma, “house”), which later named a roof or terrace, as in Modern Greek.[2][1] The DHLF allows a passage through Late Latin dōma (“flat roof”), Bloch and Wartburg think instead that the Greek word came in through the Greek colonies of southern Gaul, and that the sense “flat roof” then became “round roof”.[2][6] Medieval Latin has “Dome” in 1227.[2] Littré did not separate it from “duomo”.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Olivier de Serres (1600) uses dosme of the roof of a dovecote: le dosme sur la couverture, portant la principale fenestre pour entrée et issue aux pigeons.[6][9][8]

Semantic evolution

From Furetière (1690) it is the usual word for a hemispherical roof over a building (le dôme des Invalides, du Panthéon), close to coupole.[8][3][5] By likeness of shape it was applied to rounded mountains (1787, Bourrit; the puy de Dôme), vaults of leaves and the dôme du ciel, and in anatomy, geology, volcanology and on warships.[12][3][2][10]

Timeline

  • 1227 – Medieval Latin Dome.[2]
  • 1600 – Dosme in Olivier de Serres.[8]
  • 1690 – The architectural sense, in Furetière.[8]
  • 1787 – A rounded mountain top, in Bourrit.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dome, cupola: le dôme du Panthéon.[3][10]
  2. Anything dome-shaped: un dôme de verdure, le dôme du ciel.[3][5]
  3. (geography) A rounded summit: dôme volcanique.[3][12]
  4. (anatomy, geology) A dome: dôme pleural.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 g h 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. 3, 135b
  8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 122a
  12. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Dôme.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/d%C3%B4me. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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