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demeure

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Etymology and origin of the French word demeure

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1119 Philippe de Thaon, Comput More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Latin mora
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French demeurer
French demeure

Pronunciation

Forms

demeure f (plural demeures)[1] Old French demure, demore and demoure, the last two in use from the 12th to the 16th century.[2][3] Old French also had a masculine demor and the noun demorance.[4] Anglo-Norman spellings include demure, demore and demour.[5]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French demeurer.[2][6][7][3] The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *dēmorō, an alteration of classical dēmoror (“to delay, linger”),[6][7] the compound of dē- and moror (“to delay”), from mora (“delay”).[6] The Old French verb demorer took its modern form by analogy with the forms stressed on the stem.[6]

Cognate with Italian dimora, Old Occitan demora and Spanish demora.[4][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119) has demure de tens “a certain lapse of time”, a sense found only there.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The main early sense was “delay” (demore, Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier au lion, 1176–81).[2][6] In law, estre en demore (1273) meant to be late in meeting an obligation;[2] from it came mettre en demeure, recorded by the Académie in 1835, “to make someone answerable for the delay”.[6][7] The proverb il y a péril en la demeure (1690) meant that it was dangerous to wait; it is now often understood with the modern sense “home”, which misreads it.[6][7]

The sense “place where one stays” is dated by the TLFi to the first quarter of the 13th century (Lancelot du Lac) and by Rey to about 1225,[2][6] while Bloch and Wartburg find the sense “dwelling” no earlier than the 16th century.[7] In Middle French the word also meant the fact of staying, a sojourn (Machaut, 1364).[9] “Dwelling, house” is today the only sense used freely, in formal or regional speech.[6]

Timeline

  • 1119 – Demure de tens “a lapse of time” appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.[2]
  • 1176–81 – Chrétien de Troyes uses demore for “delay”.[2]
  • c. 1225 – First use for a place where one lives.[6][2]
  • 1273 – Legal estre en demore “to be late with an obligation”.[2]
  • 1364 – Machaut uses it for a stay or sojourn.[9]
  • 1690 – Il y a péril en la demeure is recorded.[6]
  • 1835 – The Académie records mettre en demeure.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (formal) A home, residence, dwelling, especially a fine house: une vieille demeure de famille.[1][6]
  2. (dated) delay;[10][2] il y a péril en la demeure: waiting may be dangerous, one must act quickly, and il n'y a pas péril en la demeure: there is no hurry.[10][2]
  3. À demeure: permanently, in a settled way.[10]
  4. (law) En demeure: answerable for not meeting one's obligation;[10][2] mise en demeure, a formal notice to a debtor to pay.[10][2]
  5. (dated) The length of a stay or residence.[4]

Usage notes

Bloch and Wartburg note that the phrase il n'y a pas péril en la demeure is still used but often misunderstood, demeure there meaning “delay”, not “house”.[7][6]

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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
  10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Demeure.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/demeure. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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