Etymologically
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empire

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɑ̃.piʁ/[1]

Forms

empire m (plural empires)[1] Old French empirie (about 1050) and emperie (about 1120); empire from about 1100.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is an early borrowing, borrowed from Latin imperium (“command; supreme power; empire”), derived from imperō (“to command”), the verb behind empereur.[2][3][5][6] Wiktionary treats it as inherited through Old French empire.[1] Littré notes that the spelling ⟨emperie⟩ is etymological and that the word was pronounced ⟨empeire⟩ or ⟨empire⟩.[7]

Cognate with Old Occitan emperi, Spanish imperio and Italian imperio.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) empirie names a state under the authority of an emperor.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the first half of the 12th century it also meant power or authority over something, especially the sovereign authority of a ruler; in the 12th century it could also mean an army or a gathering of vassals, as in the Chanson de Roland: semon les oz de tun empire.[2][7][8] Medieval writers played on empire “realm” and empire “worsening”, from empirer.[7]

At the end of the 16th century (Du Vair, about 1593) it came to mean any state or group of states under a central government.[3][2] By metonymy (1668, La Fontaine) it named a place where power is exercised, now literary: l'empire des morts, the underworld.[2][4] From the 17th century it also named a powerful state and its territory, whence pas pour un empire, not for anything in the world.[2] Figuratively it is the hold exercised by something, as l'empire de la mode or sous l'empire de la colère.[3][9] Applied to the regimes of Napoleon I and Napoleon III, Empire became the name of a furniture and decorative style.[9][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Empirie in the Vie de saint Alexis.[3]
  • c. 1100 – Empire in the Chanson de Roland.[4][7]
  • c. 1120 – Emperie “power, authority” in the Oxford Psalter.[3]
  • c. 1593 – Du Vair: any state with a central government.[3]
  • 1640 – Corneille: absolute domination over people and things.[4]
  • 1668 – La Fontaine: a place where power reigns.[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary) Absolute authority or domination: l'empire du monde.[9][3]
  2. Strong influence, hold: sous l'empire de la colère, avoir de l'empire sur soi-même, to have self-control.[9][1]
  3. The sovereign authority of an emperor.[9]
  4. An empire, a state or group of states under an emperor or a central power: l'Empire romain, l'Empire ottoman.[9][1]
  5. Le Premier, le Second Empire: the regimes of Napoleon I and Napoleon III, style Empire, their decorative style.[9]
  6. Pas pour un empire: not for anything in the world.[9][2]
  • empereur
  • impératrice
  • impérial
  • Latin imperium

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 587b
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF