fleuve

Forms

fleuve m (plural fleuves)^[1] Old French fluive, flueve (about 1130), and the phonetically developed fluie (about 1160) and flue (about 1170).^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also has fluve and fleve.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fluvius (“running water, river”), from fluō (“to flow”).^[6][2][3][7] The first French forms were fluive and flueve, remade as the present form in the 16th century.^[2][3] Wiktionary adds that a blend with Old French flot (“flood”) or a borrowing of Old Norse flóð (“flood, estuary”) cannot be ruled out.^[1]

The Latin word was already less common than flūmen, which survived in popular use as Old French flum (until the 15th century), Old Occitan flum and Italian fiume.^[3][8] Cognate with Romanian fluviu, fluvi and fluvio.^[9][8] Rey traces the Latin verb to a base Proto-Indo-European *sreu- (“to flow”), perhaps crossed with the root *bhleu-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1130 as flueve in the Roman d'Eneas,^[10][4] and in the mid-12th century as fluive in the Cambridge Psalter, translating the Latin psalm: Li fluive leverent (“the rivers rose up”).^[6]

Semantic evolution

Figurative uses for whatever flows in abundance appear in the 17th century, as Corneille's fleuves de sang in Cinna (1641),^[6][10] and, of what flows steadily on, a 1680 letter of Mme de Sévigné.^[6] In 1690 the word is recorded for the river god of Greek mythology and the allegorical figure that represents him.^[2][10]

Geographers set it apart from rivière: a fleuve flows directly into the sea, whatever its size, hence fleuve côtier in the 20th century.^[2][10] From 1930 roman-fleuve, a very long novel, served as a model for discours-fleuve and débat-fleuve, and Étienne Chatiliez's film La vie est un long fleuve tranquille made the image of the long quiet river commonplace in the 1980s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1130 – Flueve appears in the Roman d'Eneas.^[10][4]
• Mid-12th century – Fluive appears in the Cambridge Psalter.^[6]
• c. 1160 – The developed form fluie is recorded.^[2]
• 16th century – The form fleuve replaces flueve.^[2][10]
• 1641 – Corneille writes of fleuves de sang in Cinna.^[6]
• 1680 – Mme de Sévigné uses it of a steady stream that carries everything along.^[6][2]
• 1690 – It is recorded as the name of the river god.^[2]
• 1930 – Roman-fleuve appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large river with many tributaries, especially one that flows into the sea.^[9][6][1]
2. Fleuve côtier: a coastal river flowing straight into the sea.^[10][2]
3. (figurative) A great flow of something: un fleuve de lave, des fleuves de sang.^[6][2]
4. (figurative) Something that flows steadily on: le fleuve de la vie.^[8][2]
5. (mythology, art) A river god, or the allegorical figure of a river.^[1][2]
6. As the second part of compounds, something very long: roman-fleuve, discours-fleuve.^[2]

Word family

• roman-fleuve

Related words

• fluvial
• fluviatile
• Latin fluvius

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 j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 644b
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse