Etymologically
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frontière

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Pronunciation

  • /fʁɔ̃.tjɛʁ/[1]

Forms

frontière f (plural frontières)[1]

Etymology

It is from French front + -ière.[2][3][1][4] The modern sense probably comes from phrases meaning “frontier country” (1405), a country guarded by an army or a fortress facing the enemy, rather than from the feminine of the Middle French adjective frontier (“bordering”);[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg, however, derive it from that adjective.[6] The noun front is inherited from Latin frōns (“forehead”).[6]

Compare Catalan frontera, Spanish frontera, Portuguese fronteira and Italian frontiera.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Faits des Romains (about 1213) a frontiere is the front line of an army.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1292 the word was used of a fortified place facing the enemy.[2][3] Littré explains the shift: faire frontiere meant to draw up in battle order, and since this was done above all on the edges of a country, the word came to mean the limit between states.[7] That sense appears in Froissart about 1360 and in Eustache Deschamps at the end of the 14th century.[8][2]

By extension it was said of the limits of a region and of language boundaries (1770), and figuratively of a line dividing abstract or concrete domains (1700).[3][8] The compound garde-frontière is recorded in 1854, and in Swiss French it is a calque of German for a member of the border police.[3] Frontalier (1730) is not formed on it but borrowed from Provençal.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1213 – “Front of an army” in the Faits des Romains.[2]
  • 1292 – “Fortified place facing the enemy”.[2]
  • c. 1360 – Froissart, of the limit between two states.[8]
  • 1405 – Pays de frontiere.[2]
  • 1700 – Figurative “limit”.[3][8]
  • 1770 – Of the limits of a region.[3]
  • 1854 – Garde-frontière.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The boundary of a territory; in particular the official line separating two states, a border.[9][1]
  2. Frontière naturelle: a border formed by a river, a mountain range or the sea.[9][8]
  3. The limit of a region or area: frontière linguistique.[3][8]
  4. (figurative) A line between two domains or states.[3][2]
  5. (in apposition) On the border: ville frontière.[7][8]

Word family

  • garde-frontière
  • transfrontalier

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 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 i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 821a
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert