glèbe

Forms

glèbe f (plural glèbes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin glēba (“ball, lump, clod of earth”) (also spelled glaeba), borrowed in the 15th century.^[2][3][4][1] In rustic Latin the word meant a clod of earth, in poetry the soil, and in Late Latin legal language an estate or a tax on land.^[2][3][5] Rey connects it with an Indo-European root meaning “to roll into a ball”, and Littré with Latin globus (“ball”).^[3][6]

Littré compares Occitan gleba and gleza, Spanish gleba and Italian gleba.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in a 15th-century manuscript chronicle of sacred and profane history, meaning a clod of earth.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In feudal law, recorded by Cotgrave in 1611, it named the land to which serfs were bound.^[2][3][7] Bloch and Wartburg ascribe this sense to churchmen about 1600.^[4] From it came, in 1767 in Voltaire's Les Scythes, the elevated sense “land that is tilled”, in which the word survives as a literary or historical term.^[2][3] The sense “clod” is now dated, though the Académie still gave écraser les glèbes in 1835 and 1878.^[2]

English glebe is recorded from the late 14th century;^[8] Etymonline derives it from Old French and Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 1400s – First recorded, meaning a clod of earth.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the feudal-law sense.^[2][7]
• 1767 – Voltaire uses it for tilled land.^[2][3]
• 1835 – The Académie records écraser les glèbes.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) Cultivated land, the soil that is worked.^[9][10][11]
2. (feudal law) The land to which serfs were bound and which they had to farm: serfs attachés à la glèbe.^[9][10][6]
3. (dated) A clod of earth.^[9][2]
4. (dated) Earth in which ore is found.^[6]

Related words

• globe
• Latin glēba
• English glebe

Usage notes

Feudal law spoke of droits de glèbe, the rights attached to the possession of the land, and of a serf attaché à la glèbe, who passed to a new owner with the land.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)