Etymologically
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hiver

Etymology and origin of the French word hiver

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
11th century (iverz)
Inherited from
Latin hibernum via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (hiems)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /i.vɛʁ/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec, formal): [i.vɛːʁ][1]
  • IPA (Quebec, informal): [i.veɪ̯ʁ][1]
  • IPA (Quebec, informal): [i.vaɛ̯ʁ][1]

Forms

hiver m (plural hivers)[1] Old French iver, ivern; the ⟨h⟩ was added after Latin in the 13th century (1282, hyveir).[2][3][4] The Académie wrote hyver as a variant from 1694 to 1740.[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French iver, inherited from Late Latin hībernum (“winter”), short for Latin hībernum tempus (“the winter season”), from the adjective hībernus (“wintry”), derived from hiems (“winter”).[3][5][6][7][1] The TLFi and Rey describe it as taken from Late Latin.[4][2] The Late Latin word replaced the classical one everywhere in Romance.[3][2] Littré compares Sanskrit हिम (hima, “snow”).[8]

Cognate with Italian inverno, Occitan ivèrn, Spanish invierno and Walloon ivier.[3][8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An 11th-century religious poem inspired by the Song of Songs has the subject form iverz.[4] Villehardouin (early 13th century) writes that the French army spent all the winter at Zara: sejorna li os de France à Jadres tout l'iver.[8]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively it stands for sadness (Du Bellay, before 1560: l'hyver de mes ennuis) and for old age (1629, Mairet, l'hiver de la vie, before 1646, Maynard), and in that context means a year: soixante hivers.[4][2][5] Fénelon (about 1695) uses it for cold weather.[2][5] Racine has quartiers d'hiver (1678) and Furetière fruits d'hiver (1690); sports d'hiver dates from the mid-20th century.[5]

Timeline

  • 11th century – Iverz.[4]
  • 1282 – Hyveir, with the Latin ⟨h⟩.[4]
  • Before 1560 – Figurative use, Du Bellay.[4]
  • 1629 – “Old age”, Mairet.[5]
  • c. 1695 – “Cold weather”, Fénelon.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. winter, the coldest season of the year: en hiver, un hiver rigoureux, sports d'hiver.[9][1]
  2. (literary) Old age: l'hiver de la vie, (plural) years of age: soixante hivers.[2][5]

Word family

  • hivernal
  • hiverner
  • hivernage
  • hiberner
  • hiémal
  • Latin hībernus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f g h 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
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 418b
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Hiver.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/hiver. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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