homme
Pronunciation
Forms
homme m (plural hommes)[1] Old French omne (about 980), ome (about 1050), hume (1080); homme from the late 12th century.[2][3] The nominative hom, huem gave on.[4][5]
Etymology
It is inherited from Old French home, inherited from Latin hominem (“human being”), the accusative of “homō”.[6][7][3][5] In imperial Latin “homō” came to mean a rational being, as opposed to a beast, and replaced vir (“man”); in the plural it meant “soldiers”, and in the singular “a living person” as opposed to the dead and the gods.[6][8] It goes back to an Indo-European word for “earth”, the man being “the earthly one”, opposed to the gods, as in humus (“earth”) and Ancient Greek χθών (khthṓn, “earth”).[6][8] Wiktionary gives Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”).[6][8][1]
Cognate with Romanian om, Italian uomo, Occitan òme, Catalan home, Spanish hombre and Portuguese homem.[8][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
The Passion de Clermont (about 980) has hom for a human being as a species (hom carnels “man of flesh”) and for the human male (li om primers “the first man”, Adam).[9][6]
Semantic evolution
Most of the Latin senses are found in French before the end of the 14th century.[6] About 1050 hume meant “husband”, a sense always kept in familiar speech, and about 1100 “warrior” and “vassal”.[9][5] Homme of a man of a given origin or condition is found in 1160–75, and of a man as regards his trade about 1260.[9] Homme sauvage (about 1700) and homme des bois (1794) first meant the orang-utan.[6]
Derivatives and compounds include hommage (12th century, a feudal term, figurative from the 17th), bonhomme (12th century), bonhomie (1736) and surhomme (1898), a calque of German Übermensch in Nietzsche's sense.[5]
Timeline
- c. 980 – Hom in the Passion de Clermont.[9]
- c. 1050 – Hume “husband” in the Vie de saint Alexis.[9]
- c. 1100 – “Warrior” and “vassal” in the Chanson de Roland.[9]
- 12th century – Hommage and bonhomme.[5]
- 1383 – Of a man come to maturity, in Froissart.[9]
- 1736 – Bonhomie.[5]
- 1898 – Surhomme.[5]
Meanings
Noun
- man: a human being, l'homme, the human species.[1][2]
- A man, an adult male: un homme et une femme.[1][9]
- A man with the qualities thought proper to his sex: sois un homme !.[9][2]
- A man as regards his trade or condition: un homme d'affaires, un homme de lettres.[9]
- A man under someone's orders; a soldier, a worker: le capitaine et ses hommes.[1][6]
- (familiar) Husband, partner: son homme.[5][1]
Word family
- hommage
- hommasse
- bonhomme
- bonhomie
- surhomme
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 453b
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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