humus

Forms

humus m (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin humus (“ground, earth, soil”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Rey connects the Latin word with an Indo-European root meaning “earth”.^[3] Littré reports Curtius's comparison with Ancient Greek χαμαί (khamaí, “on the ground”), and rejects a link with the Sanskrit word for “earth”, whose first vowel is long where the Latin one is short.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi, the GLLF and Rey date its first record to the Encyclopédie in 1765;^{[2][5][3][4][8][9]} Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give 1755.^{[2][5][3][4][8][9]} It named the dark organic matter of the soil formed by decaying plants.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single sense, and Littré gives a chemist's use beside it: a brown substance soluble in alkalis, produced in the soil by the slow decomposition of organic matter.^[7] It gave learned derivatives: humique (1834, acide humique), humine (1866), humification (1922) and humifère.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses the word.^[2][3]
• 1834 – The derivative humique appears, in acide humique.^[2][3]
• 1866 – Humine is formed.^[3]
• 1922 – Humification is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Humus, dark organic matter of the soil, formed by the partial decomposition of plant and animal remains: la couche d'humus d'une forêt.^[9][2][7]

Word family

• humique
• humification
• humifère

Related words

• Latin humus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 514b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert