Etymologically
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lèvre

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɛvʁ/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /laɛ̯vʁ/[1]

Forms

lèvre f (plural lèvres)[1] First the plural lawras (about 980), then levres (late 11th century).[2][3] An Old and Middle French variant leffre, perhaps influenced by Old High German leffur, survives in balafre.[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin labra, the neuter plural of labrum (“lip; edge, rim”) taken as a feminine singular, because the plural was naturally the more frequent form.[2][3][5][6][7] Rey notes that there is no common Indo-European word for the lip, but compares expressive Germanic words: Old High German leffur, Old English lippa (English lip) and Middle Dutch lippe (whence lippe).[3][4] Spoken Latin used the related “labium” (compare labial), which gave Catalan llavi, Spanish labio and Portuguese lábio.[3][4]

Cognate with Italian labbro.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Life of Saint Leger (second half of the 10th century) lawras are the fleshy parts forming the outline of the mouth.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The human lips gave much phraseology: du bout des lèvres “half-heartedly” (1677), avoir sur les lèvres “to be on the point of saying” (1538, entre les lèvres; 1635), se mordre les lèvres (1690).[3][8] By analogy it named the edges of a wound (1314), the labia of the vulva (1680, whence grandes and petites lèvres), the lips of an animal (1690), the lobes of a labiate flower (1694) and the edges of a shell (1752).[2][3] In the 19th century it was applied to the edges of a fault (Balzac, 1834; in geology, 1877), of a crevasse (1868) and of the mouth of an ancient vase (1840).[2][9]

Timeline

  • Second half of the 10th century – Lawras, Life of Saint Leger.[2]
  • Late 11th century – Levres.[2]
  • 1314 – The edges of a wound, Henri de Mondeville.[2]
  • 1677 – Du bout des lèvres.[3]
  • 1680 – The labia, in Richelet.[2]
  • 1834 – The edge of a fissure, Balzac.[2]
  • 1868 – The lip of a crevasse.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A lip: la lèvre supérieure, inférieure, du bout des lèvres, half-heartedly.[4][1]
  2. (anatomy) Lèvres: the labia: grandes lèvres, petites lèvres.[3][2]
  3. (medicine) The edge of a wound.[2][3]
  4. (geology) The edge of a fault; the lip of a crevasse.[2][9]
  5. (botany) A lobe of the corolla of a labiate flower.[2]

Word family

  • balèvre
  • labial
  • lippe
  • Latin labrum

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 j k l m n 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 d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  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. 5, 107b
  8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF