lagune

Pronunciation

• IPA: /la.ɡyn/^[1]

Forms

lagune f (plural lagunes)^[1] Lacune (1574), lagune (1701, Furetière).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Venetian laguna (“coastal lagoon”) (before 1488), a word that first meant “marsh, pond” in Italian (about 1304),^{[2][3][5][1][6]} from Latin lacūna (“ditch, hole, pool”), a derivative of lacus (“lake”).^[2][3][5][7] The voicing of ⟨c⟩ to ⟨g⟩ is a feature of northern Italy.^[2][3] It is a doublet of lacune;^[1] “lacune” itself meant “pool, pond” from 1575 to 1613, taken straight from Latin, a sense still alive in the Landes and the Gironde.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Belleforest (1574) writes lacune, a Latinism, for the lagoons of Venice; the word was first used of them.^[2][5][8]

Semantic evolution

A lagune is a stretch of shallow salt water between the mainland and a sand bar, like the lagoon of Venice or those of the Languedoc coast;^[2][4][8] Buffon (1770) also used it for a small lake in marshy country.^[8] The adjective lagunaire is from 1886, and in Ivory Coast French the Lagunaires are the peoples of the coastal zone.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1304 – Italian laguna “marsh, pond”.^[2][3]
• before 1488 – Venetian laguna “coastal lagoon”.^[2][3]
• 1574 – Lacune (Belleforest).^[2][7]
• 1701 – Lagune (Furetière).^[2][3]
• 1762 – First recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1886 – Lagunaire.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lagoon, a stretch of shallow salt water cut off from the sea by a sand bar.^[4][1]
2. (dated) A small lake or pool in marshy country.^[8][9]

Related words

• lacune
• lac
• lagon
• Latin lacūna
• English lagoon

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 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 125b
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette