Etymologically
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lagune

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 18:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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]

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