Etymologically
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lande

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɑ̃d/[1]

Forms

lande f (plural landes)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Gaulish *landa, reconstructed from Irish lann, Welsh llan and Cornish lan, which mostly in compounds mean “plain, open space” and “enclosure”, and also from Breton lann (“heath”).[2][3][4][5][1][6] The Celtic words are related to Germanic “*landa-” “land”, as in German Land and English land;[2][3] Wiktionary's Old French entry leaves open a Germanic or Gaulish source.[1] The type “*landa” is found across the old Gaulish area: Old Italian, Catalan, Aragonese and Navarrese “landa” “field, piece of land”, and Gascon place names.[2][3][7]

Littré took it from German “Land”[8]; Diez preferred Breton “lann”.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century) two bears come out of the lande, translating Latin saltus: a wooded tract.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the north the word first meant wooded country, a sense kept in the name of the Landes;[3][2] Aiol (about 1200) speaks of les landes de Bordele.[2] At Bordeaux in 1778 it covered any uncultivated ground grazed by livestock, and it came to mean open, uncultivated land where heather, gorse and broom grow, usually the result of forest clearance.[2][3][9] In the south-west, the landes are coastal dunes planted with pines.[10]

In western dialects lande also names the gorse and heather themselves, with landier (1840) for gorse.[4][3][8]

Timeline

  • early 12th century – A wooded tract (Brendan).[2][3]
  • c. 1200 – Les landes de Bordele (Aiol).[2]
  • 1514 – Landes ou boscages in the custom of Labourd.[2]
  • 1778 – Any uncultivated grazing land (Bordeaux).[2][3]
  • 1840 – Landier, gorse.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A moor, heath, open uncultivated land covered with heather, gorse and broom.[9][1]
  2. Les Landes: the region of south-western France, its pine-planted dunes.[9][10]
  3. (western dialects) Gorse, furze.[8][4]

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 158b
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse