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langue

Etymology and origin of the French word langue

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
second half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger (lingua)
Inherited from
Latin lingua via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (lingua)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin lingua
French langue

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Europe): /lɑ̃ɡ/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /lãɡ/[1]

Forms

langue f (plural langues)[1] Lingua, lingue (about 980); langue from the early 12th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French langue, inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue; language”),[2][3][4][1][5] which already had both senses, and the figurative one of a tongue-shaped object.[3][6] Rey groups the Latin word with related but divergent Indo-European words, among them English tongue and German Zunge.[3]

Cognate with Italian lingua, Occitan lenga, Catalan llengua and Spanish lengua.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century) uses it for the organ in the mouth and for that organ as the instrument of speech.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As the organ of speech it gave many phrases: mauvaises langues “evil talk” (about 1260), then “slanderers” (1528); longue langue “chatterbox” (1424) and avoir la langue bien pendue (1606); prendre langue “to make contact” (1574); jeter sa langue aux chiens (Mme de Sévigné, 1676), later donner sa langue au chat “to give up guessing”.[2][3]

The sense “language”, the system of expression of a people, is also inherited and runs through the history of the word, from langue d'oc and langue d'oïl to the modern langue maternelle and langue de bois “stock phrases, cant”.[3][8][1] Shapes like a tongue gave langue de terre “spit of land” and the flames' langues de feu.[8][7]

Timeline

  • second half of the 10th century – Lingua (Saint Léger).[2][3]
  • early 12th century – The form langue.[2]
  • c. 1260 – Mauvaises langues.[2]
  • 1424 – Longue langue (Alain Chartier).[2]
  • 1549 – Sur le bout de la langue.[2]
  • 1676 – Jeter sa langue aux chiens.[2]
  • 1842 – Donner sa langue aux chiens (Eugène Sue).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The tongue.[8][1]
  2. A language: langue maternelle, langue étrangère.[8][1]
  3. A way of speaking or writing, a style: la langue de Racine;[8] langue de bois “cant”.[8][1]
  4. Something tongue-shaped: langue de terre, langue de feu.[8][7]
  5. Mauvaise langue: a gossip or slanderer.[8][2]

Word family

  • langage
  • languette

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 358a
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Langue.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/langue. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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