lierre

Forms

lierre m (plural lierres)^[1] Old French edre (before 950), iedre (late 11th century), iere, ierre (late 12th century); lyere in 1372, lyarre in 1444, lierre in 1559.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French iere (“ivy”) with the definite article fused to it, inherited from Latin hedera (“ivy”).^{[2][3][4][6][7]} The Old French word developed from edre (before 950) through iedre.^[2][3]

The Latin noun was feminine; the French word was masculine from the start, probably by analogy with the usual masculine gender of the names of trees and shrubs.^[2][3][4] Littré notes that the word is feminine in the other Romance languages and that several French dialects kept forms without the article, such as Norman hierre.^[8] The ancients connected the Latin noun with a verb meaning “to seize”, found only in compounds such as prehendō, as the plant that clings;^[3][8] Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to seize, grasp”).^[1]

Cognate with Italian edera, Spanish yedra, Portuguese hera and Old Occitan edra.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 950 the Jonas fragment of Valenciennes has edre for the ivy that shaded the prophet Jonah;^[2][3][8] the form with the article, lyere, is first found in 1372 in Jean Corbichon's translation of the Propriétés des choses, in ung vaissel de fust de lyere “a vessel of ivy wood”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense “ivy”, the climbing evergreen plant.^[3] Littré records its use as an attribute of Bacchus, and in poetry for wine.^[8]

From the 13th century hierre terrestre, then lierre terrestre (1549), named ground ivy, a creeping plant of the mint family whose leaves look somewhat like those of ivy.^[3][5][9]

Timeline

• Before 950 – Edre in the Jonas fragment.^[2][3]
• Late 11th century – Iedre in Rashi's French glosses.^[2]
• Late 12th century – Ierre in the First Continuation of Perceval.^[2]
• 13th century – Hierre terrestre for ground ivy.^[3][5]
• 1372 – Lyere, with the article fused, in Jean Corbichon.^[2][3]
• 1444 – The form lyarre.^[4]
• 1549 – Lierre terrestre is recorded.^[3][5]
• 1559 – The spelling lierre in the journal of the lord of Gouberville.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. ivy, a woody climbing plant with evergreen glossy leaves that clings to walls and trees by small roots.^[9][2][10]
2. Lierre terrestre: ground ivy, a creeping plant of the mint family.^[9][8]

Related words

• Latin hedera

References

1. ^ a b c 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 k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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. 4, 396b
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)