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livre

Etymology and origin of the French word livre

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inherited borrowed derived
Latin liber
French libre
French livre
Latin libere
Latin liberalis
English liberal
Latin libertas
French liberté

French has two words spelled livre: the masculine le livre “book”, borrowed from Latin liber, and the feminine la livre “pound”, inherited from Latin lībra.[1][2][3]

livre1 book

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland
Borrowed from
Latin liber
Ultimate origin
Latin (liber)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /livʁ/[3]

Forms

livre m (plural livres)[3]

Etymology

The book is borrowed from Latin liber (“inner bark of a tree; book; division of a work”) (accusative “librum”), a semi-learned borrowing: the inherited form would have been “*loivre”.[4][5][2][3][6] The Latin word first meant the layer between the wood and the outer bark, on which people wrote before papyrus came into use, and then the book written on it; Ancient Greek βύβλος (búblos) went from “papyrus bark” to “book” in the same way.[2][5][7] Its further origin is unknown: Lithuanian and Old Church Slavonic words for “bark” have been compared, but are too isolated to be reliable.[5] It is a doublet of liber, the botanical term taken from the same Latin word in 1755.[5][3]

Cognate with Italian libro, Occitan libre, Catalan llibre, Spanish libro and Portuguese livro.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for a gathering of written leaves: Marsiles fait porter un livre avant.[4][7]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century it also named a subdivision of a work, and, used absolutely, the Gospel; the latter use lives on in les religions du Livre.[4][5] The modern sense of a printed volume came with printing (livre d'impressure, 1478, livre d'impression, 1488).[4][5] Montaigne used it of a work of the mind (1580) and les livres for study (1588).[4]

Parler comme un livre “to talk learnedly” is in Molière (1665), and ironic by 1690, à livre ouvert “at sight, fluently” dates from 1673.[4][8] It came to mean a register or account book (livre de raison, 1552, livre de bord, 1687); livre d'or was the register of Venetian nobles (1740) before it named a visitors' book (1928).[4] In 1821 Joseph de Maistre used le livre for printing and its products, now the book trade.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Livre in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 13th century – A division of a work.[4]
  • c. 1200 – The diminutive livret.[2]
  • 1478 – Livre d'impressure, a printed book.[4]
  • 1580 – A work of the mind, in Montaigne.[4]
  • 1665 – Parler comme un livre in Molière's Dom Juan.[4]
  • 1687 – Livre de bord “logbook”.[4]
  • 1808 – Livresque, taken up from Montaigne.[2]
  • 1928 – Livre d'or “visitors' book”.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A book, a bound volume of printed or written pages.[9][10]
  2. A literary or scholarly work: écrire un livre.[4]
  3. A division of a long work: le livre III.[4]
  4. A register or record: livre de comptes, livre de bord, livre d'or.[4]
  5. Le livre: the publishing and book trade.[4][5]
  6. À livre ouvert: at sight, without preparation.[8]

Word family

  • livret
  • livresque

livre2 pound

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 980 (livra)
Inherited from
Latin libra
Ultimate origin
Latin (lībra)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /livʁ/[3]

Forms

livre f (plural livres)[3]

Etymology

The pound is inherited from Latin lībra (“pound of twelve ounces; balance, scales”).[5][2][3][11] The Latin word, found from the Twelve Tables, may go back to “*līþra”, of unknown origin, from before the arrival of Indo-European speakers; it has also been explained from a Celtic name of lead.[5] Greek had Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra) for a pound of twelve ounces.[9][7] The same Latin word is behind niveau, libellule and équilibre, and, through Italian, lire “lira”.[9][2]

Cognate with Italian libbra, Occitan liura, Catalan lliura, Spanish libra and Portuguese libra.[9][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as livra about 980, as a unit of weight.[5][1]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy, from 1080 it named a money of account worth a pound of silver; the livre tournois was worth twenty sous, and the word was still used for the franc in speaking of income in the 19th century.[5][9] The pound weight varied by province from 380 to 552 grams (489 in Paris) until it was fixed at 500 grams in 1804.[5]

From 1653 it translated English pound as the British currency, livre sterling being a calque of pound sterling; it also translates the English pound weight, the sense used in Quebec.[5][9] English borrowed livre in the 1550s for the French money.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Livra, a unit of weight.[5]
  • 1080 – A money of account.[5]
  • 1653 – The British pound.[5]
  • 1804 – The pound fixed at 500 grams.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Half a kilogram, 500 grams: une livre de beurre.[14][9]
  2. (Canada) The imperial pound, about 454 grams.[9][3]
  3. (historical) A unit of weight that varied by province.[9][14]
  4. (historical) A money of account: livre tournois, livre parisis.[14][9]
  5. Livre sterling, or livre: the British pound; also the currency of other countries, as the Egyptian pound.[9][14]

References

  1. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 296b
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 306b
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Livre.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/livre. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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