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loin

Etymology and origin of the French word loin

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (an luinz)
Inherited from
Latin longe via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (longus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin longe
French loin
French éloigner

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lwɛ̃/[1]

Forms

loin[1] Old French luinz, loinz, luign, loing; the final -z may reflect a Latin *longis.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French loing, inherited from Latin longē (“far, far off; by far”), from longus (“long”), whence long.[2][5][6][7][1] With a verb of difference, Latin “longē” also meant “by far”.[2]

Cognate with Italian lungi, Occitan luenh, Catalan lluny and archaic Spanish lueñe.[6][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1050 the Vie de saint Alexis has an luinz “into the distance”: E tantes feiz pur tei an luinz guardét “and so often I looked far away for you”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Loin de and ne loinz ne près are in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), and de loin in Philippe de Thaon (1119).[2] The temporal sense, “long ago”, appears about 1225.[2][5] De loin en loin goes back to Old French luinz a luinz (1119); its temporal use dates from 1620.[2]

From the 17th century loin was used abstractly: voir de loin (1640), aller trop loin (1661), revenir de loin (1672), loin de moi l'idée de.[2][5][9] Loin de with an infinitive meant “instead of” in Corneille (1640), and loin que with the subjunctive is in Molière (1666).[2] In Swiss French être loin means “to be away”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – An luinz in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Loin de in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1119 – De luinz and luinz a luinz in Philippe de Thaon.[2]
  • c. 1225 – The temporal sense.[2]
  • 1530 – Il y a loin d'ici à.[2]
  • 1640 – Voir de loin.[2]
  • 1672 – Revenir de loin.[9]
  • 1762 – De loin en loin.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. far, far away: habiter loin, plus loin.[10][1]
  2. Far off in time: c'est loin tout cela.[11]
  3. Loin de: far from, loin de là: far from it, loin de moi l'idée de: far be it from me.[2][5]
  4. De loin: from afar; by far: de loin le meilleur.[2][5]
  5. Aller loin: to go far, succeed, aller trop loin: to go too far.[5]
  6. De loin en loin: here and there; now and then.[2]

Word family

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 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
  3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 401b
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Loin.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/loin. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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