loure

Forms

loure f (plural loures)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2] According to the DHLF, the Larousse and Littré, it is borrowed from Late Latin lura (“mouth of a leather bag or wineskin, satchel, purse”), which suits a kind of bagpipe;^[3][4][5] the TLFi and the FEW object that the French form presupposes a long ⟨u⟩ in Latin.^[2][6] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give the Latin word or a Scandinavian one, Littré's Old Norse lûdr “horn, shepherd's pipe”;^[7][8][5] the FEW mentions the Old Norse word in a note but does not treat it.^[2] Littré also reports a view that it is an altered form of outre¹ “wineskin” with the article fused to it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1555 in Vauquelin de la Fresnaye's Foresteries for a rustic musical instrument, a word recorded in Normandy;^[2] the DHLF and the Petit Robert date it to the late 15th century.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Ronsard used it in 1559,^[2] and Cotgrave gave it as a Poitevin word.^[2] By metonymy it named the slow peasant dance accompanied by this bagpipe: Dufresny has it in 1702,^[2][4] and about 1720 it was a theatre dance in triple time, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[3][8]

The verb lourer meant “to play the loure” in the 16th century and, from 1765, “to play notes with stress while slurring them”, a style called louré (1857).^[3]

Timeline

• Late 15th century – First use, according to the DHLF and the Petit Robert.^[3][8]
• 1555 – Vauquelin de la Fresnaye uses it for a rustic instrument.^[2]
• 1559 – Ronsard uses it.^[2][5]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it as a Poitevin word.^[2]
• 1702 – Dufresny uses it for a peasant dance.^[2][4][9]
• c. 1720 – A theatre dance in triple time.^[3][8]
• 1765 – Lourer takes its musical sense.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music, historical) A large musette, a kind of bagpipe, formerly played in Normandy and Brittany.^[8][4][2]
2. (music, historical) A slow French dance in triple time, danced in the theatre in the 17th and 18th centuries, and its tune.^[8][2][3]

Word family

• lourer
• louré

Related words

• musette
• Latin lura

Usage notes

Old French also had loure “otter”, a separate word from Latin lutra.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 465a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5187
11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 476a