loutre

Forms

loutre f (plural loutres)^[1] Old French lutre, loirre, leurre and lorre; the form loutre is found about 1265.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lutre, inherited from Latin lutra (“otter”).^[2][5][6][1] The regular outcome of the Latin word was Old French leurre; the ⟨t⟩ of the modern form was probably kept under the influence of the Old Low Franconian word corresponding to Old High German ottar, an influence that the masculine gender of the earliest records would confirm.^[2][6] Another Old French form, loirre, comes from Vulgar Latin *lutria, explained as a cross between the Latin word and Ancient Greek ἔνυδρις (énudris, “otter”), the Greek influence reaching it through Italian dialects.^[2][6] Bloch and Wartburg, by contrast, call the modern word borrowed from Latin, beside the popular Old French forms lorre and the regular form, the latter still alive in the dialects of the Centre and West.^[7]

Rey reports that the Latin word may be a cross between a form related to the same Germanic word and Latin lutum (“mud”), after the animal's muddy haunts.^[6] Cognate with Old Occitan luria, Catalan llúdria and Spanish nutria.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as masculine lutre in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century), naming the otter.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the animal, the word has named its prized fur since 1260, when loirre is found in Étienne Boileau's book of the Paris trades.^[2][6] It was masculine at first and is recorded as feminine from the end of the 14th century, in Eustache Deschamps.^[3]

The fur trade gave the derivative loutrier, an otter hunter, found as lotrier in the 13th century and as loutrier about 1330.^[6] In the fur trade, loutre qualified by a place name came to be used for the furs of other animals.^[4]

Timeline

• early 12th century – Lutres appears in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2]
• 1174–1177 – The form loirre is used in the Roman de Renart.^[2]
• 1260 – Loirre means otter fur in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[2]
• c. 1265 – The spelling loutre is found in Brunetto Latini.^[3]
• c. 1290 – The regular form leurre is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1330 – The derivative loutrier appears.^[6]
• late 14th century – Eustache Deschamps uses the word as feminine.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An otter, a small aquatic carnivore of the weasel family with webbed feet and thick brown fur: loutre de rivière, loutre de mer.^[4][2]
2. The fur of this animal: un col de loutre.^[4][8]
3. (fur trade) The fur of other animals sold under this name: loutre d'Hudson (muskrat fur).^[4]

Related words

• Latin lutra

Usage notes

Littré notes that the word was once used as a masculine for a hat or muff made of otter fur, a use already rare in his time.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 476b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette