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mémoire

Etymology and origin of the French word mémoire

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (memorie)
Borrowed from
Latin memoria
Ultimate origin
Latin (memor)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin memor
Latin memoria
French mémoire

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /me.mwaʁ/[1]

Forms

mémoire f (plural mémoires)[1] Old French memorie (about 1050), memoire (about 1138).[2][3] The spelling mé- dates from the Académie of 1740.[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“ability to remember; memory; record of the past”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”).[4][5][6][7] Rey and the Petit Robert relate “memor” to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remember, care for”), as in Sanskrit स्मरति (smárati, “he remembers”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌰𐌽 (maurnan, “to be anxious”) and English mourn.[5][8]

The masculine “mémoire” “written statement” was taken from the feminine noun, as a writing made so that the memory of something is kept, Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1320.[6][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has avoir en memorie, “to keep in mind”, of the collective memory of a saint.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 12th century it meant the act of remembering someone (faire memoire de, about 1135), lasting fame (first half of the 12th century) and the faculty of remembering (Wace, about 1170).[4][5] Phrases followed: de bonne mémoire (1260), par mémoire “by heart” (late 13th century, later de mémoire, 1671), de mémoire d'homme (about 1420) and à la mémoire de on epitaphs.[4][5]

The masculine mémoire (Grand Robert: about 1160, Bloch and Wartburg: 1320) named a written statement, a lawyer's brief, a bill, and in the plural (Mémoires) a personal account of events.[2][6][8] Computing took the word for the device that stores data in 1951, after English memory, mémoire vive and mémoire morte followed.[4][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Avoir en memorie, Vie de saint Alexis.[4]
  • c. 1135 – Faire memoire de, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1170 – The faculty of remembering, Wace.[4]
  • 1260 – De bone mémoire.[4]
  • 1320 – The masculine noun “written statement”.[6]
  • 1655 – Liturgical faire mémoire de, Bossuet.[4]
  • 1951 – Computer memory, Louis de Broglie.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (feminine) memory, the faculty of remembering: avoir de la mémoire, de mémoire, from memory, trou de mémoire, a memory lapse.[8][1]
  2. (feminine) Remembrance of someone or something: à la mémoire de, de sinistre mémoire, de mémoire d'homme, within living memory.[4][5]
  3. (feminine, computing) Memory: mémoire vive, RAM, mémoire morte, ROM.[5][1]
  4. (masculine) A written statement or report; a dissertation: mémoire de maîtrise.[8][1]
  5. (masculine, law) A brief.[8][1]
  6. (masculine, dated) A bill, account of sums owed.[8][1]
  7. (masculine plural) Mémoires: memoirs.[1][2]

Word family

  • mémorable
  • mémorial
  • mémoriser
  • remémorer
  • immémorial
  • commémorer
  • Latin memoria
  • English memoir

Usage notes

The feminine (faculty, remembrance) and masculine (written statement) nouns are one word in origin; the Grand Robert and Littré list them separately.[2][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d 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. 6/1, 698a
  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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mémoire.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/m%C3%A9moire. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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