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métallurgie

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Etymology and origin of the French word métallurgie

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1611 Cotgrave More words from the 17th century
Borrowed from
Latin metallurgia
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μεταλλουργός

Pronunciation

  • /me.ta.lyʁ.ʒi/[1]

Forms

métallurgie f (uncountable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin metallurgia, the Latin of the sciences.[2][3][4][5] Bloch and Wartburg, the Petit Robert and the GLLF take this from a Greek verb for working a mine, from Ancient Greek μεταλλουργός (metallourgós, “miner”), itself from μέταλλον (métallon, “metal, mine”) and ἔργον (érgon, “work”).[2][5][1] The TLFi and Rey treat the 1666 word as a learned compound of métal and the element -urgie, with the Greek word for a miner as the model.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611 has it first, in the sense of searching the earth for ores.[6][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The word was formed again in 1666, in the Journal des savants, for the processes of extracting and working metals.[6][5][7] From this technical sense it came to mean the industry as a whole, the firms that work ores and metals (recorded by the Robert in 1959), and in the 1960s it gave métallurgie des poudres, the making of parts from pressed and heated metal powders.[5] Its derivatives are métallurgiste (1718 in Rey, 1719 in Bloch and Wartburg), later the metalworker, shortened about 1921 to métallo, and métallurgique (1752, in a translation from English).[7][2]

Timeline

  • 1611 – Cotgrave records metallurgie, for searching for ores.[6][5]
  • 1666 – The Journal des savants uses it for the working of metals.[6][5]
  • 1670s – Etymonline's date for English metallurgy.[8]
  • 1718 – Métallurgiste appears.[7]
  • 1752 – Métallurgique appears.[7][2]
  • 1843 – Électrométallurgie is first written, with a hyphen.[7]
  • 1959 – The Robert records the sense “the metal industry”.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. metallurgy: the techniques for extracting metals from their ores, refining and treating them, as in la métallurgie du cuivre.[5][4][9]
  2. The metal-working industry, the firms that produce metals.[5][4]
  3. Métallurgie des poudres: powder metallurgy.[5]

Word family

  • métallurgique
  • métallurgiste
  • électrométallurgie
  • métallo

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c d e 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
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Métallurgie.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/m%C3%A9tallurgie. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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