mûr

Forms

mûr (feminine mûre or mure, masculine plural mûrs or murs, feminine plural mûres or mures)^[1] Old French meür, mëur, maüre; the spelling mûr dates from the 17th century.^[2][3][4] Théodore de Bèze noted that the usage had arisen of pronouncing meur as mur.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French meür, inherited from Latin mātūrus (“ripe, timely”).^[2][4][3][6] The Latin word meant first “happening at the right time”, hence “having reached maturity”;^[4] Rey links it to māne (“in the morning”), mānēs and mātūtīnus (“of the morning”), all with a root meaning “good”.^[4] French borrowed the same Latin word later as mature, a doublet.^[4][1]

Cognate with Italian maturo, Occitan madur and Spanish maduro.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears about 1165 in Guillaume d'Angleterre, of a ripe apple (pome mëure).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses are just as old: about 1176–1184 Gautier d'Arras uses it of a person with judgment and reflection, and about 1200 it qualifies thoughts.^[2][4] By analogy with fruit it meant “of a certain age” (about 1223), often a euphemism for “old”, and in medicine an abscess ready to burst (about 1256).^[2][4] Après meüre délibération is in Montaigne (1588), and mûr pour “ready for” in Rotrou (1646).^[4][7] In the classical period it was said of a worn-out garment (Oudin, 1640), and soldiers' slang of 1919 gave it the sense “drunk”.^[2][4] The phrase en bailler de belles, de vertes et de meures (early 15th century) is the ancestor of modern en voir des vertes et des pas mûres.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Pome mëure in Guillaume d'Angleterre.^[2]
• 1176–1184 – Gautier d'Arras uses it of a sensible person.^[2][4]
• c. 1223 – Gautier de Coinci uses it for “of a certain age”.^[2]
• c. 1256 – Aldebrandin of Siena uses it in medicine.^[2]
• Early 15th century – En bailler de belles, de vertes et de meures in the Quinze joies de mariage.^[2][4]
• 1588 – Montaigne writes après meüre délibération.^[4][7]
• 1640 – Oudin uses it of a worn garment.^[2]
• 1646 – Mûr pour in Rotrou.^[2][4]
• 1919 – Slang “drunk”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. ripe, fully developed (of a fruit or grain): des cerises bien mûres.^[8][1]
2. Of an abscess or boil, about to burst.^[8][2]
3. (familiar, dated) Of fabric, worn out and about to tear.^[8][2]
4. Fully developed and ready to come about: Le projet est mûr. Être mûr pour: ready for.^[8]
5. Of a person, mature, having reached full development, also in judgment: l'âge mûr.^[8][1]
6. (slang) drunk.^[2][4]

Word family

• mûrement
• mûrir
• mûrissage
• mûrissement

Related words

• mature
• maturité
• Latin mātūrus

Usage notes

En dire des vertes et des pas mûres means to say shocking or outrageous things, and en voir des vertes et des pas mûres to go through hard times.^[8][4][1] Since the 1990 spelling reform the feminine and plural may be written without the circumflex (mure, murs).^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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. 6/1, 533a
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert