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maison

Etymology and origin of the French word maison

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont
Inherited from
Latin mansio via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (maneō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɛ.zɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /me.zɔ̃/[1]

Forms

maison f (plural maisons)[1] Old French maisun, meson.[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French maisun, inherited from Latin mānsiō (“stay; lodging, stopping place”) (accusative “mānsiōnem”),[3][4][5][6][1][7] from maneō (“to remain, stay”), whence also manoir.[4][6][1] In imperial Latin “mansio” was a halt or posting stage, and later the house where one stops.[4][8]

The word took the sense “house” only in Gallo-Romance, mainly in the north,[5] where it replaced Latin casa (“hut”), still the word for “house” in Italian casa and Spanish casa and surviving in French chez and in place names such as La Chaise-Dieu.[4][5][6] Classical domus disappeared, except in dôme.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion de Clermont (late 10th century) uses it for a building used as a dwelling.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Old French said en sa maison (about 1130) and a maison (about 1150) for “at home” and “home(wards)”, where modern French says à la maison.[3][4] The maisun Dieu was a temple or tabernacle (first half of the 12th century).[3]

From the dwelling the word spread to the household and its servants (gens de maison), the family or dynasty (la maison de Bourbon), a business (une maison de commerce), and institutions such as the maison d'arrêt (1790).[8][9][1] In astrology a maison is one of the twelve divisions of the sky (Jean de Meun, 1269–1278).[3] As an invariable adjective maison means “homemade” or “in-house”, and familiarly “first-rate”.[1]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – A dwelling (Passion).[3][6]
  • c. 1130 – En sa maisoun “at home”.[3]
  • 1269–1278 – An astrological house.[3]
  • c. 1465 – Maison de plaisance.[3]
  • 1655 – Maison de campagne.[3]
  • 1790 – Maison d'arrêt.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A house, a dwelling, one's home: à la maison.[9][1]
  2. A household; a family or dynasty: la maison d'Autriche.[9][1]
  3. A firm or business house: maison de commerce.[9][8]
  4. An institution: maison de retraite, maison d'arrêt.[9][8]
  5. (astrology) A house of the zodiac.[3]

Adjective

  1. (invariable) Homemade; in-house: tarte maison.[1]

Word family

  • maisonnette
  • maisonnée
  • manoir
  • chez
  • Latin mānsiō
  • English mansion

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 234b
  8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Maison.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/maison. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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