masure

Forms

masure f (plural masures)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *mansūra (“dwelling”), recorded in Late Latin as mānsūra, a feudal holding (before 750) and a dwelling or house (950).^[2][3][4][1] This is a derivative of mānsum, the supine of maneō (“to stay, dwell”).^[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Alexandre de Paris's Roman d'Alexandre (1180–1190), has the neutral sense “dwelling”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Old French, where it was mainly a Picard word, masure was a dwelling, and in the feudal system a house with the lands that belonged to it (about 1213).^[3][2] In the plural it was used, in Froissart, for huts serving as temporary quarters for an army.^[2][3]

The word turned pejorative around the 15th century.^[4] It meant what is left of a fallen building (1454), and Cotgrave (1611) gives an old house or wall about to collapse; from this came the modern sense, a poor, rundown house.^[2][3][5]

The old sense survives in Normandy, in the Pays de Caux, where a masure is a farmstead with its buildings and, by extension, the enclosed orchard and pasture around them.^[3][4][6][1]

Timeline

• 1180–1190 – Alexandre de Paris uses masure for “dwelling”.^[2][3]
• c. 1213 – The Fet des Romains uses it for a house with its feudal lands.^[2][5]
• Late 14th century – Froissart uses the plural for an army's temporary huts.^[2][3]
• 1454 – First record of the sense “ruins of a building”.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave defines it as an old house or wall threatening to collapse.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A poor, dilapidated house, a hovel.^[7][2][1]
2. (dated) The remains of a building fallen into ruin.^[6][2]
3. (Normandy, Pays de Caux) A farmstead with its buildings, or the enclosed orchard around it.^[3][1]

Related words

• maison
• manoir
• mas
• manant
• manse
• Latin maneō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert