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matière

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Etymology and origin of the French word matière

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1112, Voyage de saint Brendan
Borrowed from
Latin materia
Ultimate origin
Latin māter
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin materia
English matter
French matière
From the same root
Latin materialis ← materia

Pronunciation

Forms

matière f (plural matières)[1] Old French maiteire, mateirie (about 1112) and matire (about 1160); matière is settled from about 1175.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin māteria (“matter; materials; timber; subject”) (earlier māteriēs),[4][1][5] a word that already had all the French senses.[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the form shows very early use: learned circles never stopped using the word.[4] In rustic Latin the word meant the substance of the mother trunk, the trunk as producer of shoots, from māter (“mother”); it was the hard wood as opposed to bark and leaves, then building timber, then materials of any kind.[2][6] It rendered Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood; matter”) in philosophy.[2][4]

Of the same family, only madrier (from Provençal) and merrain keep the sense of building timber.[6] Cognate with Italian materia, Spanish materia, Portuguese matéria, Romanian materie, and with Spanish madera and Portuguese madeira “wood”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Voyage de saint Brendan (about 1112) maiteire is the substance a thing is made of.[3][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Concrete uses spread from the substance of things: matter discharged by the body (about 1256), whence matière fécale (1538), the substance of a medicine (1280), matières grasses (1580), the material a craft or industry works (1681, of precious metals for coinage), matières premières (1771) and matière plastique (1913).[7][2]

From the 12th century the word also took the Latin abstract senses: the subject of a work (about 1125), as in entrer en matière (1655) and table des matières (1690); a cause or occasion (about 1175), as in donner matière à (about 1225); a field of study (1280), first in law, and a school subject (1868).[2] In scholastic philosophy it was matter as opposed to form (1270), and, from 1155 the substance of bodies perceived by the senses, opposed to spirit.[2] Modern physics led to antimatière (1958).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1112 – Maiteire in the Voyage de saint Brendan.[3]
  • c. 1125 – The subject of a work, in Philippe de Thaon.[7][2]
  • c. 1175 – The form matière, in Chrétien de Troyes.[3]
  • c. 1256 – Matter discharged by the body.[7]
  • 1270 – Matter opposed to form in philosophy.[2]
  • 1655 – Entrer en matière.[2]
  • 1690 – Table des matières.[2]
  • 1771 – Matières premières.[7]
  • 1868 – A school subject.[2]
  • 1913 – Matière plastique in the Larousse mensuel.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (philosophy, science) matter, the substance that bodies are made of: les états de la matière.[6][8]
  2. The material or substance something is made of: matière première, matières grasses.[6][1]
  3. Matter discharged by the body: matières fécales.[7][6]
  4. The subject or content of a work or a speech: entrer en matière, table des matières.[6][2]
  5. A subject of study, a school subject.[1][2]
  6. A cause or occasion: donner matière à.[2][6]
  7. En matière de: in the field of, as regards.[1][6]

Word family

  • antimatière

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 m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 481b
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Matière.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mati%C3%A8re. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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