Etymologically
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matière

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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)