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mausolée

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Etymology and origin of the French word mausolée

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1544 Maurice Scève, Délie More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Latin mausoleum
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek Μαύσωλος

Forms

mausolée m (plural mausolées)[1] Earlier mausole (from 1405, Christine de Pizan) and mauseole (1507, Jean Lemaire de Belges).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mausōlēum (“magnificent tomb”), first “the tomb of Mausolus”,[2][3][5][6] from Ancient Greek Μαυσωλεῖον (Mausōleîon),[7][3] formed from the name of Μαύσωλος (Maúsōlos), king of Caria, whose wife Artemisia II built him at Halicarnassus a tomb counted among the Seven Wonders of the World.[2][3] In Rome the Latin word was already used of monumental tombs such as those of Augustus and Hadrian.[5] The form mausole was shaped after the king's name.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mausolée is first found in 1544, in Maurice Scève's Délie.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names a sumptuous tomb, and so a tomb the size of a building; by extension it is used of a funerary monument with a religious function.[3] Littré also notes its loose use for a catafalque.[7]

Timeline

  • 1405 – Christine de Pizan uses mausole.[2]
  • 1507 – Jean Lemaire de Belges writes mauseole.[2]
  • 1544 – Maurice Scève uses mausolée.[2][3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mausoleum: a sumptuous funerary monument of great size: le mausolée d'un empereur.[8][2]
  2. (antiquity) The tomb Artemisia built for Mausolus, king of Carie.[7][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 557b
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mausolée.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mausol%C3%A9e. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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