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mer

Etymology and origin of the French word mer

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Inherited from
Latin mare
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*móri)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mare
French mer

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɛʁ/[1]

Forms

mer f (plural mers)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mare (“sea; large basin”).[2][3][4][5] The Latin neuter became feminine in the 6th century, as also in Romanian and Catalan; this is put down to the influence of terre.[6][4][1][7] “Mare” was the ordinary Latin word, beside the poetic “sal” and “aequor” and the Greek loans “pontus” and “pelagus”.[3]

The Latin word continues Proto-Indo-European *móri, through Proto-Italic *mari;[1] Rey describes it as an old Indo-European stem, known from Slavic to Italic, which probably meant “lagoon” at first.[3] Related are Gaulish “*mori-”, Breton mor, Old Norse marr, German Meer, Dutch meer and English mere (“lake, pond”).[6]

Cognate with Italian mare, Romanian mare, Occitan mar, Catalan mar, Spanish mar and Portuguese mar.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis, meaning the sea: cum s'en fuït par mer (“how he fled by sea”).[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The Couronnement de Louis (about 1135) already names a particular sea, La Roge Mer “the Red Sea”, and Wace has halte mer “the open sea” (about 1145) and entrer en mer “to embark” (about 1155).[2][3] Seafaring phrases followed: basse mer “low tide” (1607), prendre la mer (1671), mettre à la mer (1677) and un homme à la mer ! (1831).[2][3] For pleine mer (1691) the TLFi gives “high tide”, Rey “the sea far from the shore”.[2][3] C'est la mer à boire “it is an endless task” is in Madame de Sévigné (1672), and its opposite ce n'est pas la mer à boire is recorded in 1808, mer d'huile “dead calm” is in Lamartine (1849).[2]

By analogy it named a dark patch on the Moon (1740), a great quantity of liquid (1721) and the mer de glace of an Alpine glacier (1791).[2][3] Charles d'Orléans has a figurative mer de Desplaisance about 1460.[2] As Latin mare had named a vessel, mer was in 1798 a large wine jar refilled as it was drunk.[2][3] In Quebec la mer is the broad estuary of the Saint Lawrence below Rivière-du-Loup.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Mer in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1135 – La Roge Mer in the Couronnement de Louis.[2]
  • c. 1145 – Halte mer in Wace.[2]
  • 1607 – Basse mer “low tide”.[2]
  • 1672 – C'est la mer à boire in Madame de Sévigné.[2]
  • 1740 – A dark plain on the Moon.[2]
  • 1791 – Mer de glace.[2]
  • 1808 – Ce n'est pas la mer à boire.[2][3]
  • 1912 – The derivative amerrir.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sea, the great body of salt water covering most of the globe: eau de mer, haute mer.[6][9]
  2. A part of it with its own name: la mer du Nord, la mer Rouge.[8][1]
  3. The seaside: aller à la mer pour les vacances.[9]
  4. The tide: basse mer, pleine mer.[2]
  5. A vast expanse or quantity: une mer de glace, (literary) une mer de chagrins.[2][3]
  6. (astronomy) A dark plain on the Moon, a mare.[2]
  7. (Quebec) The broad lower estuary of the Saint Lawrence.[3]
  8. Ce n'est pas la mer à boire: it is not that difficult.[3][2]

Word family

  • marée
  • amerrir
  • outre-mer
  • marin
  • marine
  • maritime
  • mare
  • marais

Usage notes

Mer is pronounced like mère and maire.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 r s t u v 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 l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b 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, 317a
  6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mer.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mer. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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