Etymologically
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montagne

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɔ̃.taɲ/[1]

Forms

montagne f (plural montagnes)[1] Old and Middle French montaigne;[2] montagne from the 14th century.[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French montaigne, inherited from Late Latin montānea,[4][5][6][2][1][7] the feminine used as a noun of the Late Latin adjective montāneus, a variant of classical Latin montānus (“of the mountains”), from mōns (“mountain”).[5][2][8] Littré notes that montānus alone would have given “montain”, without the palatal consonant.[9]

Cognate with Italian montagna, Occitan montanha, Catalan muntanya and Spanish montaña.[6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) uses it both for a great height of land and, as la montagne or les montagnes, for a mountainous region.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “heap, pile” is from 1644 (Corneille),[4][5] and la montagne qui accouche d'une souris “the mountain that gives birth to a mouse” goes back to La Fontaine (1668).[3][5] Mme de Sévigné uses it for a great difficulty (1689), as in se faire une montagne de.[3][5]

In Savoy and Switzerland it named a high alpine pasture (1761).[4][5] In 1792 la Montagne was the group of left-wing deputies on the highest benches of the Convention, the Montagnards.[4][5] Montagnes russes, a switchback or roller coaster, are recorded in 1816.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Montaigne (Roland).[4][2]
  • 1512 – Montagnard.[6]
  • 1644 – “A heap” (Corneille).[4]
  • 1668 – The mountain in labour (La Fontaine).[3]
  • 1761 – An alpine pasture.[4]
  • 1792 – La Montagne in the Convention.[4][5]
  • 1816 – Montagnes russes.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mountain.[8][1]
  2. La montagne: mountainous country, the mountains: vacances à la montagne.[8][4]
  3. (figurative) A great heap: une montagne de dossiers; a great difficulty.[8][1]
  4. Montagnes russes: a roller coaster.[8][4]
  5. (history) La Montagne: the radical deputies of the Convention.[8][4]

Word family

  • montagnard
  • montagneux

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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 d e f g h i j k l m n 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 100b
  8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter