moutier

Forms

moutier m (plural moutiers)^[1] Old French monstier (end of the 10th century), mostier (about 1050) and moustier (13th century); moutier from the early 17th century, in Malherbe.^[2][3] Littré spells it moûtier.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mostier, inherited from Late Latin monisterium, a popular form found in 7th-century inscriptions,^[5] altered from monastērium (“monastery”).^[5][2][6] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert mark the popular form as unrecorded.^[3][7] The Late Latin word is from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “monk's cell, monastery”),^[6][1] derived from μονάζω (monázō, “to live alone”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).^[6] Its learned doublet is monastère, borrowed in 1279.^[6][1]

Cognate with Occitan monestier and Portuguese mosteiro.^[8][4] The Latin word also gave German Münster^[8] and Old English mynster.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as monstier in the Vie de saint Léger at the end of the 10th century, meaning a monastery.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

By about 1050, in the Vie de saint Alexis, it also meant a church.^[5] Littré quotes the Ménagier of the 14th century: le moustier n'est pas lievre, il me attendra bien “the church is not a hare, it will wait for me”.^[4]

In the 17th century it was felt to be obsolete: Monet called it an old word in 1636, and Richelet wrote in 1680 that it was used only in some provinces, such as the borders of Champagne and Lorraine, for a parish church.^[5] The sense “church” has lived on in the dialects of Wallonia, Lorraine, Franche-Comté and French-speaking Switzerland.^[5][6] Littré found it only in jocular, familiar or archaic style.^[4] It survives in place names such as Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, and writers such as Hugo and Huysmans revived it.^[2] The place name Moustier, in the Dordogne, gave the name of the Mousterian period of the Palaeolithic, coined by Mortillet in 1872.^[6]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Monstier “monastery” appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[5][2]
• c. 1050 – Muster means a church in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[5]
• 13th century – The spelling moustier is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1279 – The learned monastère is borrowed from Late Latin.^[6]
• Early 17th century – Malherbe writes moutier.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet lists it as an old word.^[5]
• 1680 – Richelet restricts it to some provinces, for a parish church.^[5]
• 1798 – The Académie records the proverb il faut laisser le moutier où il est.^[5]
• 1872 – Mortillet coins moustérien from the place name Moustier.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic or literary) A monastery, monastère.^[5][7][1]
2. (archaic, regional) A parish church.^[5]

Related words

• monastère
• Late Latin monastērium

Usage notes

The proverb il faut laisser le moutier où il est means that accepted customs should not be changed; the Académie recorded it from 1798 to 1878.^[5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com