natal

Forms

natal (feminine natale, masculine plural natals or nataux, feminine plural natales)^[1] In the 16th century the masculine plural was also nataux.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātālis (“of birth, relating to birth”), used with diēs (“day”) and locus (“place”).^[3][2][4] The Latin adjective is derived from natum, the supine of nāscor (“to be born”), the source of naître.^[2][5][6] It is a doublet of Noël, the inherited outcome of the same Latin word.^[1][7]

The adjective is a second borrowing.^[2] Christian Latin used the noun for the Nativity and for a saint's feast, and Medieval Latin natale meant an annual feast, its plural the four principal feasts;^[3][2][8] Old French took this as the noun natal (plural nataus, 1241), in use until the 16th century.^[3][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first found before 1514 in Jean Lemaire de Belges, in sa maison natale “his birthplace”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The Old French noun meant the great feasts of the year: a 15th-century text tells the faithful to confess at the four nataux, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and All Saints.^[7][2] The adjective, borrowed again in the 16th century, meant both “relating to birth” and “where one was born”, giving maison natale, jour natal (1542), later replaced by anniversaire, and pays natal (1584, Du Bartas's pays nataux).^[2][3] Langue natale, the language learned from birth, dates from 1780.^[2] From the 19th century it served to form demographic terms such as natalité.^[2]

Timeline

• 1241 – Old French noun nataus “principal feasts”.^[3][2]
• before 1514 – The adjective appears in maison natale.^[3][2]
• 1542 – Jour natal “birthday”.^[2]
• 1584 – Du Bartas writes pays nataux.^[3][2]
• 1780 – Langue natale is recorded.^[2]
• 1868 – The derivative natalité “birth rate”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Where one was born, native: sa ville natale, le pays natal.^[9][10][3]
2. Langue natale: one's mother tongue.^[9][10]
3. Relating to birth.^[9][10]
4. (astrology) Thème natal: a birth chart.^[3]

Word family

• natalité
• dénatalité
• nataliste

Related words

• Noël
• naître
• Latin nātālis

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)