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nature

Etymology and origin of the French word nature

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1119, Philippe de Thaon, Comput
Borrowed from
Latin natura
Ultimate origin
Latin (nātūra)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nascor
Latin natio
English nation
English national
English international
Latin natura
English nature
French nature
French naturel
French naturellement

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /na.tyʁ/[1]

Forms

nature f (plural natures)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātūra (“birth; natural state of a thing; temperament, character; the course of things”), recorded in French from 1119.[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is formed on nātus (“born”), from nāscor (“to be born”) (see naître).[3][6][7] In Latin it also rendered Ancient Greek φύσις (phúsis) in philosophy and named the genitals.[3]

Compare Romanian natură and Italian natura.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119) uses it for the active force that established and maintains the order of the universe, often personified.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the first half of the 12th century the word meant the set of properties that define a thing, and about 1165 the essence proper to a being, nature humaine is from the 13th century.[2][3] About 1170 Chrétien de Troyes has par nature for an inborn disposition, whence a person's temperament (about 1480) and the person itself (1559), still heard in une petite nature.[2][3] Scholastic philosophy gave nature naturante and nature naturée (1253), calques of Latin natura naturans and natura naturata.[3]

The modern idea of nature as the whole ordered world governed by laws dates from the Renaissance (1584), and nature as opposed to civilization from Furetière (1690).[2][3] Nature as the model of art gave d'après nature (Molière, 1663) and plus grand que nature (1671); contre nature is from 1535, en nature “in kind” from 1734.[2] The adjective (c'est nature, 1808, un bœuf nature, 1865, “plain, unadorned”) and a slang adverb “of course” (Carco, 1914) are recent.[2][8]

Timeline

  • 1119 – The force that orders the universe, Philippe de Thaon.[2]
  • c. 1170 – Par nature “by inborn disposition”, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • 1253 – Nature naturante and nature naturée.[3]
  • 1535 – Contre nature.[2]
  • 1584 – The whole ordered world.[2]
  • 1663 – D'après nature, Molière.[2]
  • 1808 – Adjective c'est nature.[2]
  • 1914 – Slang adverb nature! “naturally”, Carco.[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The nature of something: the set of properties that define it, la nature humaine.[7][2]
  2. A person's temperament, character; a person of a certain character: une petite nature, a weakling.[7][3]
  3. The physical world, the universe and its laws, (personified) la Nature.[2][1]
  4. The countryside, the natural world as opposed to towns and civilization.[2][7]
  5. Nature as the model of art: d'après nature, grandeur nature, life-size, nature morte, a still life.[2][1]
  6. En nature: in kind.[2][1]
  7. (grammar) Part of speech, lexical category.[1]

Adjective

  1. (invariable) Plain, unseasoned: un yaourt nature.[1][9]
  2. (familiar) Natural, spontaneous, frank.[9][2]

Word family

  • dénaturer
  • naturaliste
  • naturisme
  • surnaturel

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ 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. 7, 45b
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nature.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/nature. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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