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nicotiane

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Etymology and origin of the French word nicotiane

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing, Eponym
First attested
1567 Estienne and Liébault, L'Agriculture et maison rustique More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Latin nicotiana
Derivations

Pronunciation

  • /ni.kɔ.tjan/, /ni.kɔ.sjan/[1][2]

Forms

nicotiane f[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin nicotiana, the naturalists' Latin name for tobacco, short for herba nicotiana (“Nicot's herb”).[2][3] The name honours Jean Nicot, the scholar who compiled the French dictionary called the Thresor (1606): as French ambassador in Portugal (1558–1560) he was given a tobacco plant from Florida and sent it to Queen Catherine de' Medici.[1][4][3] The TLFi and the DHLF derive the French word directly from his name.[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1567 in Charles Estienne and Jean Liébault's L'Agriculture et maison rustique, which ranks the plant first among medicinal herbs and explains that it was named after the man who first made it known in France.[1][4]

Semantic evolution

Nicot's own dictionary (1606) praises the herb as a cure for wounds, ulcers and sores and tells how he sent it to France in 1560.[5] The plant was also called herbe à Nicot and, in honour of the queen, herbe à la reine.[2][1][3][6] Cotgrave (1611) glosses nicotiane as “Nicotian, Tobacco”.[7]

The word gave way to tabac: from 1762 the Académie lists it with a reference to tabac,[1][8] and today it is a rare, dated botanical term.[1][2] It lived on in chemistry: nicotine (1818) was formed from it by a change of suffix, and the adjective nicotique was listed from 1842 to 1932.[1][4][3]

Timeline

  • 1560 – Nicot sends the tobacco plant from Lisbon to Catherine de' Medici.[1][3][6]
  • 1567 – First recorded, in Estienne and Liébault's L'Agriculture et maison rustique.[1][4]
  • 1606 – Nicot's Thresor gives the plant's history under Nicotiane.[5]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave translates it as “Nicotian, Tobacco”.[7]
  • 1762 – The Académie records it, referring to tabac.[1][8]
  • 1818 – Nicotine is formed from it.[1][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany, dated, rare) A genus of the Solanaceae that includes tobacco.[1][6]
  2. (dated) Tobacco.[1][2][9]

Word family

Usage notes

Flaubert once used it in the masculine (1844), an exception.[1] Littré names the species nicotiane tabac, common tobacco, and nicotiane rustique, false tobacco.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Nicot, Jean (1606), Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne, Paris: David Douceur
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
  8. ^ a b Académie française (1762), Dictionnaire de l'Académie françoise, 4th ed., Paris: Brunet
  9. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nicotiane.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/nicotiane. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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