nitre

Forms

nitre m (uncountable)^[1] Old French nytre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nitrum (“natron, soda, alkali”), a name the Romans gave to various alkalis, mainly soda and potash, and probably seldom to the saltpetre of modern chemists.^[2][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek νίτρον (nítron, “natron, soda”),^[2][6] which probably comes from Egyptian nṯrj (“natron”).^[2][4][1]

Rey calls it a travelling word, borrowed also by Hebrew, Arabic and Hittite; the Arabic form gave natron (1653).^[4] Cognate with Spanish nitro and Italian nitro.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded at the end of the 12th century, spelled nytre, in the Sermons de saint Grégoire sur Ézéchiel, meaning saltpetre.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As the everyday name of saltpetre, nitre was also used poetically for gunpowder;^[4][8] the Greek and Latin nitrum had meant soda, but in French the word settled on potassium nitrate.^[2][4] In the language of chemistry it was later pushed out by nitrate de potassium, and esprit de nitre became an old name for nitric acid.^[4][8]

The word lives on mainly in its many derivatives and compounds, which appear from the end of the 18th century: nitrique, nitrite and nitrate (1787), nitrifier and nitrification (1797), all of them rivalled in the 19th century by words formed on azote.^[4][6] Many compounds begin with the element nitro-.^[6]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Nytre “saltpetre” appears in the Sermons de saint Grégoire sur Ézéchiel.^[2]
• 1256 – Aldebrandin de Sienne uses it, the date the Petit Robert and the GLLF give.^[8][9]
• 16th century – Ambroise Paré writes of waters prepared with sel nitre.^[7]
• 1787 – Nitrate, nitrique and nitrite are coined.^[4][6]
• 1797 – Nitrifier is recorded.^[4][6]
• 1800 – Delille uses nitre for gunpowder in verse.^[8]
• 1900 – Nitration is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, chemistry) saltpetre, potassium nitrate.^[2][9][10]
2. Nitre du Chili: natural sodium nitrate, Chile saltpetre.^[2]
3. Esprit de nitre: an old name of nitric acid.^[2][8]
4. (poetic) gunpowder.^[8][7]

Word family

• nitrate
• nitrique
• nitrite
• nitreux
• nitrifier
• nitrification
• nitrer
• nitration

Related words

• natron
• salpêtre
• Latin nitrum

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 152b
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)