Etymologically
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nombreux

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /nɔ̃.bʁø/[1]

Forms

nombreux (feminine nombreuse, masculine plural nombreux, feminine plural nombreuses)[1] Nonbreus (about 1350); nombreux from 1564 (Jean Thierry); the 16th century also had the latinism numereux.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French nombre + -eux,[3][5][2] after Latin numerōsus (“numerous; rhythmical”),[3][4][1] from numerus (“number”), the source of nombre.[6][4]

Compare Old Occitan numeros.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Latin–French glossary of about 1350 renders numerosus by nonbreus, “in great number, made up of many”.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century it also took the rhetorical sense of Latin numerōsus, “rhythmical, harmonious”: Baïf has nombreuse cadance (1552), and Jean Thierry's dictionary (1564) nombreuses loix, laws being called so because they were once written in verse.[3] The everyday sense, of a crowd, an audience or a family made up of many members, and in the plural “many”, has remained the main one.[7][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1350 – Nonbreus in a Paris glossary.[3]
  • 1552 – Nombreuse cadance, in Baïf.[3]
  • 1564 – The form nombreux (Jean Thierry).[2]
  • 1694 – Recorded by the Académie.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made up of many members: une foule nombreuse, un public nombreux, famille nombreuse, a large family.[7][2]
  2. (plural) Numerous, many: de nombreuses familles, Ils sont très nombreux.[7][1]
  3. (literary) Of style, harmonious, rhythmical.[3][2]

Usage notes

In the plural, when it means “made up of many”, nombreux is placed after the noun, to avoid confusion with de nombreux “many”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g h i 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 c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert