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norme

Etymology and origin of the French word norme

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1165, Benoît de Sainte-Maure
Borrowed from
Latin norma
Ultimate origin
Latin (nōrma)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin norma
French norme
English norm
Latin normalis
English normal

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /nɔʁm/[1]

Forms

norme f (plural normes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nōrma (“carpenter's square; rule”),[2][3][4][5] a technical word also used figuratively for a rule of conduct, often together with “regula” (see règle).[3] Rey thinks it was probably borrowed, through Etruscan, from Ancient Greek γνώμων (gnṓmōn, “carpenter's square”) (see gnomon).[3][6]

English norm (1821) is from French “norme”;[6] conversely the sense “usual state” spread under the influence of English sociology.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (about 1165) has mettre norme a “to settle (a matter)”;[2][3] Brunetto Latini (1284) uses norme for “rule”.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

French kept only the abstract sense, “rule”; the word was rare until the 19th century and is absent from the dictionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries.[3][4][8] About 1865–1867 (Proudhon, Hugo) it took the sense “usual, regular state”, without a value judgement, partly after English norm as used by sociologists.[2][3][7]

In the 20th century it became a technical term for the specification a product must meet (about 1920, norme NF), and a term of mathematics (about 1930), linguistics, sociology and law, combining the ideas of the majority model and of the rule to follow.[3][9] Normatif is recorded by Littré (1868).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1165 – Mettre norme a in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1284 – “Rule”, in Brunetto Latini.[2]
  • 1821 – English norm.[6]
  • 1867 – “Usual state”, in Hugo.[2]
  • 1868 – Normatif.[3]
  • 1932 – A technical specification.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A norm, rule, standard: norme juridique, norme sociale.[9][10]
  2. The norm, usual state: rester dans la norme, hors norme: exceptional.[9][1]
  3. A technical standard: conforme aux normes, norme NF.[9][10]
  4. (mathematics) A norm.[1]

Word family

  • normatif
  • normer

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b 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, 190b
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Norme.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/norme. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·