Etymologically
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océan

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɔ.se.ɑ̃/[1]

Forms

océan m (plural océans)[1] Occean (about 1112); océan from about 1160 (Benoît de Sainte-Maure); the Académie wrote ocean until 1740.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin Ōceanus (“Ocean (god of the sea); the Atlantic”),[3][4][5][6] from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós), in Homer the mythical river flowing round the earth, then the outer sea bordering the known world, especially the Atlantic.[4][3] The origin of the Greek name is unknown; parallel forms such as “ôgênos” suggest a borrowing.[4] Littré followed a proposed link with a Vedic epithet meaning “encircling”.[7] The TLFi notes that the word was borrowed twice: in the 12th century and again in 1549 (Ronsard).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Anglo-Norman Voyage of Saint Brendan (early 12th century) has occean for the great expanse of salt water covering much of the earth.[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

Benoît de Sainte-Maure speaks of the land entre icest flume e l'occean.[7] From the 13th to the 18th century one also said mer océane, after Latin mare oceanum (1268).[5][4] Ronsard (1549) took the word up again as a proper name, l'Océan, and in France l'Océan absolutely is the Atlantic (Charron, 1606).[3][2]

Figuratively Desportes (1594) speaks of un ocean de misere et de peines, and Furetière (1690) has un océan de for any vast expanse.[3][4][7] The sciences formed océanographie (1584 once, then 1876), at the time of the Challenger expedition.[4][5] In Canada d'un océan à l'autre means “across the whole country” (1968).[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1112 – Occean in Saint Brendan.[2]
  • c. 1160 – Océan in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1268 – Mer océane.[4]
  • 1548 – Océanique.[5]
  • 1549 – L'Océan in Ronsard.[3]
  • 1594 – Un ocean de misere in Desportes.[3]
  • 1876 – Océanographie.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The ocean: l'océan Atlantique, l'océan Pacifique.[8][1]
  2. L'Océan: in France, the Atlantic: les plages de l'Océan.[2][8]
  3. (figurative) A vast expanse, sea: un océan de verdure.[8][1]
  4. (mythology) Océan: Oceanus.[1][7]

Word family

  • océanographie
  • océanique
  • océanographie
  • Océanie
  • océanaute
  • océanographe
  • océanographique
  • mer
  • Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós)
  • English ocean

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 302b
  7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert