ombrage

Forms

ombrage m (plural ombrages)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French ombre + -age.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Littré and Wiktionary derive it instead from Latin umbrāticus (“of the shade”), from Latin umbra (“shade”).^[8][1] The Old French adjective ombrage “dark, gloomy, suspicious”, recorded from the 12th to the 16th century, is the base of ombrageux.^[6][8]

Cognate with Occitan ombratge and Catalan ombratge.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1165 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, meaning the branches and leaves that give shade, and the shade they give.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “foliage that gives shade” has lasted to the present.^[2][6] During the 16th century the word took on the figurative sense “suspicion, distrust” (1589, Guillaume du Vair), the feeling of being put in the shade by someone;^[2][6][8] Littré explains it by the way shadow alarms people and especially horses.^[2][6][8] Hence prendre ombrage and porter ombrage (1604) and donner ombrage à (1611, Cotgrave).^[6][2] The GLLF dates prendre ombrage de to Oudin in 1640.^[4]

English borrowed it in the early 15th century as umbrage “shade”; the sense “suspicion of being slighted” is recorded by the 1610s.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – First record, in the Roman de Troie.^[2]
• Late 12th century – The Reclus de Moliens uses it of an obscuring.^[4][8]
• Early 15th century – English borrows it as umbrage.^[9]
• 1589 – “Suspicion” in Guillaume du Vair.^[2][6]
• 1604 – Quelque sinistre ombrage in Montchrestien's Aman.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records donner ombrage à.^[2][6]
• 1640 – Oudin records prendre ombrage de.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mass of branches and leaves that gives shade: l'ombrage des platanes.^[5][2]
2. The shade given by foliage: Nous déjeunâmes à l'ombrage d'un vieux chêne.^[5][8]
3. (figurative, dated) suspicion, distrust, especially the fear of being eclipsed by someone;^[5][6][8] porter ombrage à someone, to offend or worry them, also prendre ombrage de something, to take offence at it.^[5][6][8]

Word family

• ombrager
• ombrageux

Related words

• ombre
• Latin umbra
• English umbrage

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com