ombre

Pronunciation

• IPA (France): /ɔ̃bʁ/^[1]
• IPA (Canada): /õːbʀ/^[1]

Forms

ombre f (plural ombres)^[1] Old French umbre (until the 14th century), then ombre (1176–81); often masculine until the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French umbre, inherited from Latin umbra (“shadow; shade; ghost; semblance”).^{[3][2][5][4][6]} Rey finds plausible a link with Sanskrit अन्धस् (ándhas, “darkness”), Wiktionary suggests an Old Latin “*omra” and a possible Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *h₂mr-u-.^[2][1] Latin “umbra” was also used, like Ancient Greek σκιά (skiá), of an uninvited guest brought along by another, and of certain fishes.^[2]

Cognate with Romanian umbră, Italian ombra, Occitan ombra and Catalan ombra; Spanish sombra has another form.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Sermon on Jonah (938–50) umbre is the shade given against the sun, the space deprived of light by an opaque body; the Chanson de Roland has sous l'umbre in the orchard.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively it meant shelter, protection (Cambridge Psalter, mid-12th century: en l'umbre de tes eles “in the shadow of thy wings”), and pretext (sous ombre de, 1280).^[3][2] About 1165 it was a person's reflection, and in Chrétien de Troyes (1176–81) one's shadow, qui peor a de son ombre; it then came to mean a vain appearance (1547) and a trace, a hint (pas l'ombre de, 1690).^[3][2] The Latin sense of the shade of the dead was taken up in the 16th century (Du Bellay, 1549).^[3][5]

In painting it is a term of art (1667), whence Boileau's une ombre au tableau (1667).^[3] Mettre à l'ombre meant to put in prison as early as 1486 and to kill in 18th-century slang.^[2][3] Ombres chinoises (1776) were a shadow show said to come from China, and lâcher la proie pour l'ombre alludes to La Fontaine's fable.^[5]

Timeline

• 938–50 – Umbre, Sermon on Jonah.^[3]
• c. 1100 – Sous l'umbre, Chanson de Roland.^[8]
• c. 1165 – A reflection, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[3]
• 1176–81 – One's shadow, Chrétien de Troyes.^[3]
• 1280 – Sous ombre de.^[3]
• 1486 – Mettre à l'ombre “to imprison”.^[2]
• 1549 – The shade of the dead, Du Bellay.^[3]
• 1667 – Une ombre au tableau, Boileau.^[3]
• 1776 – Ombres chinoises.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. shade: an area sheltered from direct light: à l'ombre, trente degrés à l'ombre.^[9][1]
2. A shadow cast by a body: avoir peur de son ombre, suivre quelqu'un comme son ombre.^[3][1]
3. Darkness, obscurity; anonymity: dans l'ombre, sortir de l'ombre.^[1][2]
4. A ghost, the shade of a dead person.^[1][3]
5. A trace, hint: sans l'ombre d'un doute, pas l'ombre de.^[1][2]
6. (painting) Shaded part of a picture, une ombre au tableau, a fly in the ointment.^[3]
7. (familiar) Mettre à l'ombre: to put in prison.^[2]

Word family

• ombrage
• ombrager
• ombrageux
• ombrelle
• ombrer
• ombreux
• pénombre

Related words

• sombre
• Latin umbra

Usage notes

Ombre (masculine) is also the grayling, a river fish, from Latin umbra, a dark-coloured fish (umbre, late 14th century); ombre-chevalier is an altered form of omble.^{[4][9][5][10]} Terre d'ombre (1562), elliptically ombre, is an umber pigment, Littré derived it from Umbria.^[2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. 14, 21b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF