Etymologically
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ombre

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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

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