Etymology and origin of the French word once
once1 ounce
Etymology tree of once1
From the same root · once1
Pronunciation
- /ɔ̃s/[1]
Forms
once f (plural onces)[1] Old French unce;[2][3] Anglo-Norman also onche and unche.[2][3]
Etymology
The word for the unit of weight is inherited from Old French unce, inherited from Latin uncia (“twelfth part of a whole, small amount”).[4][2][5][6] Rey notes that the Latin name of this fractional unit is derived from unus (“one”).[2]
Cognate with Italian oncia, Spanish onza, Old Occitan onsa and Picard onche.[7][8][9] English ounce was borrowed from the French word about 1330; the French sense for the British and American unit of weight (1839) was in turn taken from the English word.[4][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It first appears in the early 12th century in the Voyage de saint Brendan, in the negative phrase ne unce (de) “not a bit (of)”.[4][2][10]
Semantic evolution
From the start the word was used of a tiny amount: Old French ne unce (de) meant “none at all”, and the same idea lives on in n’avoir pas une once de “to have hardly any”, recorded by Furetière in 1690.[4][2] As a measure it named a coin weight about 1135 (once d’or) and a unit of weight about 1160 in the Roman d’Eneas;[4] it was the twelfth of the Roman pound and, under the Ancien Régime, the sixteenth of the Paris pound.[2][11]
Since 1839 it has also named the Anglo-American ounce, borrowed back from English ounce;[4][2] in Canadian French this unit was in use from 1760 until the metric system was adopted in 1978.[4]
Timeline
- c. 1112 – Ne unce (de) “not a bit (of)” appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.[2][10]
- c. 1135 – Once d’or is used in coinage in the Couronnement de Louis.[4][2]
- c. 1160 – It names a unit of weight in the Roman d’Eneas.[4]
- c. 1330 – English borrows the word as ounce.[4]
- 1690 – Furetière records n’avoir pas une once de sens commun “to have hardly any common sense”.[4]
- 1760 – The English ounce comes into use in Canadian French.[4]
- 1839 – First record of the Anglo-American unit of weight.[4][2]
Meanings
Noun
- (history) An old unit of weight: the twelfth part of the pound of ancient Rome, and the sixteenth part of the Paris pound.[11][4]
- An ounce, the Anglo-American unit of weight of about 28.35 grams, also used in Canada.[11][10]
- (figurative) Une once de: a very small amount of something: Il n’a pas une once de patience.[11][2]
once2 snow leopard
Pronunciation
- /ɔ̃s/[1]
Forms
once f (plural onces)[1] Old French lonce, from which the word was cut.[4][7]
Etymology
The word for the snow leopard is inherited from Old French lonce (“lynx”) cut short: the initial ⟨l⟩ was taken for the elided article.[4][2][7][11] According to the TLFi and Rey, the Old French word is probably borrowed from Italian lonza (“panther”) (13th century), formed in the time of the first Crusades directly on Ancient Greek λύγξ (lúnx, “lynx”), as the fur and wild-animal traders of Asia Minor pronounced it.[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert instead trace it to Vulgar Latin *lyncea, a feminine form derived from Latin lynx;[7][5] Rey gives this as the less likely explanation.[2]
The same loss of the initial ⟨l⟩ is found in Catalan onça and unça from the 13th century, and Spanish onza is recorded at the end of the 15th century.[4][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first recorded about 1179 in the Roman de Renart, as the name of the first beast of the Apocalypse.[4][2]
Semantic evolution
In the Middle Ages the word named several kinds of wild beast:[7][5] the lynx in Brunetto Latini's Trésor (1284) and the panther in Rémy Belleau (1576).[4] Buffon made it masculine.[7] It now names the snow leopard, a large cat of Central Asia.[2][11]
Timeline
- c. 1179 – It names the first beast of the Apocalypse in the Roman de Renart.[4][2]
- 1284 – Brunetto Latini's Trésor uses it for the lynx.[4]
- Late 13th century – The Grand Robert's first date, for several kinds of wild beast.[5]
- 1576 – Rémy Belleau uses it for the panther.[4]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x 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
- ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 27a
- ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Once.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/once. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.
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