orage

Forms

orage m (plural orages)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French ore (“wind”) + -age, with the collective suffix also seen in feuillage.^[2][3][4][5] The Old French noun, recorded from about 1165 to the 14th century beside aure, came from Latin aura (“breath of air, breeze”), which Latin took from Ancient Greek αὔρα (aúra).^[2][3][4][6] Its derivative orez, of the same meaning, was much more common and is found from about 1050 to the 14th century.^[2][3] The FEW files the word under Vulgar Latin *aurāticus,^[7] and Wiktionary and Etymonline trace it to *aurāticum.^[1][8]

The same Latin word survives as Italian ora (archaic), Old Occitan aura and Franco-Provençal words for wind and storm; the derivative is matched by auratge and Catalan oratge.^[4][9][2] Old Italian oraggio and Spanish oraje were taken from French.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Voyage de saint Brendan of the early 12th century it means a favourable wind, a sense that died out in the 13th century.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

From about 1140 (Pèlerinage de Charlemagne) the sense turned to a storm with heavy rain, the modern meaning, which won out over “breath of wind” in the 16th century.^[2][3][4] Figuratively it meant misfortunes as early as 1197 (Hélinant's Vers de la mort), and Ronsard wrote un orage de for a flood of something in 1552.^[2][3] Its overtones of violence and turmoil made it one of the key words of Romanticism, as in Chateaubriand's Levez-vous vite, orages désirés.^[3][10] The orage magnétique is recorded from 1869.^[3][10] The derivative orageux is found once about 1200, figuratively, and regularly from the 17th century.^[4][3]

English borrowed the word as orage “violent windstorm” in the late 15th century (Caxton); it was obsolete by the 18th.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – The derivative orez “wind” appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][3]
• c. 1112 – Orage “favourable wind” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][3][5]
• c. 1140 – The sense “storm, heavy rain” in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[2][3]
• 1197 – Hélinant uses it figuratively for misfortunes.^[2][3]
• 1552 – Ronsard writes un orage de.^[2][3]
• 16th century – The sense “storm” prevails.^[4][5]
• 1869 – Orage magnétique is recorded.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thunderstorm, a violent disturbance of the atmosphere with lightning and thunder, often with rain and wind: L’orage a éclaté vers minuit.^[10][2][1]
2. Orage magnétique: a geomagnetic storm.^[10]
3. (figurative) Trouble that breaks out or threatens; a quarrel or outburst of anger.^[10][6]
4. (literary) turmoil, the tumult of passions or of public life; misfortunes, reverses.^[6][1]

Word family

• orageux

Related words

• aura

Usage notes

The word is masculine because of the suffix -age, but it was sometimes feminine in older French because it begins with a vowel.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 952b
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert