origine

Forms

origine f (plural origines)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin orīgō (“source; beginning; descent, ancestry; cause”), taken in the form of its accusative ⟨orīginem⟩,^[2][3][4][5] a derivative of orior (“to rise; to spring from; to be born”), which also gave orient.^[3][4][6]

It replaced its inherited doublet orine (1138, Gaimar), which survived until the 16th century and is still used in the western dialects.^[2][3][7][6] Littré notes that the old form kept the Latin stress on the syllable ⟨ri⟩, while the modern word was remade on the written Latin form.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean de Bueil's Jouvencel (1461–1466) says that a deadly plague avoir prins naissance, origine et commencement d'une seulle personne, “had taken its birth, origin and beginning from one single person”: the first appearance of a phenomenon.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Georges Chastellain uses it about 1462–1470 for the source of things and for a person's descent (d'excellente origine).^[2][3] The sense “cause” is found in 1537, and the plural for the beginnings of a changing reality in 1549 (Du Bellay, l'Origine des Langues), as later in the title of Ménage's Origines de la langue françoise (1650).^[2][9] The phrases dès l'origine (1566), à l'origine (1603) and tirer son origine de (1634) followed, and Nicot speaks of the origine du mot in 1606.^[2]

Technical senses developed in medicine, for the point where a nerve or organ starts (about 1450–1500), and in mathematics, for the point from which coordinates are measured (1679, La Hire).^[2] Cotgrave (1611) uses it for an animal's pedigree.^[9][3] The certificat d'origine of goods is recorded in 1784, and origine des espèces (1862) is a calque of the title of Darwin's book in Clémence Royer's translation.^[2]

Timeline

• 1138 – The inherited form orine (Gaimar).^[6][4]
• 1461–1466 – Jean de Bueil: the first appearance of a phenomenon.^[2]
• c. 1470 – Chastellain: descent, ancestry.^[2][9]
• 1537 – “Cause”.^[2]
• 1549 – Du Bellay: l'Origine des Langues.^[2]
• 1603 – À l'origine.^[2]
• 1606 – Nicot: the origine of a word.^[2]
• 1679 – La Hire: the origin of coordinates.^[2]
• 1784 – Certificat d'origine.^[2]
• 1862 – L'origine des espèces, Royer's translation of Darwin.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ancestry, descent; the people, class or country one comes from: une famille d'origine paysanne.^[10][11][12]
2. (of animals) Pedigree.^[10][9]
3. The time, place or milieu a thing comes from; provenance: un mot d'origine arabe, pays d'origine.^[12][10]
4. The beginning, first appearance of something, à l'origine, at first, dès l'origine, from the start.^[12][2]
5. The cause or source of something, être à l'origine de, to be behind, cause.^[12][6]
6. (mathematics) The point from which coordinates or distances are measured.^[8][2]
7. (anatomy) The point where a nerve, vessel or muscle begins.^[8][2]
8. D'origine: of certified provenance, original, appellation d'origine contrôlée.^[1][2]

Related words

• originaire
• original
• originel
• orient
• Old French orine
• Latin orīgō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 416a
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)