Etymologically
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origine

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Pronunciation

  • /ɔ.ʁi.ʒin/[1]

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]
  • 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)