province

Forms

province f (plural provinces)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōvincia, a term of Roman public law for a magistrate's charge and the sphere of his authority, then for a territory governed by a proconsul or propraetor.^[2][3][4][5] Late Latin used it for any region or country (early 3rd century), and Christian Latin for the district of a metropolitan bishop (early 5th century).^[3][2] The origin of the Latin word is unclear: Rey suggests a borrowing reshaped by association with vincō (“to conquer”), which the Petit Robert and Littré take as its source.^[3][6][7]

The Roman province in southern Gaul gave, by popular descent, Old Occitan proensa and the name Provence, a doublet of this word.^[3][2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) has the word in the sense of the Christian Latin, an ecclesiastical province.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “region, country” (about 1165) was taken from Late Latin and was still current in the 17th century; by about 1175 the word also meant a territory considered as a state.^[3][2] It was little used before the 15th century, and named an administrative division mainly from the late 14th century on.^[4] In France it named a region with its own history (province de Poitou, 1328), and under the Ancien Régime a division in which the king was represented by bailiffs, seneschals and governors.^[3][2] From 1680 it also named a group of religious houses under one superior.^[2][3]

With royal centralization in the 17th century, la province came to mean the country outside the capital (1653) and, by metonymy, all those who do not live in Paris (1672, Madame de Sévigné).^[3][2] The opposition with Paris took on new overtones after the Revolution replaced the old provinces with départements.^[3] From 1883 the word is also used as a disparaging adjective, “provincial”.^[3] In Canada (1867) it names a federated state, after English usage, and in Belgium (1899) an administrative division under a governor.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it for an ecclesiastical province.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for a region or country.^[2][3]
• c. 1213 – The Faits des Romains uses it of a Roman province.^[2]
• 1328 – Province de Poitou: a region of the kingdom of France.^[2][3]
• 1653 – Racan opposes the province to the capital.^[2][8]
• 1672 – Madame de Sévigné uses it for the people who do not live in Paris.^[2][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “group of religious houses”.^[2]
• 1867 – The Canadian sense appears.^[3][6]
• 1883 – First disparaging adjectival use.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Roman history) A conquered territory outside Italy, governed by a proconsul or propraetor.^[6][2]
2. (obsolete) A country or state.^[6]
3. A region of a country with its own historical character, especially one of the old provinces of France: la Bretagne et la Bourgogne étaient des provinces.^[2][6]
4. La province: France outside Paris, and the people who live there: Ils sont partis vivre en province.^[2][6][1]
5. An administrative division of some countries, such as Canada and Belgium.^[6][3]
6. (church) An ecclesiastical province under an archbishop, or the houses of a religious order under one superior.^[2]
7. (familiar, adjective) Provincial, old-fashioned: faire province.^[3]

Related words

• provincial
• Provence
• Latin prōvincia

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 485b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF