Etymologically
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robe

Etymology and origin of the French word robe

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1155, Wace
Borrowed from
Proto-Germanic *rauba
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic (*raubō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁɔb/[1]

Forms

robe f (plural robes)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *rauba (“booty, plunder”), whence the sense “clothing taken as booty”.[2][3][4][5][6] The Germanic word, Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic *raubō, is related to English rob and to French dérober.[3][1] Rey thinks the sense “garment” may have arisen already in Germanic.[3]

Cognate with Italian roba (“goods; clothes”), Old Occitan rauba (“booty; robe”) and Spanish ropa (“clothes”), with an irregular /p/.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Brut (1155) robe is booty, the spoils of war, and also the movable goods a person uses; the sense “booty” is frequent in Old French and lasts until the 16th century.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

About 1165 it meant a set of garments cut from the same cloth, and in Chrétien de Troyes (1165–70) the long one-piece garment worn by women.[2][3] Long robes worn by men gave the robes of the clergy (about 1160, la robe ne fet pas le moine, 1269–78) and of lawyers and magistrates (1530), whence la robe, the legal profession (1642), and noblesse de robe.[2][3] Robe de chambre (1576) followed robe a relever (1387) and robe de nuyt (about 1462), and potatoes en robe de chambre (1870) were later called en robe des champs (1938).[2] By analogy it named the skin of vegetables (Rabelais, 1546), an animal's coat (about 1640), the wrapper leaf of a cigar (1730) and the colour of wine (1833).[2]

Timeline

  • 1155 – “Booty”, Wace.[2]
  • c. 1160 – A monk's robe.[2]
  • 1165–70 – A woman's dress, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • 1530 – Homme de robe longue, a lawyer.[2]
  • 1576 – Robe de chambre.[2]
  • c. 1640 – An animal's coat, Voiture.[2]
  • 1833 – The colour of a wine.[2]
  • 1889 – Robe du soir.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dress, frock: une robe d'été, robe du soir, robe de mariée.[7][1]
  2. A robe, gown of a judge, lawyer, priest or academic: robe d'avocat, (historical) gens de robe, the legal profession.[7][2]
  3. Robe de chambre: a dressing gown, pommes de terre en robe des champs, jacket potatoes.[7][2]
  4. The coat of an animal, especially a horse: la robe d'un cheval.[1][2]
  5. The colour of a wine.[1][2]
  6. The skin or outer leaf of some vegetables; the wrapper of a cigar.[2]

Word family

  • robette
  • enrober
  • garde-robe
  • robin
  • dérober
  • English rob

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 674a
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

  • blanc · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Robe.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/robe. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·