Etymologically
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terre

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Europe): /tɛʁ/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): [taɛ̯ʁ][1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [tæ(ɾ)][1]

Forms

terre f (plural terres)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French terre, inherited from Latin terra (“earth, land, ground”).[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin word is found only in Italic and Celtic (Old Irish and Welsh “tír” “land”), and Rey derives it from a reconstructed “*ters-”, also behind torrent, Wiktionary and Littré connect it with Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”), as in Ancient Greek τέρσομαι (térsomai, “to dry up”), the earth being “the dry land”.[3][1][6] The old Indo-European word for earth survives in Latin humus.[3]

Cognate with Romanian țară (“country”), Italian terra, Occitan terra, Catalan terra, Spanish tierra and Portuguese terra.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 980 the Passion of Clermont uses terra for the world where people live, for the surface of the ground (a terra “on the ground”) and for the earth's crust.[2]

Semantic evolution

About 1050 the Vie de saint Alexis has prendre terre “to land”, terre “country, territory” and “landed estate”, and metre an terre “to bury”.[2] About 1100 terre gaste was waste land, and about 1145 terre was one of the four elements.[2] The people of the earth are la terre from the early 12th century.[2][3]

Terre sainte dates from about 1208, terre cuite from 1536, terre ferme from 1539 and armée de terre from 1671.[2] The adjective terre à terre was first said of a horse moving in low leaps (1611), and figuratively “prosaic” from 1691.[3][4] Since Copernicus the Earth has been a planet, la Terre, almost a proper name.[3] In Quebec une terre is a farm.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Terra in the Passion of Clermont.[2]
  • c. 1050 – Prendre terre and metre an terre in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1145 – Terre, one of the four elements, in Wace.[2]
  • c. 1208 – Terre sainte in Villehardouin.[2]
  • 1536 – Terre cuite.[2]
  • 1539 – Terre ferme.[2]
  • 1691 – Terre à terre “prosaic”.[3]
  • 1924 – Prise de terre, an electrical earth.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. La Terre: the Earth, the planet; the world of humankind.[2][1]
  2. The ground: tomber par terre, à terre.[2][9]
  3. soil, earth: de la terre végétale, terre cuite.[1][2]
  4. Dry land, as opposed to the sea: toucher terre, armée de terre.[2]
  5. A country, region: terre natale, la Terre sainte.[2]
  6. An estate, landed property: acheter une terre.[1][3]
  7. (electricity) ground, earth: prise de terre.[2]

Word family

  • atterrir
  • atterrissage
  • atterrissement
  • atterrisseur
  • terraqué
  • terreau
  • terrer
  • terrestre
  • terrien

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b 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. 13/1, 244a
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)