trirème

Forms

trirème f (plural trirèmes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin trirēmis (“ship with three banks of oars”), the feminine of the Latin adjective of the same form, “having three banks of oars”, used as a noun.^[2][3][4] The adjective is formed tri- “three” and rēmus (“oar”).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Bersuire uses it about 1355 in his translation of Livy, explaining that triremes estoient certaines manieres de nefs à trois rens d'avirons (“triremes were a kind of ship with three rows of oars”).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a term of ancient history.^[3] It is recorded only twice before the 18th century, about 1355 and about 1550,^[3] and the GLLF finds no example between the middle of the 16th century and 1721, when the Trévoux dictionary has it.^[4] Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1721, with Bersuire's isolated use as a forerunner.^[6]

It names the Roman war galley that corresponded to the Greek trière, and the TLFi remarks that recent texts do not always keep the two words apart.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1355 – Bersuire uses triremes in his translation of Livy.^[2][5]
• c. 1550 – A second isolated record.^[3]
• 1721 – The word reappears, in the Trévoux dictionary.^[6][4]
• 1863 – Flaubert describes the triremes of Carthage in Salammbô.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (antiquity) A trireme, an ancient war galley with three banks of oars one above the other, the Roman counterpart of the Greek trière.^[2][7][8]

Related words

• trière
• rémige
• Latin rēmus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)