véranda

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ve.ʁɑ̃.da/^[1]

Forms

véranda f (plural vérandas)^[1] Verranda, veranda (1861); vérandah (1876) is dated.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English veranda, also “verandah” (from 1711), a word brought back from India,^{[4][5][6][1][7]} where several languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, had taken it from Portuguese varanda (“balcony, balustrade”) (late 15th century).^[4][5][8] The origin of the Portuguese word is uncertain;^[4][9] the FEW, Rey and Bloch and Wartburg derive it from vara (“rod, pole”), from Latin vāra (“forked pole; trestle”).^[4][5][6][2] Old Occitan had baranda (“balustrade”) (12th century).^[5]

Littré took it from a Sanskrit word for “colonnade”, which the later sources do not follow.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 1758 French translation of J. H. Grose's Voyage to the East Indies says the houses have a kind of colonnade outside que les Portugais appellent Vérandas.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word spread only in the 19th century.^[5][2] Speaking of India and the Far East, a véranda is a light wooden gallery, covered or glazed, around a house or along its front.^[4][5] Balzac (1844) applied it to a glazed gallery built onto a house in France, which became the usual sense; such conservatories are part of many modern solar houses.^[4][5][11]

In the French of the Indian Ocean it is the gallery in front of a house, also called varangue, and in African French a lean-to roof.^[5][11]

Timeline

• late 15th century – Portuguese varanda.^[4]
• 1711 – English veranda.^[4][5]
• 1758 – Vérandas (translation of Grose).^[4][12]
• 1844 – A glazed gallery (Balzac).^[4][3]
• 1878 – First recorded by the Académie.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A glazed gallery or room built onto a house; a conservatory.^[9][11]
2. In India and the Far East, a light wooden gallery around a house; a veranda.^[9][11]
3. (Africa) A lean-to roof along the side of a house.^[11][5]

Related words

• varangue
• English veranda

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 129b
8. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF