Etymologically
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village

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:02. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vi.laʒ/[1]

Forms

village m (plural villages)[1] Medieval Latin villagium in 1235, villaige (1385), village (about 1390, Froissart).[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French ville + -age, from Old and Middle French “vil(l)e” in its old sense “farm, rural estate”, from Latin villa (“country house, farm”).[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary and Littré derive it from Medieval Latin villāticum.[1][6] Old and Middle French had other derivatives of “ville” in the same sense, such as “vilel” and “vilele”.[3]

Compare Old Occitan vilatge and Italian villaggio, which Meyer-Lübke takes from Occitan.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as villaige in Eustache Deschamps' Miroir de mariage (1385), and as village in Froissart's chronicles (about 1390), for a group of rural dwellings.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

A village is large enough to have a life of its own, unlike a hamlet.[3][8] About 1360 it was also used for the villagers themselves, a sense that disappeared, though le village still means all its inhabitants (1694).[3][4] Figurative phrases include être bien de son village “to be naive” (1611) and coq de village (1549).[4][3] In African French village names any farming settlement, even a large one, and one's village is one's origin; in Louisiana it means any town other than New Orleans.[3][1] The derivative villageois dates from about 1500.[3]

Timeline

  • 1235 – Medieval Latin villagium.[2]
  • 1385 – Villaige, Eustache Deschamps.[2]
  • c. 1390 – Village, Froissart.[2]
  • c. 1500 – Villageois.[3]
  • 1611 – Être bien de son village, Cotgrave.[4]
  • 1694 – “The inhabitants of a village”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A village: un petit village de montagne, l'église du village.[8][1]
  2. The inhabitants of a village: tout le village est en émoi.[9][4]
  3. A holiday or leisure complex: village de vacances, village de toile.[9]
  4. (Louisiana) A town.[1][3]
  5. L'idiot du village: the village idiot.[4][1]

Word family

  • villageois

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)