prairie French · revision 15627

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1150, Roman de Thèbes|origins=la prātum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pʁɛ.ʁi/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /pʁe.ʁi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prairie''' ''f'' (plural prairies)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|praerie]], [[m|fro|praierie]] (about 1150); ''prairie'' from about 1180.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|praerie]],^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary) [[inh|la-vul|*prātāria]],^(DHLF 1992)^(Académie 9)^(Wiktionary) formed with the suffix [[m|la|-ārius|alt=-āria]] on [[m|la|prāta]], the neuter plural of [[la|prātum|t=meadow]], taken as a feminine singular.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(FEW|9, 334a) It is thus a derivative of the same word as [[pré]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|prateria]], [[es|pradería]] and [[oc|pradaria]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman de Thèbes'' (about 1150) has ''praierie''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) A 13th-century chronicle tells of tents pitched “en la praerie sour Seine”, in the meadow on the Seine.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the start ''prairie'' named grassland used for farming more clearly than [[pré]] did.^(DHLF 1992) Agronomy gave ''prairie artificielle'', a field sown with fodder crops (Olivier de Serres, 1600), and ''prairie naturelle'' (1761).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Through [[en|prairie]], borrowed from French into American English, and Fenimore Cooper's novel ''The Prairie'', the word came to name the vast grasslands of North America.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The revolutionary month [[prairial]] (1793) was named after it.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1150 – ''Praierie'' in the ''Roman de Thèbes''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1180 – The form ''prairie''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1600 – ''Prairie artificielle'' (Olivier de Serres).^(TLFi)

+ * 1761 – ''Prairie naturelle''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1793 – The month name ''prairial''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|meadow]] or [[m|en|grassland]] grazed or mown for [[m|en|fodder]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(ecology)'' A natural plant community of grasses covering the ground.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''La Prairie'': the [[m|en|prairie]] of North America;^(Petit Robert 2007) ''les Prairies'', the Canadian Prairie provinces.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pré]]

+ * [[prairial]]

+ * [[la|prātum]]

+ * [[en|prairie]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}