butte French · revision 15896

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=1225|origins=non butr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /byt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''butte''' ''f'' (plural buttes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine form of [[but|t=target, aim]],^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)^(FEW|15/2, 34a) Littré noting that “but” and “butte” were long confused and differ only in gender.^(Littré 1873) The origin of “but” is doubtful: it is perhaps from [[non|butr|t=log, block of wood]], a piece of wood that may have served as a target for archers,^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) akin to [[en|butt|t=log]] and [[nl|bot]];^(DHLF 1992) its spread in Normandy seems to support this, while a Frankish “*but” does not fit the sound changes.^(DHLF 1992) P. Guiraud took “but” as another form of [[bout]], arising from “butte”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In 1225 it named the point to be reached in a race;^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) the sense “mound” is first recorded about 1360–1375, in the hunting treatise ''Modus'': ''mettez vostre huant sur une bute assez haute'', set your owl on a fairly high mound.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ First confused with ''but'', the word named the marked point at which one aims (1451) and the target itself (1530), a sense still current in the 16th and 17th centuries (Marot's ''Amour a faict de mon cœur une bute'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) From this comes ''être en butte à'' “to be exposed to” (1580, Montaigne).^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The mound against which the target was set gave the general sense “small hill, knoll” (about 1375), as in ''la butte Montmartre'' and the ''Buttes-Chaumont'';^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) in horticulture a ''butte'' is a heap of earth round a plant (1697), whence ''butter'' (1694).^(DHLF 1992) Geology has ''butte-témoin'', an outlier left by erosion.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) [[en|butte]] was taken from French in American English (1805), in the journals of Lewis and Clark.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1225 – The goal of a race.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1375 – “Mound”, in ''Modus''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1451 – The point aimed at.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1530 – A target.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1580 – ''Être en butte à''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1697 – A heap of earth round a plant.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1805 – English ''butte''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small hill, mound, [[m|en|knoll]]: ''la butte Montmartre'', or simply ''la Butte''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A mound or bank behind a target: ''butte de tir''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(geology)'' ''Butte-témoin'': an outlier, [[m|en|butte]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(agriculture)'' A heap of earth round the foot of a plant.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Être en butte à'': to be exposed to, the target of: ''en butte aux moqueries''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[butter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[but]]

+ * [[buter]]

+ * [[en|butte]]

+ * [[en|butt]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In 19th-century slang ''butte'' meant the scaffold (1821), from the mound on which it stood; from this came ''buter'' “to kill”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}