nord French · revision 16079

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1140, Geffrei Gaimar|origins=ang norþ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /nɔʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (France, Southern): [n̪ɔʁ̥]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): [naɔ̯ʁ]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): [nɑɔ̯ʁ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nord''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Norht'' (about 1140), ''north'' (1155), ''nort'' (1174–1176); ''nord'' from 1549; the Académie (1694) notes that some write ''nort''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|ang|norþ|t=north]] ([[en|north]]),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|16, 601b) first used in Normandy and spreading from there.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The English word belongs to a Germanic family of unknown origin;^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary traces it to an Indo-European “*nér”.^(Wiktionary) [[it|nord]] and [[es|norte]] come from French.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Wace explains in the “Roman de Rou” that the English “dient en lor language… en north alom, de north venom”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Geffrei Gaimar's ''Estoire des Engleis'' (about 1140) has ''norht'' as an adverb, “northwards”;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wace's ''Brut'' (1155) has the noun, the cardinal point opposite the south, and the adjective (''porte nort'').^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Wace's ''Rou'' (1160–1174) it also named the north wind and the northern countries, uses now archaic except in ''noroît'' and ''le Grand Nord'' (1874).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) Furetière (1690) has the northern part of a country (''le Nord d'Écosse''), and in France ''le Nord'' is opposed to ''le Midi''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Perdre le nord'' “not to know where one is” is recorded in 1572 and later meant “to lose one's head”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Like the other compass points of English origin, ''nord'' long belonged to the language of science and the sea, beside the Latin ''septentrion''.^(DHLF 1992) ''Nord-ouest'' (1155) and ''nord-est'' (1175) are as old as the word, and ''nordiste'' (1865) named the Northerners of the American Civil War.^(DHLF 1992) In modern politics ''le Nord'' is the industrialised world as opposed to the South.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1140 – ''Norht'' in Gaimar.^(TLFi)

+ * 1155 – The noun and adjective, in Wace, ''nord-ouest''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1160–1174 – The north wind; northern lands.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – The spelling ''nord''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1572 – ''Perdre le nord''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – The north of a country.^(TLFi)

+ * 1865 – ''Nordiste''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1874 – ''Le Grand Nord''.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|north]]: ''au nord de Paris'', ''plein nord'', ''nord magnétique''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(capitalised)'' The northern part of a country or the world: ''le Nord de la France'', ''le Grand Nord''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(capitalised)'' The industrialised countries.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Perdre le nord'': to lose one's bearings, lose one's head.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # North, northern: ''le pôle Nord'', ''la face nord''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nordique]]

+ * [[nordiste]]

+ * [[nord-est]]

+ * [[nord-ouest]]

+ * [[noroît]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sud]]

+ * [[est]]

+ * [[ouest]]

+ * [[en|north]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}