nature French · revision 17115

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1119, Philippe de Thaon, Comput|origins=la nātūra}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /na.tyʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''nature''' ''f'' (plural natures)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|nātūra|t=birth; natural state of a thing; temperament, character; the course of things]], recorded in French from 1119.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|7, 45b) The Latin word is formed on [[m|la|nātus|t=born]], from [[m|la|nāscor|t=to be born]] (see [[naître]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) In Latin it also rendered [[grc|φύσις|tr=phúsis]] in philosophy and named the genitals.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Compare [[ro|natură]] and [[it|natura]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'' (1119) uses it for the active force that established and maintains the order of the universe, often personified.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the first half of the 12th century the word meant the set of properties that define a thing, and about 1165 the essence proper to a being, ''nature humaine'' is from the 13th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) About 1170 Chrétien de Troyes has ''par nature'' for an inborn disposition, whence a person's temperament (about 1480) and the person itself (1559), still heard in ''une petite nature''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Scholastic philosophy gave ''nature naturante'' and ''nature naturée'' (1253), calques of Latin ''natura naturans'' and ''natura naturata''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The modern idea of nature as the whole ordered world governed by laws dates from the Renaissance (1584), and nature as opposed to civilization from Furetière (1690).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Nature as the model of art gave ''d'après nature'' (Molière, 1663) and ''plus grand que nature'' (1671); ''contre nature'' is from 1535, ''en nature'' “in kind” from 1734.^(TLFi) The adjective (''c'est nature'', 1808, ''un bœuf nature'', 1865, “plain, unadorned”) and a slang adverb “of course” (Carco, 1914) are recent.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – The force that orders the universe, Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1170 – ''Par nature'' “by inborn disposition”, Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1253 – ''Nature naturante'' and ''nature naturée''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1535 – ''Contre nature''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1584 – The whole ordered world.^(TLFi)

+ * 1663 – ''D'après nature'', Molière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1808 – Adjective ''c'est nature''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1914 – Slang adverb ''nature!'' “naturally”, Carco.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|nature]] of something: the set of properties that define it, ''la nature humaine''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # A person's temperament, character; a person of a certain character: ''une petite nature'', a weakling.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The physical world, the [[m|en|universe]] and its laws, ''(personified)'' ''la Nature''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The countryside, the natural world as opposed to towns and civilization.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Nature as the model of art: ''d'après nature'', ''grandeur nature'', life-size, ''nature morte'', a still life.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''En nature'': in [[m|en|kind]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(grammar)'' Part of speech, lexical category.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(invariable)'' Plain, unseasoned: ''un yaourt nature''.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Natural, spontaneous, frank.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dénaturer]]

+ * [[naturaliste]]

+ * [[naturisme]]

+ * [[surnaturel]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[naturel]]

+ * [[naître]]

+ * [[nation]]

+ * [[la|nātūra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}