arbre French · revision 17295

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la arbor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /aʁbʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [zab]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''arbre''' ''m'' (plural arbres)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French also ''aubre'', ''haubre''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|arbor|t=tree; mast]], from the accusative “arborem”, in popular Latin [[m|la-vul|*arbrem]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|25, 88a) Rey calls the Latin word obscure, there being no common Indo-European word for “tree”; its feminine gender in Latin is explained by the tree's role as “mother of fruits”, but most Romance languages made it masculine, like other nouns in “-or”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Latin “arbor” already meant a mast and a part of the oil press.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|arbore]], [[it|albero]], [[oc|arbre]], [[ca|arbre]], [[es|árbol]] and [[pt|árvore]], which kept the feminine.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100): ''Haut sont li pui et mout haut sont les arbres'', “high are the hills and very high the trees”.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word has been common at every period, with symbolic values of mythical origin (the tree of knowledge of good and evil, from the 12th century; the Christmas tree) and the image of lineage, as in the tree of Jesse and the ''arbre généalogique''.^(DHLF 1992) Many phrases name plants: ''arbre de Judée'' (16th century), ''arbre à pain'', ''arbre du voyageur''; in African French there are the ''arbre à palabres'' and the ''arbre à beurre'' (shea).^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Objects shaped like a trunk took the name: a mast (13th to late 18th century), the shaft of a mill or press (12th century), whence the mechanical ''arbre'' “shaft, axle”: ''arbre de couche'' (1866), ''arbre à cames''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Branching patterns gave the alchemists' ''arbre de Mars'' (1751) and the tree diagrams of logic and linguistics.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) During the Revolution, and again in 1830 and 1848, ''arbres de la Liberté'' were planted.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Arbres'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Littré 1873)

+ * 12th century – The shaft of a mill or press.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 13th century – A ship's mast.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 16th century – ''Arbre de Judée''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – The axis of a pendulum.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1866 – ''Arbre de couche''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|tree]]: a large woody plant with a trunk branching above a certain height: ''arbre fruitier'', ''arbre de Noël''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''Arbre généalogique'': a family tree.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A branching diagram: ''(linguistics, computing)'' a tree.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(mechanics)'' A [[m|en|shaft]], [[m|en|axle]]: ''arbre à cames'' (camshaft), ''arbre moteur''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(Africa)'' ''Arbre à palabres'': a tree under which a community meets to talk.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arbrisseau]]

+ * [[arbuste]]

+ * [[arborescent]]

+ * [[arboriculture]]

+ * [[la|arbor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The saying ''entre l'arbre et l'écorce il ne faut pas mettre le doigt'' (1666) advises against meddling in a dispute between close parties.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}