livre French · revision 17403

+ French has two words spelled ''livre'': the masculine ''le livre'' “book”, borrowed from Latin ''liber'', and the feminine ''la livre'' “pound”, inherited from Latin ''lībra''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|1|book}}

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

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /livʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''livre''' ''m'' (plural livres)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The book is [[bor|la|liber|t=inner bark of a tree; book; division of a work]] (accusative “librum”), a semi-learned borrowing: the inherited form would have been “*loivre”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|5, 296b) The Latin word first meant the layer between the wood and the outer bark, on which people wrote before papyrus came into use, and then the book written on it; [[grc|βύβλος|tr=búblos]] went from “papyrus bark” to “book” in the same way.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Its further origin is unknown: Lithuanian and Old Church Slavonic words for “bark” have been compared, but are too isolated to be reliable.^(DHLF 1992) It is a doublet of [[liber]], the botanical term taken from the same Latin word in 1755.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

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+ Cognate with [[it|libro]], [[oc|libre]], [[ca|llibre]], [[es|libro]] and [[pt|livro]].^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100), for a gathering of written leaves: ''Marsiles fait porter un livre avant''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 13th century it also named a subdivision of a work, and, used absolutely, the Gospel; the latter use lives on in ''les religions du Livre''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The modern sense of a printed volume came with printing (''livre d'impressure'', 1478, ''livre d'impression'', 1488).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Montaigne used it of a work of the mind (1580) and ''les livres'' for study (1588).^(TLFi)

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+ ''Parler comme un livre'' “to talk learnedly” is in Molière (1665), and ironic by 1690, ''à livre ouvert'' “at sight, fluently” dates from 1673.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) It came to mean a register or account book (''livre de raison'', 1552, ''livre de bord'', 1687); ''livre d'or'' was the register of Venetian nobles (1740) before it named a visitors' book (1928).^(TLFi) In 1821 Joseph de Maistre used ''le livre'' for printing and its products, now the book trade.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Livre'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – A division of a work.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – The diminutive ''livret''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1478 – ''Livre d'impressure'', a printed book.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – A work of the mind, in Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1665 – ''Parler comme un livre'' in Molière's ''Dom Juan''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1687 – ''Livre de bord'' “logbook”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1808 – ''Livresque'', taken up from Montaigne.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1928 – ''Livre d'or'' “visitors' book”.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|book]], a bound volume of printed or written pages.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # A literary or scholarly work: ''écrire un livre''.^(TLFi)

+ # A division of a long work: ''le livre III''.^(TLFi)

+ # A register or record: ''livre de comptes'', ''livre de bord'', ''livre d'or''.^(TLFi)

+ # ''Le livre'': the publishing and book trade.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''À livre ouvert'': at sight, without preparation.^(GLLF 1989)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[livret]]

+ * [[livresque]]

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+ {{homograph|2|pound}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 980 (livra)|origins=la lībra}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /livʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''livre''' ''f'' (plural livres)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The pound is [[inh|la|lībra|t=pound of twelve ounces; balance, scales]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|5, 306b) The Latin word, found from the Twelve Tables, may go back to “*līþra”, of unknown origin, from before the arrival of Indo-European speakers; it has also been explained from a Celtic name of lead.^(DHLF 1992) Greek had [[grc|λίτρα|tr=lítra]] for a pound of twelve ounces.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873) The same Latin word is behind [[niveau]], [[libellule]] and [[équilibre]], and, through Italian, [[lire]] “lira”.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ Cognate with [[it|libbra]], [[oc|liura]], [[ca|lliura]], [[es|libra]] and [[pt|libra]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(REW 1935)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found as ''livra'' about 980, as a unit of weight.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By metonymy, from 1080 it named a money of account worth a pound of silver; the ''livre tournois'' was worth twenty sous, and the word was still used for the franc in speaking of income in the 19th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The pound weight varied by province from 380 to 552 grams (489 in Paris) until it was fixed at 500 grams in 1804.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ From 1653 it translated English ''pound'' as the British currency, ''livre sterling'' being a calque of ''pound sterling''; it also translates the English pound weight, the sense used in Quebec.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) English borrowed ''livre'' in the 1550s for the French money.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 980 – ''Livra'', a unit of weight.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1080 – A money of account.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1653 – The British pound.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1804 – The pound fixed at 500 grams.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Half a [[m|en|kilogram]], 500 grams: ''une livre de beurre''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(Canada)'' The imperial [[m|en|pound]], about 454 grams.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(historical)'' A unit of weight that varied by province.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(historical)'' A money of account: ''livre tournois'', ''livre parisis''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Livre sterling'', or ''livre'': the British pound; also the currency of other countries, as the Egyptian pound.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[libraire]]

+ * [[libellule]]

+ * [[niveau]]

+ * [[la|liber]]

+ * [[la|lībra]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}