région French · revision 17672

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁe.ʒjɔ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''région''' ''f'' (plural régions)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|regiō|t=direction; boundary line; area, territory, country; district of a city]], derived from [[m|la|regō|t=to direct, guide]], the source of [[régir]].^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|10, 213b) Old French also had a popular form [[m|fro|reiun]] (about 1119), [[m|fro|reon]], [[m|fro|roion]], which corresponds to [[it|rione|t=district of a city]] and was ousted by the learned word before the end of the 14th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'' (1119) it has the wide sense of the Latin, a country or land.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The broad sense “country” was still alive in the 16th century.^(DHLF 1992) Gradually narrowed, it came to mean the area around a town or place (12th century), then (about 1380) a stretch of territory whose unity comes from its physical features or the common origin of its people;^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''régions naturelles'' is recorded in 1824.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) From the 16th century (Amyot, 1559) it was also defined by economic or administrative criteria, and in France the ''région'' became an administrative unit grouping several departments.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ By analogy it named a part of the sky (late 14th century) and a layer of the atmosphere (1636), and figuratively a field of activity, as in Molière's ''les hautes régions de la philosophie'' (1672).^(TLFi) In medicine it names a part of the body (1478).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – “Country”, in Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1380 – A territory with common features.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1478 – A part of the body.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – Amyot: an artificially defined area.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – A layer of the atmosphere.^(TLFi)

+ * 1672 – Molière's ''hautes régions de la philosophie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1848 – The adjective ''régional''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|region]], a fairly large area with its own physical or human features: ''région polaire'', ''région industrielle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The area around a place.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(France)'' An administrative division grouping several [[département|alt=departments]].^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A unit of military or other administration: ''région militaire''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' A part of the body: ''la région lombaire''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A domain, a sphere: ''les hautes régions de la pensée''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[régional]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[régir]]

+ * [[la|regiō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}