rivière French · revision 38552

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 11th century, Rashi's glosses|origins=la rīpa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʁi.vjɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rivière''' ''f'' (plural rivières)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|riviere]], [[m|fro|rivaire]], [[m|fro|river]] and [[m|fro|rivere]].^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|riviere]], [[inh|la-vul|*rīpāria]],^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|10, 415b) which must have meant the land near a river or the sea.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Latin word, found in many place names from the 8th century and in the sense “coast” in 951, is the feminine, used as a noun, of [[m|la|rīpārius|t=found on the banks]], from [[m|la|rīpa|t=bank]], the source of [[rive]].^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Littré notes that the sense “land by the water” rules out a derivation from [[la|rīvus|t=stream]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[es|ribera|t=shore]] and [[pro|ribiera|t=bank; river]]; the northern Italian word [[m|it|riviera]] was borrowed from French.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first record, ''riviere'' in the glosses of Rashi (late 11th century), means a stream;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) about 1138 Gaimar uses it for a watercourse of some size.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French the word also kept the sense of the bank or shore of a river or sea (about 1112), like ''rive'' and ''rivage'', and land along a river; it was a hunting ground for waterfowl, as in ''aler en riviere'' (about 1135) and ''oisel de riviere'' (about 1285).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) This sense survives only in dialects (“valley” in the south-west) and in phrases such as ''vins de rivière'' (1694), wines from the banks of the Marne;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Molière's ''veau de rivière'' (1670) is no longer said.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The modern sense, a stream of middling size, was never sharply set against ''fleuve''.^(DHLF 1992) By metaphor ''rivière'' is a long flow (1705, Boileau's ''rivières de sang''), and ''rivière de diamants'' (1746–47) a necklace of diamonds.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) It is also the water jump in show jumping (1855).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 11th century – ''Riviere'' “stream” in Rashi's glosses.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1112 – The bank of a river, in the ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1138 – A watercourse, in Gaimar.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * c. 1354 – ''Oiseau de rivière'' in the ''Livre de Modus''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1532 – The derivative ''riverain'' (as ''riveran'').^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1694 – The Académie records ''vins de rivière''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1746 – ''Rivière de diamants'' in La Morlière's ''Angola''.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1855 – The water jump of show jumping.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|river]], a natural watercourse of middling size, especially one that flows into another.^(Le Robert)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(literary)'' A long flowing stream of something: ''une rivière de feu''.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Rivière de diamants'', or ''rivière'' alone: a [[m|en|necklace]] of diamonds.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(equestrianism)'' A water jump.^(Le Robert)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[riverain]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rive]]

+ * [[ruisseau]]

+ * [[riviera]]

+ * [[la|rīpa]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières'' is a proverb (small things add up).^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}