Definition
ENTRE is a Law French and Latin French preposition and noun appearing in early English legal records, manuscripts, and treatises. It carries two distinct senses depending on context:
1. As a preposition: "in," "within," or "between." Used in phrases such as entre ses bras (within her arms, used in reference to a husband de facto) and entre les mains / entre meins (between the hands, or in the hands), the latter appearing in maritime and property contexts.
2. As a noun (also spelled entree): Entry. In this sense, entre is the Law French root of the English legal term "entry," particularly in the context of real property actions. The phrase brefe d'entre (or bref de entree) denotes a writ of entry — a common law possessory action by which a person claimed the right to recover land from one wrongfully holding it.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): An archaic spelling of "enter."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately listed; understood as a variant of "enter" or a French borrowing.
Editorial note: In ordinary English, entre survives primarily as a vestige of French borrowing with no standalone legal connotation. In legal records, however, it is a term of art appearing in Law French pleading and writs, carrying precise meaning tied to physical possession, relational custody, and real property procedure. A researcher encountering entre in a medieval or early modern legal manuscript should not read it as a simple variant spelling of "enter" — context determines whether it functions prepositionally (within/between) or nominally (entry/writ of entry).
Common Confusion
ENTRE vs. ENTRER vs. ENTRY: These three forms are closely related but functionally distinct in historical legal sources. Entrer is the verb (to enter); entre as a preposition means within or between; entre as a noun (entree) means entry in the real property sense. Modern researchers unfamiliar with Law French may conflate all three. The noun form is most legally consequential, as it connects directly to the writ of entry — a significant procedural instrument in pre-Judicature Act real property litigation.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English legal records — Year Books, Britton, Bracton-era materials, and Norman-influenced legal texts — will encounter entre in both its prepositional and nominal forms. Misreading the prepositional use (entre ses bras, entre les mains) as a variant of "enter" or "entry" can distort the meaning of the surrounding passage, particularly in family law contexts (the husband de facto described through entre ses bras) and maritime law (entre les mains in maritime codes).
The nominal form matters most for real property research. Brefe d'entre / bref de entree is a writ of entry, one of the possessory assizes of the common law. Understanding entre as the Law French antecedent of "entry" helps researchers trace the vocabulary of real property actions across the transition from Law French pleading to English. Sources citing Britton, Fet Assaver, and the early Norman legal compilations (LL. Gul. Conq.) will use entre where later sources use "entry" — knowing the correspondence prevents research gaps when moving between periods.
Burrill's cross-references to Britt. c. 23, c. 114 and Fet Assaver § 15 are useful anchors: they locate the term in identifiable texts and can help researchers confirm which sense of entre is operative in a given passage.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary is the primary source covering entre at this level of detail for English legal research. Burrill treats both senses — prepositional and nominal — and provides specific textual anchors (Britton, Fet Assaver, the Laws of William the Conqueror). He distinguishes entre ses bras and entre les mains as prepositional uses while separately treating entre/entree as a noun meaning entry, with the writ of entry as its principal legal application.
No other standard historical English law dictionary (Black's early editions, Bouvier, Tomlin) gives entre independent treatment; they absorb the substantive content under "entry" and "writ of entry" without tracing the Law French root. This means researchers who reach the writ of entry through those dictionaries may not recognize entre when they encounter it in primary sources predating the anglicization of legal vocabulary.
Jurisdictional Note
Entre as an active term of legal art is confined to jurisdictions with historical roots in Norman and early English common law. It appears in English and Anglo-Norman legal materials and has no independent currency in American, Scottish, or civil law sources, where the underlying concepts (entry, possession, maritime custody) are expressed in anglicized or Latin forms.