Etymologically
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sober

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsəʊ.bə/, US /ˈsoʊ.bɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sobre, borrowed from Old French sobre (“decent, sober”),[2][3][4][5] or directly Latin sōbrius (“not drunk, temperate, sensible”),[2][3] from a variant of sē- (“apart, without”) and ēbrius (“drunk”), which is of unknown origin.[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Moderate, temperate in food and drink: 1338 in the OED, 1340 in the Ayenbite of Inwyt in Barnhart, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Not given to strong drink is from 1382,[7] and not drunk at the moment from about 1384, in the Wycliffe Bible.[2] Serious or solemn is from before 1390,[2] plain or subdued in colour from the 1590s,[3] and restrained in thought from the 17th century.[4] Jocular sobersides, a serious person, is from 1705.[3] The verb first meant to calm or console (about 1375);[2] to free from intoxication is by 1706, to bring back to reality by 1838, and to become sober from 1820, often with up.[3] Sobriety is from the 15th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 1338 – temperate.[7]
  • c. 1375 – to calm (verb).[2]
  • c. 1384 – not drunk.[2]
  • before 1390 – serious, solemn.[2]
  • 1590s – of colours, plain.[3]
  • 1820 – to become sober.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not drunk.
  2. Habitually temperate; not given to excess in drink or anything else.
  3. Serious, sedate and rational: a sober attitude.
  4. Of colours, plain or subdued.
  5. Free from exaggeration: the sober truth.

Verb

  1. To make or become sober, often with up.

Word family

  • soberly
  • soberness
  • soberingly
  • sobersided
  • sobersides
  • soberize
  • unsober
  • unsobered
  • sobriety
  • inebriate
  • ebriety

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press