somber

Etymology

It is borrowed from French sombre (“dark, gloomy”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from the 14th century.^[2] Barnhart derives the French adjective from a lost verb Old French *sombrer,^[3][6][7] from Late Latin subumbrō (“to shade”),^[3][6][2] from the phrase sub umbrā (“in the shade”), made of sub (“under”) and umbra (“shade, shadow”).^[3][6] The Shorter Oxford takes it as the adjectival use of an Old French noun, the same as Spanish sombra (“shade”), Catalan sombra and Portuguese sombra,^[5] and Ayto as derived ultimately from a Vulgar Latin verb that also gave the Spanish noun, the source of sombrero.^[8] Klein calls the Latin source only possible,^[9] and Weekley found the origin of the initial s- unknown;^[10] Skeat reported that Diez explained it from sub and umbra, and Littré from Latin ex (“out of”) and umbra.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of places and natural things, gloomy, dark and shadowy: 1760, in Horace Walpole's letters.^{[3][12][2][4]} English had earlier used sombrous in this sense, from 1701.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon used of people and their looks, gloomy or sullen (before 1767), and of things that suggest gloomy ideas (1768).^[12] Of colours it has meant dark or dull since 1805,^[12] and of thoughts and feelings, melancholy or dismal, since 1821.^[12][2] A rare noun, sombre character or gloom, is recorded from 1795,^[12][4] and the verb, to make or become sombre, from 1787 and 1848,^[13][4] the Shorter Oxford labelling it literary.^[5]

Timeline

• 1760 – of places and natural objects, gloomy and dark.^[12][3][4]
• before 1767 – of persons or their looks, gloomy, sullen or dejected.^[12]
• 1768 – conveying gloomy ideas.^[12]
• 1787 – verb, to make sombre.^[13][4]
• 1795 – noun, gloom, sombreness (rare).^[12][4]
• 1805 – of colours, dark or dull.^[12]
• 1821 – of thoughts and feelings, melancholy, dismal.^[12][2]
• 1848 – verb, to become sombre.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dark and full of shadow; gloomy: a somber forest path.^[4][14][12]
2. Sad, melancholy or dismal in mood or appearance: The news left the team in a somber mood.^[14][4][5]
3. Serious and grave in manner.^[4][5]
4. Of colours or clothes, dark or dull; sober: He wore a somber gray suit to the funeral.^[14][5][12]

Verb

1. (literary) To make or become somber.^[5][4][13]

Noun

1. (rare) Gloom; somber character.^[4][5]

Word family

• somberly
• somberness
• unsomber

Related words

• umbrage
• umbrella
• umbra
• sombrero

Usage notes

Somber is the American spelling, and sombre is chiefly British.^[2][7][14] Barnhart attributes somber to Noah Webster (1828), on the pattern of center and theater.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins