Etymologically
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soup

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sup/; /suːp/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French soupe (“sop; broth poured on slices of bread”),[2][3][4][5] from Late Latin suppa (“bread soaked in broth”), from a Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch sop),[3][4][6] from Proto-Germanic *sup-, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *seue- (“to take liquid”) (see sup, sop).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Liquid food made by boiling meat, fish or vegetables: 1653, in Sir Thomas Urquhart's translation of Rabelais.[2][7][3] MWU dates the word to the 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

Soup was usually served before the meat or fish at a formal dinner, hence soup to nuts, everything (1910).[3][7] A soup kitchen for the poor is attested from 1839.[3] In the soup, in difficulty, is originally American, from 1889,[7] and a thick fog from 1901.[7] In biology, the primordial soup rich in organic compounds is from 1929.[7] The verb soup up, to increase an engine's power, is from 1921, probably from soup, slang for a narcotic injected into racehorses (1911), and perhaps influenced by supercharge.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1653 – soup.[2][7]
  • 1839 – soup kitchen.[3]
  • 1889 – in the soup.[7]
  • 1910 – soup to nuts.[3][7]
  • 1921 – to soup up.[2]
  • 1929 – primordial soup.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A liquid dish made by boiling meat, fish or vegetables in stock or water.
  2. (informal) A thick fog.
  3. (in the soup, informal) In trouble.

Verb

  1. (soup up, informal) To increase the power or efficiency of an engine or vehicle.

Word family

  • soupless
  • souplike
  • soupspoon
  • souped-up
  • soupy
  • soup-and-fish
  • soup-to-nuts
  • alphabet soup
  • supper
  • sop
  • sup
  • soupçon

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press