séjour

Forms

séjour m (plural séjours)^[1] Old French sujurn (1080), sujur and sejur (about 1138), sejor and sojour (mid-12th century).^[2][3] The form séjour is found from about 1200.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French séjourner.^[4][5][1][6] The verb, Old French sujurner and sejorner, comes from Vulgar Latin *subdiurnō (“to last for some time”), formed from sub- (“somewhat”) and diurnō (“to last, live long”).^[4][5] Rey connects it with diurnus (“of the day”), whose neuter diurnum gave jour.^[2] According to the TLFi, the form with ⟨e⟩ arose from sojorner by dissimilation.^[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan sojorn and Italian soggiorno.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it occurs in prendre sujurn, “to make a halt, to stay” somewhere.^[4][2][7]

Semantic evolution

Old French used it in many verbal phrases: prendre, tenir or faire séjour “to stay”, and estre a sejor “to be at home” or “to be at rest”.^[2][4] It also meant a dwelling (before 1138), rest and leisure (about 1155), as in estre en sejor “to be idle”, and a delay, as in sans nul autre sejur “at once”.^[2][4] The idea of rest lasted into Middle French, in cheval de sejour “a rested horse”,^[2] and the Grand Robert still finds “stop, delay” in Corneille and Racine and “rest” in Buffon.^[6]

The main modern senses, the time one spends in a place (about 1175) and the place where one stays, go back to Old French as well.^[2][3] In literary French séjour is a dwelling, as in le céleste séjour “heaven” (before 1711, Boileau).^[3][8] In the 20th century salle de séjour, translating English living-room, named the main room of a home (1955), shortened to séjour by 1960.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Prendre sujurn appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][2]
• c. 1138 – The forms sujur and sejur are used by Gaimar.^[2][3]
• c. 1150 – Estre en sejor “to be idle” in the Roman de Thèbes.^[4]
• 1176 – Chrétien de Troyes uses estre a sejor “to be in residence”.^[4]
• c. 1200 – The spelling séjour and the sense “pleasant place where one stays” appear.^[4][2]
• before 1711 – Boileau's le céleste séjour “heaven”.^[3]
• 1955 – Salle de séjour “living room” is recorded, in Camus.^[9][8]
• 1960 – Séjour alone is used for the living room.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stay, the fact of remaining for some time in a place: carte de séjour, titre de séjour, interdiction de séjour.^[8][4][1]
2. The time one stays somewhere, a visit or trip: Nous avons fait un séjour de deux semaines en Bretagne.^[8][1]
3. A living room, also salle de séjour.^[8][1]
4. (literary) The place where one lives, a demeure: le séjour des dieux.^[8][7]

Related words

• séjourner
• jour
• Latin diurnus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF