sûreté

Forms

sûreté f (plural sûretés)^[1] Old French seürté (12th century), Middle French seureté (15th century); sûreté is found once at the end of the 14th century and becomes usual in the 16th.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French sûr + -eté,^[4][1] the modern form being a remodelling, very rare before the early 16th century, of Old French seürté, itself derived from seür “sure” on the model of Latin sēcūritās (“freedom from care, peace of mind”).^[4][3][5] The adjective goes back to sēcūrus.^[6]

Bloch and Wartburg date the word only from Commynes in the 15th century, as a formation after the Latin word.^[6] sécurité is the learned doublet borrowed from the same Latin noun.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Couronnement de Louis (1135), meaning a pledge or assurance: Guillaume makes Louis seürté of the whole empire.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a guarantee on which a bargain depends, and generally a precaution taken against danger.^[3][4] From this came the classical prendre ses sûretés (Molière, 1662) and La Fontaine's proverbs la méfiance est mère de sûreté and deux sûretés valent mieux qu'une (1668).^[4][3] In law it has meant a security given for the fulfilment of an obligation since 1685.^[4][3]

From the 12th century it also named the state of someone who is in no danger, as in a seürté (about 1175) and en sûreté (1422); in this sense it has aged and given way to sécurité.^[3][4] It was applied to the safety of a community from 1561, as in sûreté publique (1585).^[4][3] Other senses are “confidence” (about 1165), “reliability” (about 1225), “certainty” (late 15th century) and “sureness of hand or action” (1636).^[4] The Sûreté is also the name of police bodies in France and Quebec.^[1]

Timeline

• 1135 – Seürté “pledge” in the Couronnement de Louis.^[4]
• c. 1160 – Used of a precaution against danger in the Roman d'Eneas.^[4]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it of the state of being safe.^[4]
• 1422 – En sceurté “in safety” in Alain Chartier.^[4][3]
• 16th century – The spelling sûreté becomes usual.^[2][4]
• 1561 – Applied to the safety of a community.^[4][3]
• 1606 – Nicot records lieu de sûreté.^[2]
• 1668 – La Fontaine's la méfiance est mère de sûreté.^[4]
• 1685 – The legal sense “security for an obligation”, in Mme de Sévigné.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being free from danger, safety: en sûreté, mettre en lieu de sûreté.^[7][4][1]
2. (law) A guarantee given to a creditor for payment of a debt, a surety: sûreté réelle, sûreté personnelle.^[7][3]
3. Reliability, sureness: the quality of acting without fail.^[4][8]
4. Used attributively of devices that protect against danger or theft: serrure de sûreté, épingle de sûreté.^[8][1]
5. Sûreté: the name of police forces, the former Sûreté nationale in France and the Sûreté du Québec.^[1]

Related words

• sûr
• sécurité
• assurance
• Latin sēcūritās

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette