Etymologically
Log in

sœur

Etymology and origin of the French word sœur

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (soer, sorur)
Inherited from
Latin soror via Old French
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*swésōr)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin soror
French sœur

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sœʁ/[1]

Forms

sœur f (plural sœurs)[1] Old French nominative soer, suer (about 1130), seur (late 13th century); oblique seror, sorur; the spelling sœur dates from 1549.[2][3][4] Soeur, without the ligature, is a nonstandard spelling.[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French suer, inherited from Latin soror (“sister; cousin”).[4][2][5] Old French had the nominative “suer” from “soror” and the oblique “seror” from the accusative “sorōrem”; unusually it was the nominative that survived, because it was so often used in addressing someone.[4][6][5] The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swésōr, whose root Rey connects with “*swe-”, marking a person's belonging to a group; it is also the source of Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍂 (swistar), English sister and German Schwester.[1][2][7]

Cognate with Romanian soră, Italian suora (“nun”), Occitan sorre, Catalan sor (“nun”), Spanish sor (“nun”) and Portuguese sóror; the ordinary Italian word is sorella.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has both forms, sorur and soer: Se puis veïr ma gente sorur Alde (“if I may see my noble sister Aude”); the same poem uses it as a term of affection.[4][6] Rey dates the oblique seror to about 1050.[2]

Semantic evolution

Legal French distinguished the sœur germaine (1200), with both parents in common, from the sœur utérine (1455), and demie-seur is found in 1424, sœur de lait, a foster sister, dates from 1538.[2] About 1225 Gautier de Coinci uses suer for a nun, and sœurs de la Charité is in Richelet (1680); Christians called one another sœurs in 1533.[4][3] Ronsard calls the Muses les neuf sœurs (1550), Du Bellay les doctes sœurs (1552), and Grévin calls the Fates les trois fatales sœurs (1561).[4]

Molière has sœurs d'infortune (1671), and in 1694 the Académie records it as the name kings gave queens in their letters.[4] The ironic et ta sœur ! comes from soldiers' slang (1833).[7] In African French the word can also be used for a female cousin or a relative of the same age.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Sorur, soer in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1200 – Sœur germaine.[2]
  • c. 1225 – “Nun”, in Gautier de Coinci.[4]
  • 1424 – Demie-seur “half-sister”.[2]
  • 1458 – The derivative sœurette, of nuns.[5]
  • 1549 – The spelling sœur.[2][3]
  • 1550 – Les neuf sœurs, the Muses, in Ronsard.[4]
  • 1671 – Sœurs d'infortune in Molière.[4]
  • 1833 – Et ta sœur ! in soldiers' slang.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sister: sœur aînée, sœur cadette, grande sœur, petite sœur.[7][8]
  2. A half-sister.[9]
  3. A woman who shares another's fate: sœur d'infortune.[9][4]
  4. (literary) A thing closely akin to another: l'envie et la calomnie sont sœurs.[9]
  5. A nun; the title given to nuns: ma sœur, sœur Marie.[9][4]
  6. Âme sœur: a soulmate.[9]
  7. (familiar) Et ta sœur ?: an ironic refusal.[8][7]
  8. (Africa) A female cousin or relative of one's own age.[2]
  9. (mythology) Les neuf sœurs: the Muses.[7]

Word family

  • sœurette
  • belle-sœur
  • demi-sœur
  • consœur
  • sororal
  • sororité
  • Latin soror
  • English sister

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c 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 l m 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 d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sœur.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/s%C5%93ur. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·