saillir

Forms

saillir^[1] Old French salir and saillir, with a present third person singular salt or saut.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French saillir, inherited from Latin saliō (“to leap, to jump, (of a male) to cover a female”).^[5][6][7][8] The Old French verb was salir; the palatal /ʎ/, regular in the third person plural saillent from saliunt and in the imperfect, spread to the whole verb.^[5][9][2] Littré notes that the old present, first person saul and third person saut, matched the Latin present exactly, and that the later forms in ⟨-iss-⟩ follow the verbs of the finir type.^[4] In the sense “to leap” the Latin verb was soon displaced by saltō, which gave sauter.^[5][7]

Cognate with Old Occitan salhir, Spanish salir (“to go out”), Italian salire (“to go up”) and Romanian sări (“to jump”).^[4][1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) for blood gushing out: Parmi la buche en salt fors li cler sans “through his mouth the bright blood spurts out”.^[4][5][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the verb had the range of Latin salīre: “to leap”, “to rush out or forward”, “to gush” of blood or fire;^[7][5] saillir hors meant to rush out (1155) and saillir alone to attack (1175).^[7][5] The proverb reculer pour plus loin saillir (about 1250), later pour mieux saillir (1617), was replaced by reculer pour mieux sauter.^[7] It also meant to jump from one subject to another (1538), and of a spring to gush (1690).^[7]

The breeders' sense of Latin, “to cover a female”, is recorded from 1375 in Modus et Ratio.^[5][7] From the second half of the 13th century, in Villard de Honnecourt, the verb also meant “to jut out, project from a wall”,^[5][2] and in painting “to stand out from the canvas” (1771).^[5][7] The intransitive senses of motion were still alive in the classical period but have since been taken over by sauter or assaillir,^[7] so that the verb is now defective, used for “to project” and of the male animal.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Salt “gushes” in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][4]
• 1155 – Saillir hors “to rush out”.^[7]
• 1170–1180 – Wace uses it for “to go out, rush out”.^[5]
• c. 1250 – Reculer pour plus loin saillir is recorded.^[7]
• second half of the 13th century – Villard de Honnecourt uses it for “to jut out”.^[5]
• 1375 – Modus et Ratio has the sense “to cover a female”.^[5]
• 1538 – Used figuratively for jumping from one subject to another.^[7]
• 1771 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the painting sense.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, archaic or literary) Of a liquid, to gush or spurt out.^[5][11][4]
2. (intransitive, archaic) To rush out, sally forth, especially to attack.^[5][11][2]
3. (transitive) Of a male animal, to cover or mount (a female): Le bélier a sailli la brebis.^[11][5][4]
4. (intransitive) To project, jut out, stand out in relief: Ses veines saillaient sur son front.^[11][5][2]
5. (painting) To stand out strongly from the canvas.^[5]

Word family

• saillant
• saillie
• tressaillir

Related words

• sauter
• assaillir
• salace
• Latin saliō

Usage notes

In the senses “to gush” and “to cover a female” the verb is conjugated like finir (il saillit, saillissant), and in the sense “to project” like assaillir (il saille, ils saillaient).^[8][4] Apart from the infinitive and the third person it is rare.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 92b
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert