sanglot

Forms

sanglot m (plural sanglots)^[1] Old and Middle French sanglout (about 1210), senglout (1549, still in 1660), and the Picard souglout and seglout (13th century).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *singluttus, an altered form of Latin singultus (“hiccup, sob, death rattle”).^[5][6][2][7] The change is put down to the influence of gluttiō (“to swallow”) or of gluttus (“gullet”).^[5][2][7][8] Rey calls the Latin word expressive.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg add that the older forms in ⟨-out⟩ gave way to the modern form through the verb sangloter, which was reshaped after the many verbs in ⟨-oyer⟩.^[7]

Cognate with Catalan sanglot and Occitan sanglòt.^[1] Italian singhiozzo goes back to singultiō, recorded in glosses, and Spanish sollozo to a Vulgar Latin form with sub-.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes uses it about 1170 in Erec et Enide for a spasm of the chest, the sob that comes with weeping.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word names the spasm that accompanies weeping.^[2] In Old and Middle French it also meant a hiccup (sangloit, 1314, in Henri de Mondeville's surgery), a sense the Grand Robert says lasted until the 18th century.^[5][2][3] At the start of the 16th century it was used, by analogy, for the heaving of the sea's waves, a use that died out.^[5][2]

From 1835 it has been used for the sincere expression of grief, and figuratively for a sound like a sob (Hugo, 1859), as in Verlaine's Les sanglots longs / Des violons / De l'automne.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it in Erec et Enide.^[5]
• c. 1210 – The form sanglout is recorded.^[2]
• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses sangloit for a hiccup.^[5][8]
• Early 16th century – Singlot is used of the heaving sea.^[5][2]
• 1549 – The form senglout is recorded.^[2]
• 1835 – Musset uses it for an expression of grief.^[8][2]
• 1859 – Hugo uses it for a sound like a sob.^[8][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sob, a sudden noisy intake of breath caused by spasms of the diaphragm when crying, usually in the plural, as in éclater en sanglots.^[10][11][4]
2. Avoir des sanglots dans la voix: to speak in a voice choked by held-back sobs.^[10][4]
3. (literary) A sound like a sob: Les sanglots de la pluie sur le toit.^[11][8]

Related words

• sangloter
• singultueux
• Latin singultus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, 646a
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)