sangloter

Forms

sangloter^[1] Old French sangloutir (about 1150), sanglouter, senglouter and sanglotir (about 1175); Middle French sengloutter (1530).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sangloter, inherited from Vulgar Latin *singluttō, an alteration of Latin singultō (“to hiccup, to sob”) after gluttiō (“to swallow”).^[2][1][5] Bloch and Wartburg explain the older senglouter and sanglouter as a crossing with gluttus (“throat”) or the verb for “to swallow”, and the modern form as a reshaping after the many verbs in -oiier, which then drew sanglot along with it.^[6] The Latin verb is from singultus (“sob, hiccup”).^[3][6]

Cognate with Occitan sanglotar and Catalan sanglotar;^[5][1] Italian singhiozzare and Spanish sollozar come from related Latin forms.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as sangloutir in the Roman de Thèbes about 1150, and as sangloter in Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174).^[2] Rey says it first meant “to hiccup”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The verb soon came to mean “to weep with sobs”.^[3] In the 16th century it could also be transitive, as in sangloter des larmes, des cris.^[3] The figurative use for a sound like sobbing is literary: Voltaire (1759) and Lamartine (1836), who wrote of water sobbing as it ran off.^[3][2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Sangloutir in the Roman de Thèbes.^[2]
• 1160–1174 – Sangloter in Wace's Roman de Rou.^[2]
• c. 1175 – The variant sanglotir is recorded.^[3]
• 1530 – The spelling sengloutter.^[3]
• 1759 – Voltaire uses it figuratively.^[3][7]
• 1836 – Lamartine uses it of the sound of water.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sob, to weep with sobs.^[8][2][1]
2. (literary, figurative) To make a sound like sobbing, as water or music may.^[8][7]

Word family

• sanglotement
• sanglotant

Related words

• sanglot
• Latin singultō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert