saumure

Forms

saumure f (plural saumures)^[1] Old French salmuire, then saumuire (14th century), Middle French saumeure (1394) and the Latinizing saulmeure (1530); saumure from 1549.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French salmuire, inherited from Late Latin salimuria (“brine”), recorded in Oribasius,^[3] a compound of Latin sāl (“salt”) and muria (“brine, salt water”).^[3][2][4] The Grand Robert and Petit Robert start from a popular form *salmuria.^[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg explain the vowel as in puits: in the popular Latin of northern Gaul the /u/ of the Latin word seems to have become /ü/ under the influence of the following semivowel.^[4] The modern ending replaced the older one in 1549.^[2]

Cognate with Italian salamoia, Catalan salmorra, Spanish salmuera and Portuguese salmoura.^[7][4] The simple muire, still used in Franche-Comté around Salins, is a dialect outcome of the same Latin word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as salmuire at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's French glosses, for the salted liquid in which meat is kept.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

From the salted water used to preserve meat, fish and vegetables, the word extended about 1560 in Ambroise Paré to the liquid formed by the salt and the juices of the salted food.^[2][3] In the 19th century it became a term of the saltworks (1835, Balzac) for partly evaporated seawater or a concentrated salt solution,^[2][3] and since 1964 it has also named the salt liquid used as a coolant in refrigerating machines.^[2][8] The verb saumurer “to pickle in brine” dates from 1859.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Salmuire in Rashi's glosses.^[3]
• 14th century – The form saumuyre.^[2][9]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records saumure.^[3][2]
• 1568 – Paré uses it for the liquid of salt and the juices of salted food.^[3]
• 1835 – Balzac uses it as a saltworks term.^[3]
• 1859 – The verb saumurer.^[2]
• 1964 – The refrigeration sense.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. brine: strongly salted, flavoured water in which foods are kept to preserve them.^[6][10][11]
2. The liquid that seeps from salted food, made of its juices and the salt.^[6]
3. (technical) Seawater of a salt marsh after partial evaporation; the salt water of a saltworks, boiled down for its salt.^[6][10]
4. (technical) A salt solution used as the cooling fluid of a refrigeration machine.^[10]

Word family

• saumurer

Related words

• sel
• muire
• Latin sāl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c 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 c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)