Etymologically
Log in

secours

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:01. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sə.kuʁ/[1]

Forms

secours m (invariable)[1] Old French sucurs (about 1100), socors (first third of the 12th century), secors (about 1160) and secours (about 1190).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French socors, inherited from Vulgar Latin succursum, a noun made from the supine of Latin succurrō (“to run to help”),[2][3][5][6] itself formed with sub- and currō (“to run”).[1] The GLLF sees it as formed on the old verb secorre (“to help”), after the Latin supine.[4] That verb, later remade as secourir, is the source of the family.[7]

Cognate with Italian soccorso, Old Occitan socors, Spanish socorro and Portuguese socorro.[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has sucurs “help, assistance in danger”: Nostre parent devum estre à sucurs (“we must help our kinsman”).[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Crier socors “to cry for help” is in the Roman de Troie (about 1165), venir a secors in Wace (1160–1174) and venir au secours in Robert Estienne (1538).[2][9] The cry au secours ! is recorded in Robert Garnier's Hippolyte (1573).[2] About 1190 the word also meant the troops sent to relieve a place,[2] and early in the 13th century the help of divine grace.[2]

Later senses are “money or goods given to help” (Molière, L'Avare, 1668) and “care given to the sick or injured” (Madame de Sévigné, 1679).[2] With de secours it qualifies what is kept for an emergency: the porte du secours of a citadel (1543), the poste de secours “first-aid post” (1890) and the roue de secours “spare wheel” (1935).[2] In 1765 the Encyclopédie records the secours, the blows and tortures that the Jansenist convulsionnaires asked for as relief.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Sucurs in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1165 – Crier socors.[2]
  • c. 1190 – The form secours; also relieving troops.[2]
  • 1543 – Porte du secours.[2]
  • 1573 – Au secours !.[2]
  • 1668 – Money given in help, in Molière.[2]
  • 1679 – Care of the sick, in Madame de Sévigné.[2]
  • 1890 – Poste de secours.[2]
  • 1935 – Roue de secours recorded by the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Help, assistance given to someone in danger or need: porter secours à quelqu'un, appeler au secours, au secours !, help![5][1]
  2. Reinforcements, troops sent to relieve a place.[2][8]
  3. Aid in money or goods.[2][4]
  4. Care given to the injured or sick, premiers secours, first aid, poste de secours, first-aid post.[2][4]
  5. De secours: kept for an emergency, spare: roue de secours.[2]
  • secourir
  • secourable
  • succursale

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 383a
  7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF