serein

Forms

serein (feminine sereine, masculine plural sereins, feminine plural sereines)^[1] Old French serain, seri, serin and serrin.^[2][3] The spelling serein dates from 1549.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French serain, inherited from Vulgar Latin *serānus, an alteration of classical Latin serēnus (“clear, cloudless, calm, peaceful”), according to Rey and the Grand Robert.^[3][4][5] The Old French form was respelled ⟨serein⟩ in 1549 after the Latin word.^[3][4]

The TLFi and Bloch–Wartburg explain it differently: the commonest medieval form was seri (“mild, calm”) (about 1140 as ⟨serrit⟩), made from the Latin adjective with a change of suffix, and ⟨serein⟩ was later remade on the Latin word.^[6][2] The TLFi adds that this Old French form seems to go back to an inchoative verb meaning “to dry”, itself derived from the adjective,^[6] which Wiktionary identifies as serēscō (“to become dry”).^[1] Bloch and Wartburg note that written Latin may have influenced the word everywhere, especially in its moral sense.^[2]

Rey describes the Latin adjective as built on an old stem for the clear, dry state of the sky, and finds its proposed links with other languages unconvincing.^[3] Cognate with Italian sereno, Spanish sereno, Occitan seren and Romanian senin.^[3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1170 in Guillaume de Saint-Pair's Roman du Mont Saint-Michel, describing weather that is clear, mild and calm, and as serain in Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès (1176).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, of a pure and calm sky or air, is the Latin one; it is now literary.^[3][9] About 1225–1240 Guillaume de Lorris applied the word, as serin, to a look or smile that shows peace of mind.^[6][3] In the 16th century it was also used as a masculine noun for clear weather (1538) and for a peaceful face (about 1550).^[3]

With an abstract value it came to mean free from agitation (before 1550) and then morally calm, untroubled (before 1648, Voiture).^[3][5] In the 20th century it is also said of a social situation.^[3] The medical phrase goutte sereine (1611, Cotgrave) named blindness caused by paralysis of the retina, after the popular belief that a clear drop of humour was to blame, since the eye looked unclouded.^[6][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – The Old French form serrit “mild, calm” appears in the Voyage de Charlemagne.^[6]
• c. 1170 – Serein describes clear, calm weather in Guillaume de Saint-Pair.^[6]
• 1176 – Chrétien de Troyes writes serain.^[6]
• c. 1225–1230 – Guillaume de Lorris uses serin of a calm, untroubled look.^[6]
• 1538 – Used as a noun for clear weather.^[3]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records the spelling serein.^[5][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records goutte sereine.^[6][2]
• before 1648 – Voiture uses it of a person free from worry.^[5][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Of the sky or weather: clear and calm, without clouds or wind.^[9][10][6]
2. Calm through inner peace, serene, untroubled: elle est restée sereine pendant l’examen.^[9][10]
3. Of a situation or climate of opinion: free of tension.^[10][3]
4. Goutte sereine (old medicine): blindness caused by paralysis of the retina.^[6][7]

Word family

• rasséréner
• sereinement

Related words

• sérénade
• sérénité
• sérénissime
• Latin serēnus

Usage notes

A separate literary or regional noun serein (the Grand Robert's serein 2, recorded in 1580) names the damp coolness that falls in the evening after a fine day; it continues Old French serain “evening” (12th century), which Bloch and Wartburg trace to Latin sērō (“late”) and the Robert dictionaries to serēnus influenced by Latin sērum (“late hour”).^[4][9][2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)