seringue

Forms

seringue f (plural seringues)^[1] Old French siringe and ceringue;^[2][3][4] siringue was the usual form until the 16th century, and syringue is found from 1538 to 1700.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin syringa (“syringe”), a Late Latin medical word, from Latin syrinx (“reed, pipe”), from Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx, “reed, shepherd's pipe”).^[2][3][1][5] The Latin form was taken from the Greek accusative, and the Greek word was used for many long, narrow, hollow objects, and in Hippocrates for a fistula.^[2][3][6] Rey adds that the Greek word may be of Mediterranean or eastern origin.^[6] The modern spelling is a 16th-century remaking of the older forms.^[6][4]

Cognate with Italian sciringa, Old Occitan siringua and Portuguese seringa.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Roger of Salerno's Chirurgia (1240–1260) has siringe for a small portable pump used for enemas and injections: metez siringe el col de la veissie “put the syringe into the neck of the bladder”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was purely medical until the 16th century, naming above all the instrument for giving enemas, a sense now gone.^[3][6] From 1549 it also named a gardener's pump for watering plants or spraying them.^[6][9] The modern sense of an instrument for injecting a liquid into the body, or drawing one out, is the one in use today.^[10]

The familiar phrase chanter comme une seringue “to sing badly” (1808) has no clear explanation;^[6][8][2] Littré suggested an ironic play on sirène.^[6][8][2] From it came seringue for a person who sings out of tune (1912), and as an insult for a silly, tiresome person (1845).^[6][2] By likeness of shape it was slang for a musket (1625–1655, the Muse normande), a rifle (1885) and a revolver (1953).^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1240–1260 – Siringe appears in Roger of Salerno's Chirurgia.^[2]
• 13th century – The Livre des simples medecines has ceringue.^[2][9]
• 1547 – The verb seringuer is recorded.^[3]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records it for a pump used on plants.^[9][6]
• 1625–1655 – The Muse normande uses it for a musket.^[2]
• 1808 – Hautel records chanter comme une seringue.^[2]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records it for a silly person.^[2]
• 1885 – It is slang for a rifle.^[2][10]
• 1953 – Le Breton's Rififi uses it for a revolver.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A syringe: a small pump used in medicine to inject liquids into the body or draw them out.^[10][1]
2. A small portable pump for drawing in and forcing out air or liquids, as for spraying plants.^[9][8][2]
3. (historical) An instrument for giving enemas.^[2][8]
4. (slang) A gun or other firearm.^[10][2]
5. (familiar, dated) A silly, tiresome person.^[8][2]

Word family

• seringuer

Related words

• syrinx
• Latin syringa
• Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx)

Usage notes

Chanter comme une seringue means “to sing very badly”.^[8][6] Être dans la seringue is said of someone caught in a situation with no room to move and a bad outcome.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 502a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert