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siècle

Etymology and origin of the French word siècle

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
881, Sequence of Saint Eulalia, seule
Inherited from
Latin saeculum via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (saeculum)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin saeculum
French siècle

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sjɛkl/[1]

Forms

siècle m (plural siècles)[1] Seule (881), secle (about 1050–1080), siegle, siecle; written siecle by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, siècle from 1740.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French siecle, earlier “secle”, a form remade after Latin of the popular “seule” (881), inherited from Latin saeculum (“generation; age; century; in Church Latin, the world”).[2][3][4][5][6] Wiktionary calls it a borrowing, the expected inherited form being “*sieil”;[1] Bloch and Wartburg also call it borrowed.[7] The Church Latin sense “the world, worldly life” translates Greek Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn), itself rendering a Hebrew word for an era.[3] “Saeculum” can be compared only with Welsh hoedl (“lifetime”).[3][8]

Cognate with Occitan segle, Catalan segle, Spanish siglo and Italian secolo.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Sequence of Saint Eulalia (881) says that the saint volt lo seule lazsier, wished to leave this world, the earthly life as opposed to life after death.[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the word was above all religious: earthly life (Alexis, about 1050), the lay world as opposed to the cloister (Wace, 1160–1174), and the world and its people (bons fu li secles al tens ancïenur).[2][3] Psalters render in saeculum saeculi as en secle de siecle, “for ever and ever”.[2] Le siècle in this sense survives in religious language, as in vivre dans le siècle.[3][9]

The sense “period of a hundred years” is found from the mid-13th century, and soon siècle also meant the present age (1258), an age marked by a great person, le siècle de Louis XIV (about 1675[5][3][10][9]; le siècle d'Auguste, 1624), and a very long time: il y a un siècle que je ne l'ai vu.[5][3][10][9] The romantic mal du siècle dates from 1833, and du siècle “exceptional” is a journalistic cliché.[3]

Timeline

  • 881 – Seule, earthly life (Eulalie).[2][3]
  • c. 1050 – Secle (Alexis).[2][5]
  • 1160–1174 – The lay world (Wace).[2]
  • mid-13th century – A period of a hundred years.[5]
  • 1624 – Le siècle d'Auguste (Guez de Balzac).[10]
  • 1740 – The spelling siècle (Académie).[2]
  • 1833 – Le mal du siècle.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A century, a period of a hundred years: le dix-septième siècle.[9][1]
  2. An age, an era: le siècle de Louis XIV[9][5]; le siècle des Lumières.[9][5]
  3. (familiar) A very long time: il y a des siècles.[9][11]
  4. (religion) The world, worldly life: vivre dans le siècle.[9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 44a
  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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Siècle.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/si%C3%A8cle. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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