siphon

Forms

siphon m (plural siphons)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sīphō (“fire pump, small tube”),^[2][3][4][1] from Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn, “hollow tube for drawing up liquid, water pipe, waterspout”),^[2][3][4] a technical term of obscure origin.^[3][1][5]

The older form sifon “waterspout”, a word of the sailors of the Levant, is borrowed from Old Italian sifone, from the same Latin word; the TLFi says it came into the French spoken in the East and was later used by sailors.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sifon first appears in the Gestes des Chiprois, a chronicle of Cyprus, for a violent clash of winds, a waterspout; the TLFi dates it 1343, the GLLF and the Robert dictionaries about 1320.^[2][4][6][7] The form syphon is found in Rabelais's Tiers Livre (1546) for a kind of pipe used to draw wine.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1639 (Mersenne) siphon is the bent tube used to move a liquid from one level to a lower one, the sense that has lasted;^[2][3] sailors used it for a waterspout until the 18th century, as in La Pérouse's voyage of 1797.^[2] By extension it names the S-shaped trap under sanitary fittings that keeps bad smells from rising (1871 in the DHLF, 1876 in the TLFi).^[3][2]

In 1862 it came to mean a thick glass bottle of soda water with a lever valve, as in Goncourt's siphon d'eau de Seltz (1863).^[2][3] It also became a term of zoology (1797) for the tubes of bivalve molluscs, of medicine (1876) and, in the mid-20th century, of caving for a passage filled with water.^[2][3] In late 19th-century slang it meant the head or brain, as in Émile Pouget's Père Peinard (1894: se fourrer dans le siphon “get it into one's head”).^[2][8] The derived siphonné “crazy” (1937) is the past participle of siphonner (1862), with a brain emptied as if by a siphon.^[3]

Timeline

• 1343 – Sifon “waterspout” in the Gestes des Chiprois.^[2]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses syphon for a pipe to draw wine.^[2][3][9]
• 1639 – Mersenne uses it for a bent tube to transfer liquids.^[2][7]
• 1643 – Fournier's Hydrographie uses siphon for a waterspout at sea.^[2]
• 1797 – La Pérouse's voyage uses it in conchology.^[2]
• 1862 – First used for a soda-water bottle;^[2][3][7] siphonner is first recorded.^[2][3][7]
• 1876 – Chabat uses it for the trap on a drainpipe.^[2]
• 1889–1902 – Slang sense “head, brain” in Pouget's Père Peinard.^[2]
• 1937 – Siphonné “crazy” appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A siphon: a bent tube with unequal arms used to move a liquid from one container to another lower down, passing above both: Il a vidé l'aquarium avec un siphon.^[7][2][4]
2. A U- or S-shaped trap at the outlet of a sink or toilet, which stops bad smells from rising.^[7][4][10]
3. A thick glass bottle of soda water under pressure, with a lever valve: siphon d'eau de Seltz.^[7][4][2]
4. (zoology) The tube-like extension of the inlet and outlet of certain bivalve molluscs.^[7][4]
5. (caving) A section of an underground passage completely filled with water.^[7][4]
6. (medicine) A device for washing out certain body cavities.^[4][3]
7. (dated) A waterspout at sea, now called trombe.^[2]
8. (slang, dated) The head, the brain.^[2][8]

Word family

• siphonner
• siphonné
• siphonnage
• siphoïde
• siphonophore

Related words

• Latin sīphō
• Ancient Greek σίφων (síphōn)

References

1. ^ a b c 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 x 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 n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 652a
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)