société

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɔ.sje.te/^[1]

Forms

société f (plural sociétés)^[1] The Académie wrote societé in 1694 and 1718, société from 1740.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin societās (“association, community; partnership; alliance”), from socius (“companion, partner, ally”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} Rey traces the Latin noun, like Sanskrit सखा (sákhā, “companion”), to an Indo-European word for a companion in arms.^[3] The inherited Old French form was soisté (“company”), used mainly in law for sharecropping, which survives in western dialects in a verb meaning “to lend each other animals”.^[2][4][3]

Compare Old Occitan societad (1103), Spanish sociedad and Italian società.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gautier d'Arras's Eracle (1176–84; about 1165 according to Rey and the Grand Robert) uses it for company, relations between people.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant an alliance (1355, Bersuire's Livy), a feeling of friendship (1560) and someone's company (la société de quelqu'un, 1580, Montaigne).^[2][3] A trade association is recorded in 1467, the Jesuits as la Société in Pascal (1656), a business partnership in La Fontaine (1668) and a learned society in the Académie (1740).^[2]

From the 17th century it is people who meet for conversation or games, whence la société “polite society” (1756, Voltaire) and la haute société (1832).^[2][8] Bossuet (1670) uses it for the community of human beings united by the laws of collective life, and Buffon (1753) for animal societies.^[2] In the 20th century came société de consommation (1968) and société postindustrielle (1971).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – “Company”, Gautier d'Arras.^[3]
• 1467 – A trade association.^[2]
• 1580 – La société de quelqu'un, Montaigne.^[2]
• 1656 – La Société, the Jesuits, Pascal.^[2]
• 1668 – A business partnership, La Fontaine.^[2]
• 1670 – Human society, Bossuet.^[2]
• 1756 – La société “polite society”, Voltaire.^[2]
• 1968 – Société de consommation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. society, the community of people living under common institutions: la société française, vivre en société.^[7][1]
2. An organized group of animals: les sociétés d'abeilles.^[2][9]
3. A company, firm: société anonyme, société à responsabilité limitée.^[1][7]
4. An association, club: société savante, société de chasse.^[2][7]
5. (dated) Company, companionship: rechercher la société de quelqu'un.^[1][2]
6. High society; the people of a social circle: la haute société, la bonne société.^[2][9]

Word family

• sociétaire
• sociétal

Related words

• social
• sociable
• associer
• sociologie
• Latin societās

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 20a
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse