soif

Forms

soif f (plural soifs)^[1] Old French seit (about 1050), seid (about 1112), sei (about 1150) and seif (late 11th century), then soi and soif (about 1175).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French soif, earlier seit, inherited from Latin sitis (“thirst”), from its accusative sitim.^{[5][2][6][1][7]} The final ⟨f⟩, which the regular outcome sei, soi lacked, seems to be due to nouns such as Old French noif “snow”, the oblique case of nois, which had an ⟨f⟩ in one case only.^[5][6][3] The TLFi and Wiktionary add that it may have been kept to tell the word apart from soi and soit;^[5][1] Bloch and Wartburg think the form in ⟨f⟩ won because it had more body.^[6] Rey calls the Latin word isolated, with no Indo-European cognates.^[2]

Cognate with Italian sete, Occitan set, Spanish sed and Portuguese sede.^[8][6] In the 16th century the word was pronounced without its ⟨f⟩, and it was still silent at the beginning of the 18th.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As seiz in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) it means the need to drink and the feeling that goes with it, the sense of the Latin word.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense gave many set phrases: mourir de soif (about 1230), avoir soif (14th century), boire à sa soif (1690 in Furetière, 1665 according to Rey) and the popular crever de soif (1877).^[5][2][3] Familiar French has jusqu'à plus soif “to the full” (1867) and il fait soif (1865 in Rey, 1870 in the TLFi), a cross of il fait chaud and on a soif.^[2][5] Older proverbs and oaths, such as par ma soif ! (16th century), have gone out of use.^[2] From 1550 Ronsard used it of dry earth.^[5]

Figuratively it has meant a passionate, impatient desire since 1263, when Rutebeuf wrote of a thirst for doing evil,^[5][2] hence avoir soif de (1644).^[2] Mme de Sévigné used avoir grand'soif for “to be short of money” (1693).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Seiz in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][3]
• c. 1175 – The form soif in Chrétien de Troyes.^[3][2]
• c. 1230 – Morir de fain et de soif in Eustache le Moine.^[5]
• 1263 – Rutebeuf uses it for a passionate desire.^[5][2]
• 1550 – Ronsard applies it to dry earth.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records boire à sa soif.^[5][3]
• 1693 – Mme de Sévigné uses avoir grand'soif of a need for money.^[5]
• 1802 – First record of the derived verb soiffer “to drink heavily”.^[5]
• 1867 – Jusqu'à plus soif in Delvau.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Thirst, the feeling that the body needs water: avoir soif, donner soif.^[9][10][11]
2. (figurative) A keen, impatient desire for something: la soif de connaître.^[10][5]
3. Of earth or plants, the need for water.^[11][5]
4. Jusqu'à plus soif (familiar): to the full, to satiety.^[11][2]
5. Rester sur sa soif: to be left unsatisfied.^[11]
6. Il fait soif (familiar): it is weather that makes one thirsty.^[9][2]

Word family

• assoiffé
• soiffard
• soiffer

Related words

• Latin sitis

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 662a
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)