soir

Pronunciation

• IPA (Europe): /swaʁ/^[1]
• IPA (Canada, French, standard): /swɑːʁ/^[1]
• IPA: /swɛː(ɾ)/^[1]
• IPA: /swɛːʁ/^[1]

Forms

soir m (plural soirs)^[1] Old French ser (about 980), seir (1080), soir (about 1160).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seir, inherited from Latin sērō (“late, too late”), an adverb formed from sērus (“late”).^{[5][2][6][3][7]} Old Occitan had both ser (about 1135), from “sērō”, and “sera” (about 1160), from a Late Latin noun “sēra” “evening” that also gave Italian sera.^[2][6] Spanish tarde and Portuguese tarde and Catalan “tarda” “evening” come in the same way from Latin tardē (“slowly; late”), while classical vesper survives in vêpres.^[2][6] Rey compares “sērus” with Sanskrit सायम् (sāyám, “evening”) and Old Irish “sír” “long”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Passion de Clermont (late 10th century) as ser, the last hours of the day.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From Old French on it was used after the name of a day and after hier and demain (her seir, 1080).^[2][5] A seyr et a matin “unceasingly” (late 11th century) became le soir et le matin (1480); du soir au matin (1668) and du matin au soir (1670) once meant “very quickly”.^[2] The word meant “the west” (1341) and, figuratively, old age (1552, le soir de la vie, 1635).^[2][5]

In 1690 it was used of the second half of the afternoon, a sense kept in journal du soir, and also of the part of the night up to bedtime, a sense later taken by soirée.^[2][5] À ce soir is recorded in 1756, Quebec French says à soir for ce soir, and in African French soir may mean the afternoon.^[8][2]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Ser in the Passion de Clermont.^[5]
• 1080 – Her seir “yesterday evening”, in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][2]
• c. 1160 – The form soir.^[3][4]
• 1341 – “The west”.^[2]
• 1552 – “Old age”, in Ronsard.^[5]
• 1564 – Soirée.^[6]
• 1690 – “The second half of the afternoon”, in Furetière.^[5]
• 1756 – À ce soir.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Evening, the end of the day: le soir tombe, tous les soirs.^[9][1]
2. Ce soir: this evening, tonight, à ce soir, see you tonight.^[4][8]
3. (dated) The second part of the afternoon: quatre heures du soir, journal du soir.^[4][2]
4. (Africa) The afternoon.^[2]
5. (literary) Old age: le soir de la vie.^[5][4]

Word family

• serein
• soirée
• bonsoir

Related words

• vêpres
• Latin sērō

Usage notes

Wiktionary also records soir as a spelling of the verb seoir “to suit” after the 1990 spelling reform.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 516b
8. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert