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sol

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sol1 ground

Pronunciation

Forms

sol m (plural sols)[1] Earlier suel (14th century) and soul (15th century).[2][3]

Etymology

The noun “ground” is borrowed from Latin solum (“bottom, base; floor; surface of the earth; land, country”).[3][2][4][5][1] It appears in 1538 after the forms “suel” (14th century) and “soul” (15th century, in Upper Brittany), whereas the word is found earlier in Old Occitan sol (12th century).[2][3] Rey relates “solum” to an Indo-European root naming a human settlement, seen in Russian село (seló, “village”) and Lombardic sala (“house”).[2] Bloch and Wartburg refer it to the same Latin family as seuil.[4]

Compare Italian suolo, Catalan sol and Spanish suelo.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Breton form soul of the 15th century is the surface of the earth on which one stands and walks, sol itself is in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538.[3]

Semantic evolution

From one of the Latin senses came “ground floor” (16th century), now obsolete: Littré quotes a customary law of the time, à quiconque appartient le sol, c'est à dire l'estage du rez de chaussée, appartient le dessus et dessouz du sol.[2][6][3] From 1606 sol was land considered as property, and, from 1793 (le sol français, le sol natal) a country.[3][2] Land as regards its nature and fertility is recorded by Cotgrave in 1611 and Furetière in 1690 (sol pierreux, sol sablonneux).[2][3] The man-made surface for walking and living, a floor, is in Blondel's architecture treatise (1752–54).[3]

Military language made the adjectives sol-sol and sol-air (1954) for missiles fired from the ground.[2] The compound sous-sol (1835) first meant the layer under the topsoil, then (before 1860) a basement.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 15th century – Soul in an Upper Breton text.[3]
  • 1538 – Sol in Robert Estienne.[3]
  • 1606 – Land considered as property, Nicot.[3]
  • 1690 – Soil as regards its quality, Furetière.[3]
  • 1752–54 – A floor, in Blondel's architecture treatise.[3]
  • 1793 – Le sol français, a country.[3]
  • 1835 – Sous-sol.[4]
  • 1954 – Sol-air, sol-sol.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The ground, the surface of the earth on which one stands: s'asseoir à même le sol, être cloué au sol.[7][8]
  2. A floor, a man-made surface: le sol de la cuisine.[3][1]
  3. soil, land as regards its nature or fertility: un sol calcaire, un sol fertile.[8][7]
  4. Land as territory or property; one's country: le sol natal.[3][2]
  5. (military) In sol-air, sol-sol: fired from the ground.[7]
  6. (heraldry) The field of a shield.[2]

Word family

  • sous-sol
  • hors-sol

sol2 musical note

Pronunciation

Forms

sol m (invariable)[1]

Etymology

The musical note is from Latin solve (“loosen!”), the imperative of the verb “to loosen, release”: Guido of Arezzo (995–1050) took its first syllable, which begins the third line of the Latin hymn to Saint John the Baptist, as he took the other note names from the same hymn (see ré).[3][7][9][1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1223 in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles de Nostre Dame.[3]

Semantic evolution

The clef de sol, the treble clef, is recorded by Furetière in 1690; the Académie has had the word since 1718.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (music) G, the fifth note of the scale of C: sol dièse, sol bémol, clé de sol, the treble clef.[7][3]
  2. The key of G: concerto en sol majeur.[7]

Usage notes

Sol is also an old form of sou, the coin (12th century, Lois de Guillaume), still used at times in the classical period, and the name of the currency of Peru (1933), from Spanish sol (“sun”).[11][1] In chemistry a sol is a colloidal solution, a shortening of solution.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 75b
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 82b
  11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse