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soleil

Etymology and origin of the French word soleil

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont (soleilz)
Inherited from
Latin *soliculus via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (sōl)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɔ.lɛj/[1]
  • IPA: /so.lɛj/[1]

Forms

soleil m (plural soleils)[1] Old French solelz (about 980), soleil (1080); also soloil (about 1175), from another diminutive, and souleil (1314), still used by d'Aubigné.[2][3] A rare Old French sol, soul was a Latinism or came from Old Occitan.[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French soleil, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sōliculus, a diminutive of Latin sōl (“sun”).[5][2][6][7][1] Latin “sōl” belongs to an Indo-European family with an “l”/“n” alternation in its inflection, which includes Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios), Old English sunne and Old High German sunna.[2][8]

The diminutive is limited to Gallo-Romance: Occitan solelh and Catalan solell; the other languages kept the simple word, as Italian sole, Spanish sol, Portuguese sol and Romanian soare.[6][4][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont (li soleilz), naming the star that gives light and warmth to the earth.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Soleil levant is in the Chanson de Roland and soleil couchant in Wace (1155).[5] About 1150–1170 the word meant the light and heat of the sun, whence coup de soleil (Montaigne, about 1582–1590), biens au soleil “landed property” (1611) and il fait soleil (1647).[5][3]

The Sun was counted among the planets until the Copernican system was adopted in the 17th century, Fontenelle extended the word to other stars as the centres of planetary systems (1686).[2][3] Figuratively it stood for brilliance and prestige (Charles d'Orléans, about 1450–1465) and for a day or a year in poetry (1629, 1690).[5] It also names the sunflower (tournesol), a firework and a giant swing on the horizontal bar.[1][10]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Li soleilz in the Passion of Clermont.[5]
  • c. 1100 – Soleil levant in the Chanson de Roland.[5]
  • 1391 – Entre deux solaux “between sunrise and sunset”.[5]
  • 1582 – Coup de soleil in Montaigne.[3]
  • 1611 – Biens au soleil in Cotgrave.[5]
  • 1686 – Other stars as suns, in Fontenelle.[3]
  • 1798 – Le soleil luit pour tout le monde.[11]
  • 1867 – Ensoleillé.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sun, (astronomy, with a capital) the Sun.[8][1]
  2. sunshine, the sun's light and heat: au soleil, il fait soleil, coup de soleil.[8][3]
  3. (astronomy) A star at the centre of a planetary system.[3]
  4. A sunflower.[1]
  5. A (firework) Catherine wheel, (gymnastics) a giant swing.[10]
  6. (figurative) Something radiant or glorious.[5]

Word family

  • ensoleillé
  • ensoleiller
  • pare-soleil

Usage notes

Le Soleil is written with a capital in astronomy.[1] Rien de nouveau sous le soleil echoes Ecclesiastes, and le pays du Soleil-Levant is Japan.[1][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  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 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. 12, 24a
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Soleil.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/soleil. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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