solennel

Forms

solennel (feminine solennelle, masculine plural solennels, feminine plural solennelles)^[1] Old French sollempnal (late 12th century), sollempnel (about 1250); the form solennel dates from 1337, and solemnel (1415) is remade on the Latin.^[2][3] A variant solanel, after the pronunciation, was current from 1680 to the mid-18th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French solene + -el, the Old French adjective being from Latin sollemnis (“celebrated at fixed times with ceremony”).^[3][4][1] The suffix was added after the pattern of religious adjectives such as éternel and spirituel.^[3][4] The Old French adjective (about 1190), also sollenpne, survived to the 16th century as solemne (1580).^[3][5]

The Latin adjective, also written sollennis, solennis and later Late Latin solempnis, was a word of religion.^[3][4] Its first part is sollus (“whole”), of Oscan origin and related to salvus and solidus.^[3][6] The ancients connected the second with annus (“year”), whence the explanation “that returns every year”;^[7][8][6] Rey takes the spelling with ⟨nn⟩ as a false etymology after perennis, and the element may answer to Oscan amnúd (“circuit”), or the word may be a borrowing.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 12th century as sollempnal, in the Sermons of Saint Bernard (per sollempnal memore), meaning “performed with pomp, according to a ceremonial”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In the mid-13th century it was said of feast days celebrated with ceremonies.^[2][3] In law it meant “authentic, carried out in the required forms” (1266, sollempnel stipulation),^[2][3] and more generally “public”, of acts given special weight (Eustache Deschamps, 1372).^[2][3] In the religious vocabulary vœu solennel (1694) is a vow made before the Church with formalities, as in communion solennelle.^[3]

By extension it described a sumptuous house (hostel solennel, 1364), then an important person (1394) and thing, uses already archaic in the classical period.^[3][2] From the 14th century it was said of the gravity proper to great occasions, whence the pejorative “pompous” (1788) and, of a person, “stiff, a little ridiculous” (1871).^[3][8]

Timeline

• late 12th century – Sollempnal appears in the Sermons of Saint Bernard.^[2]
• 1216 – Sollempnels is said of feasts in Guillaume le Clerc's Fergus.^[2]
• 1266 – The legal sense “carried out in the required forms”.^[2]
• 1337 – The spelling solennel appears.^[2][3]
• 1364 – Hostel solennel is used of a sumptuous house.^[2][3]
• 1372 – Eustache Deschamps uses it for “public, formal”.^[2]
• 1694 – First record of vœu solennel.^[3]
• 1788 – The pejorative sense “pompous”.^[3]
• 1871 – Littré records it of a stiff, pompous person.^[3][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Celebrated with pomp and public ceremonies, solemn: une messe solennelle.^[9][10][2]
2. Accompanied by formalities that give it special importance, formal: Ils ont fait une promesse solennelle devant témoins.^[9][10]
3. Grave, as befits great occasions; often pejorative, pompous or stiff.^[10][9][3]
4. (law) Carried out in the forms required for validity.^[2][6]

Word family

• solennellement

Related words

• solennité
• solenniser
• Latin sollemnis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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, 68a
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)