sombre

Pronunciation

• IPA (France): /sɔ̃bʁ/^[1]
• IPA (Canada): /sõːbʀ/^[1]

Forms

sombre (plural sombres)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is not certain.^[2][3] It is probably a back-formation from an unrecorded verb “*sombrer” “to cast shade”, from Late Latin subumbrō (“to overshadow”), found only twice, in scriptural texts of about 400 and of the 8th century, from sub- (“under”) and umbrō (“to shade”), from umbra (“shade”) (see ombre).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The adjective must be older than its first record: Old French already had essombre (“darkness, a dark place”) with the intensive prefix “es-”, in the “Roman de Renart” (before 1179).^[2][3]

Spanish sombra (“shade”) is likewise formed from a verb “sombrar”.^[6][3] Old Occitan solombrar (“to shade”) seems to have been influenced by the word for “sun”.^[2][3] Rey finds no support for a Gaulish origin, and Wiktionary allows a direct origin in Latin sub umbrā (“in the shade”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the north, a sombre cop (1374, in the registers of Tournai) was a blow that bruised without drawing blood: celuy qui frappe autruy de sombre coup, sans sang.^[2][8][5] The sense “dark” appears in Palsgrave (1530): le temps est sombre… il fait sombre “the weather is overcast”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the adjective described places that get little light; poetry spoke of les sombres bords for the underworld.^[3][9] The figurative sense “gloomy, tragic, threatening” is found in 1545, and the Académie applied it to colours close to black in 1694.^[2][3] A noun le sombre “the dark” was used for a time (1611) but did not last.^[2][3]

In forestry a coupe sombre (1863) was a light thinning that left the wood shady, but from 1910 the phrase was misread as “a drastic cut”, especially in staff.^[2] It described a dull, veiled voice from 1855, and since Lautréamont (1868) it is a pejorative intensifier before a noun: un sombre crétin.^[2][3] The verb sombrer (1654) is derived from it.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1179 – Essombre “darkness”, Roman de Renart.^[2]
• 1374 – Sombre cop, Tournai.^[2]
• 1530 – “Overcast, dark”, Palsgrave.^[2]
• 1545 – “Gloomy, threatening”.^[2]
• 1694 – Couleurs sombres, Académie.^[2]
• 1863 – Coupe sombre in forestry.^[2]
• 1868 – Pejorative sombre, Lautréamont.^[2]
• 1910 – Coupe sombre “drastic cut”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dark, getting little light: une pièce sombre, il fait sombre.^[9][1]
2. Dark in colour, close to black: un costume sombre.^[9]
3. gloomy, melancholy, grim: un air sombre; threatening: un avenir sombre.^[2][9]
4. (familiar, before the noun) Utter, wretched: un sombre idiot.^[2][1]
5. Coupe sombre: a drastic cut.^[2][9]

Word family

• sombrer
• assombrir

Related words

• ombre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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, 374b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert