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sommation

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Etymology and origin of the French word sommation

sommation1 summons, formal demand

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1283 Philippe de Beaumanoir, Coutumes de Beauvaisis
Ultimate origin
Latin summa

Pronunciation

  • /sɔ.ma.sjɔ̃/[1]

Forms

sommation f (plural sommations)[1] Old French sommacion.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the summons is formed from French sommer + -ation, from the verb in its legal sense “to call on someone formally to do something”.[2][4][5][1] That sense (about 1250) is a specialization of Old French sommer (“to finish, accomplish”) (about 1175), derived from somme (“end, completion”), from Latin summa.[2][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg instead derived the verb from Medieval Latin summō (“to say in summary”), derived from the same noun.[8] Rey objects that this Latin verb is recorded later than the French one.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as sommacion in Philippe de Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis (1283), meaning the act of putting someone formally on notice.[2][9] Rey gives a form sommacion as early as 1213.[6]

Semantic evolution

A legal term that became common, it replaced the older derivative sommement (about 1283).[6] It came to mean the written act that serves the summons (1694), the call on the governor of a besieged town to surrender (1636) and, in classical law, a claim for a guarantee (1690).[6][9] The sommation respectueuse (1718) was the formal request by which an adult son or daughter asked their parents to consent to a marriage.[6][10]

From 1789 the word named each of the warnings that must be given to an unlawful gathering in the street before force is used, and then the call to surrender that comes before firing.[6][9][10] In literary use it has also meant an imperative demand or invitation since 1632, when Guez de Balzac wrote je me rends à la premiere sommation que vous me faites “I yield at the first summons you make me”.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 1283 – Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis has sommacion “formal notice”.[2]
  • 1330 – The spelling sommation is recorded.[6]
  • 15th century – Martial de Paris writes Si leur fit on sommation De vouloir la ville au roi rendre “so they were summoned to surrender the town to the king”.[10]
  • 1632 – Guez de Balzac uses it of a pressing request.[2][6]
  • 1636 – Used of the summons to a besieged town.[6]
  • 1694 – The Académie records it for the written act of summons.[6][9]
  • 1718 – Sommation respectueuse is recorded.[6]
  • 1789 – It names the warnings given to an unlawful crowd.[6][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (law) A formal demand that someone do something, a summons;[5][2][9] sommation d'huissier, a bailiff's writ ordering a debtor to pay or a person to fulfil an obligation.[5][2][9]
  2. The regulation warning a sentry or the police must give before using force;[9][5][10] tirer sans sommation, to fire without warning.[9][5][10]
  3. (literary) An imperative demand, an injunction.[5][6]
  4. (historical) Sommation respectueuse: the formal request for parental consent to a marriage.[10][6]

Word family

  • tir de sommation

sommation2 summation

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1458 Arnoul Gréban, Mystère de la Passion
Ultimate origin
Latin summa

Pronunciation

  • /sɔ.ma.sjɔ̃/[1]

Forms

sommation f (plural sommations)[1] Middle French sommacion; the spelling sommation from 1611.[4][6]

Etymology

The word for the summation is formed from French sommer + -ation, from the verb “to add up”, itself derived from somme1 (“sum”), from Latin summa.[2][4][5][6] In its acoustic sense (1872) it renders the German Summationston, coined in 1856 by the physicist H. Helmholtz.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is sommacion “sum, account” in Arnoul Gréban's Mystère de la Passion (1458).[2] Rey dates it to about 1450, as a learned word for the act of adding.[6]

Semantic evolution

Spelled sommation from the early 17th century (1611), it became a term of mathematics in 1762, for the summing of quantities, especially of the terms of a series.[6][4][2] Physiology took it up about 1900 for the combined effect of several stimulations that would each be too weak alone.[6][2][5]

Timeline

  • 1458 – Arnoul Gréban has sommacion “sum, account”.[2]
  • 1611 – The spelling sommation is recorded.[4][6]
  • 1762 – Used in mathematics.[6]
  • 1872 – Littré records son de sommation.[2]
  • 1904 – The physiological sense appears in the Nouveau Larousse illustré.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (mathematics) summation, the operation of adding quantities, especially the terms of a series.[5][2]
  2. (physiology) The adding up of the effects of several stimuli, or of one stimulus repeated at short intervals, that would each be ineffective alone.[5][2]

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert number the legal word 1 and the mathematical word 2; the TLFi does the same, while Rey's dictionary numbers them the other way round.[4][5][2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 424a
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Sommation.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/sommation. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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