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sommier

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Etymology and origin of the French word sommier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100 Chanson de Roland More words from the 11th century
Inherited from
Latin sagmarius via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin sagma

Pronunciation

Forms

sommier m (plural sommiers)[1] Old French sumer and somier; the spelling sommier is found about 1190.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French somier, inherited from Late Latin sagmārius (“beast of burden”), the noun use of a Late Latin adjective meaning “carrying a pack-saddle”, from Latin sagma (“pack-saddle”).[3][2][5][4] The FEW dates the medieval Latin noun to 814.[3][6] Picoche notes that this is a Greek word meaning “pack-saddle”.[7] The same Latin noun gave saumārius, cited by Littré and Wiktionary.[8][1]

Cognate with Old Occitan saumier, Italian somaro (“donkey”) and Catalan salmer (“springer stone”).[2][9][8] The register sense (1684) is the same word for the TLFi and for Bloch and Wartburg, who reject a derivation from Latin summārium (“summary”);[3][5] the DHLF finds a derivation from somme1 “sum” more natural.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) sumer is a pack horse or beast of burden: Getet serez sur un malvais sumer “you will be thrown onto a bad pack horse”.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “beast of burden” lasted until the 18th century;[2][5] from it came coffre à sommier “travelling chest” (1334).[2][4] From the 14th century the word took many technical senses based on the idea of “support”, by the same metaphor as poutre, first “mare”:[2][5][7] a beam (1316), a stone receiving the springing of a vault (1432), a lintel (1553), a beam supporting bells (1606).[3][2][10] In instrument-making it named part of the organ (1549) and later the pin block of a harpsichord (1765), then of a piano.[3][2]

The usual modern sense also comes from “support”: in 1492 a sommier was a down-filled mattress used as a camp bed, in 1673 a horsehair mattress under the straw mattress, and since about 1820 a sprung base on which the mattress rests.[3][2][4] In 1888 slang sommier de caserne meant a prostitute who went with soldiers, a sense now gone.[2]

From 1684 the word also named a large register in which receipts were entered, and in the 19th century sommiers judiciaires (Hugo, 1862) the records of convictions, whence les sommiers for the police criminal-records service.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Sumer “beast of burden” appears in the Chanson de Roland.[3][2]
  • 1135 – Wace writes somier.[3]
  • 1316 – First record of the sense “beam”.[3][10]
  • 1334 – Coffre à sommier “travelling chest” is recorded.[2][4]
  • 1432 – It names the stone that receives the springing of a vault.[2][10]
  • 1492 – A down mattress used as a camp bed is called sommier.[3][2]
  • 1549 – Robert Estienne records sommier d'orgue.[3]
  • 1684 – Furetière records the sense “large register of receipts”.[3]
  • c. 1820 – The sprung bed base is named sommier.[2][4]
  • 1862 – Hugo uses sommiers judiciaires.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The sprung or slatted base of a bed on which the mattress rests, a box spring: un sommier à ressorts.[3][10][1]
  2. (architecture) A springer, the stone that receives the springing of an arch or vault.[3][10][1]
  3. (building) A beam supporting joists or forming the lintel of a wide opening, also the beam from which a bell hangs.[3][10]
  4. (mechanics) A part that bears the weight or thrust of another, as in a press.[3]
  5. (music) The windchest of an organ, which holds the pipes and stores the air: sommier d'orgue.[3][1] In a piano or harpsichord, the pin block holding the tuning pins.[3][10]
  6. (locksmithing) The bottom crossbar of a grille.[3][10]
  7. (accounting) A large register of accounts.[3][8]
  8. (law) Sommiers judiciaires, or les sommiers: the police files recording people who have been convicted or prosecuted.[3][2]
  9. (historical) A beast of burden, a pack horse.[2][4][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 u v w x y 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 e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 68b
  7. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
  8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sommier.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/sommier. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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