son

son¹ his, her, its

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɔ̃/^[1]
• IPA: /sɔ̃.n‿/^[1]
• IPA: /sɔ.n‿/^[1]

Forms

son m (feminine sa, plural ses)^[1] Old French subject ses, object son; feminine sa; plural subject si, object ses.^[2][3]

Etymology

The possessive “son”, “sa”, “ses” is inherited from Old French son, inherited from Latin suum (“his, her, their own”), from the accusative forms “suum”, “suam”, “suōs”, “suās” of Classical Latin “suus”, used unstressed.^[4][5][6][7] The stressed form is sien.^[4][6] Wiktionary traces “suus” to Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”).^[1] Littré compares Ancient Greek σφέος (sphéos) and German sein.^[1][2]

Cognate with Occitan son, Catalan son, Spanish suyo and Italian suo.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Strasbourg Oaths (842) have son as an object form: si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dift “as one should rightly help one's brother”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning son marked possession by one person, family and social relations, belonging to a group and various ties of dependence, including personal obligation (1080).^[4] In Old French sa was elided before a vowel (s'amie); the masculine form (son amie) appears in the 12th century but became the rule only from the 15th.^[4] From the 12th century it could refer to an indefinite subject (qui veut voyager loin ménage sa monture), and, from 1314 to things.^[4][7] It precedes titles such as Sa Majesté and Sa Sainteté.^[4]

Timeline

• 842 – Son in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[3]
• 881 – Feminine sa in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[3]
• 12th century – Son before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel.^[4]
• 1314 – Referring to a thing.^[4][7]
• 15th century – Son amie replaces s'amie.^[4]

Meanings

Determiner

1. his, her, its; one's: third person singular possessive, masculine or before a vowel; feminine sa, plural ses.^[1][7]
2. Before titles: Sa Majesté, Son Excellence.^[4]

son² sound

Pronunciation

• IPA (Europe): /sɔ̃/^[1]
• IPA (Canada): /sõ(ː)/^[1]

Forms

son m (plural sons)^[1] Old French suen (about 1120), son (about 1160).^[6][1]

Etymology

The noun “son” “sound” is inherited from Old French suen, inherited from Latin sonus (“sound, noise”).^[6][8][9][1] The vowel is not the regular outcome, which would be “suon”, “suen”: the word was remade after the verb sonner or the Latin word.^[10][1]

Cognate with Italian suono and Old Spanish “sueno”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old French form suen is found about 1120, son about 1160.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Its derivatives belong to physics and technology: sonie “loudness” (1964) and sonique “relating to sound”.^[3] In slang un son is a piece of music.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sound: what is heard, the auditory sensation caused by vibrations of the air or another medium.^[8][1]
2. (slang) A piece of music, a track.^[1]

son³ bran

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

son m (plural sons).^[8]

Etymology

The noun “son” “bran” first appears as “saon”, “seon” (1197) in the sense “refuse, something rejected as of poor quality”.^[10][8] Bloch and Wartburg take it from Old English sēon (“refuse”), the past participle of a verb meaning “to strain, filter”, and the FEW files it in its volume of Germanic words.^[10][11] the Petit Robert calls this origin only possible.^[8] Littré and Wiktionary instead derive it from Latin secundus (“second”), bran being what is left after a second sifting, through Medieval Latin seonnum; Catalan segó would be cognate.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1197 saon, seon meant “refuse”; the sense “residue of the milling of grain” is attested from 1243 by the Medieval Latin panis de seonno “bran bread”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling dates from 1398.^[6][8] The derived verb saonner, seonner was mostly a legal term, “to reject (witnesses)”.^[10] Son belongs to northern France; the south and west use bren (or bran), of pre-Latin origin, and the east words of Germanic origin.^[10] It meant the sawdust used for stuffing from 1871, as in poupée de son.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. bran: the husks of grain separated from the flour by milling: pain au son.^[8]
2. Sawdust used for stuffing: une poupée de son.^[8]
3. Taches de son: freckles.^[8]

Related words

• sonner
• sonore
• sien
• Latin suus
• Latin sonus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e 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 h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 481a
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 102b
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 633a