soporifique

Forms

soporifique (plural soporifiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned formation from Latin sopor (“deep sleep”) with the suffix -fique, from Latin -ficus “making”, which goes back to faciō (“to make”).^[2][3][4][5] Bloch and Wartburg see the model in adjectives such as sudorifique.^[6] In Latin, the noun was a mostly poetic word for the force that brings sleep and for sleep itself, and later for a sleep-inducing drug, especially opium.^[3]

English soporific (1680s) comes from the French word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 16th century, in Le Bon's Logique, meaning “that has the power to make one sleep”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun un soporifique, a sleep-inducing drug, is recorded in 1694, but it is less common than somnifère.^[3][8] Figuratively and familiarly the adjective has meant “boring, sending one to sleep” since 1730–1731, and is sometimes used as a noun in that sense too (1875).^[2][3][5]

Older adjectives of the same meaning were soporifère (late 15th century) and soporaire (1556).^[3] The Latin noun itself was borrowed in 1493 in the sense “lethargy”, and taken up again in the 19th century as sopor.^[3]

Timeline

• Late 16th century – First record, in Le Bon's Logique.^[2][3]
• 1680s – English soporific is first recorded.^[7]
• 1694 – Used as a noun.^[3]
• 1730 – First figurative use, “very boring”.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That causes sleep, hypnotique, narcotique.^[2][8]
2. (figurative, familiar) Very boring: une conférence soporifique.^[2][8]

Noun

1. (dated) A sleep-inducing drug, a somnifère.^[8][2]
2. (figurative) Something deeply boring.^[8][3]

Related words

• sopor
• somnifère
• sudorifique
• English soporific

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert