sororité

Forms

sororité f (plural sororités)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Medieval Latin sorōritās (“religious community of women”),^[2] from soror (“sister”).^[2][1] The modern senses were renewed from the Latin noun under the influence of fraternité and of the English word sorority,^[3][4][5] and the sense “women's student society” is borrowed from English, which had itself taken the word from Medieval Latin or formed it on the Latin noun after fraternity.^[2] Rey also points to the influence of the English word sisterhood, used in feminist circles from 1968.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has sororité “sisterhood, the fact of being a sister” from the second half of the 14th century.^[6] In continental French the TLFi's first record is in Rabelais's Tiers Livre (1546), where it means a community of women.^[2] The Académie's 1842 complement, referring to Rabelais, defines it as the relation or quality of a sister.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

After Rabelais the word became very rare.^[5] A form sororéité “the state of being a sister” is found in 1756.^[2]

It was taken up again around 1970, when the progress of feminist ideas revived the learned derivatives of Latin soror.^[5] One use, after English sorority, names an association of women or girls, especially a women's student society in the United States (1970), and by metonymy the house where its members live (1977 as the English plural sororities, 1986 in French form).^[2][5] The other names the solidarity felt between women, set against the fraternité that binds men; the TLFi's first record is from the magazine Elle in 1975.^[2][5][4]

Timeline

• 1546 – Rabelais uses it for a community of women in the Tiers Livre.^[2]
• 1756 – The form sororéité is used for the state of being a sister.^[2]
• 1842 – The Académie's complement defines it as the quality of a sister.^[2]
• 1970 – It is used, after English, of a women's student society.^[2][3]
• 1975 – Elle uses it for solidarity between women.^[2]
• 1986 – Philippe Labro uses it for an American women's student house.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminism) Solidarity between women, felt as their own bond in contrast to fraternité.^[4][2][5]
2. A community or association of women.^[2]
3. A women's student society or residence in the United States; a sorority.^[2][5]
4. (rare) The relation or quality of sisters, sisterhood.^[5][1]

Related words

• sœur
• sororal
• fraternité
• Latin soror
• English sorority

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)