sorte

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɔʁt/^[1]

Forms

sorte f (plural sortes)^[1] Middle French also sourte (about 1500).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sors (“lot, fate; rank, condition; kind”), accusative “sortem”.^[2][4][3][1] In classical Latin “sors” already meant “manner” (Virgil's “nova pugnae sors”), and the sense is common in Late Latin (Gregory of Tours).^[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg take it as a borrowing because of its late date; the inherited form is sort “fate”, of which it is a doublet.^[4][1] Italian sorta is borrowed from French.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1220 in Auberon, meaning a group of people, a company, a sense it kept in Old and Middle French.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century it meant a person's rank or condition (roys de noble sorte, 1458), now obsolete.^[6][2] The sense “kind, category” is in Watriquet de Couvin (1327), and “manner” about 1485.^[6] De sorte que (1531), de telle sorte que (1557), faire en sorte que (1668) and en quelque sorte (1650) date from the 16th and 17th centuries.^[2][6][7] Une sorte de, for something one cannot name exactly, is from 1664.^[6] The verb assortir (about 1380) is derived from it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – “Company”, in Auberon.^[6]
• 1327 – “Kind”, in Watriquet de Couvin.^[6]
• c. 1380 – Assortir.^[4]
• 1458 – “Rank”, in Arnoul Greban.^[6]
• 1531 – De sorte que.^[2]
• 1650 – En quelque sorte, in Corneille.^[7]
• 1664 – Une sorte de.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sort, kind, type: toutes sortes de gens.^[8][1]
2. Une sorte de: a kind of, something like.^[8]
3. Manner, way: de la sorte, de cette sorte.^[1][9]
4. De sorte que, en sorte que: so that, faire en sorte que: to see to it that.^[1][6]
5. En quelque sorte: in a way, as it were.^[1][7]

Word family

• assortir
• assortiment

Related words

• sort
• Latin sors

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse