Etymologically
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sorte

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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

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