Etymologically
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sortir

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɔʁ.tiʁ/[1]

Forms

sortir[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sortir, probably inherited from Latin sortior (“to cast lots; to obtain by lot; to choose”), from sors (“lot”).[2][3][4][5] The sense “to go from inside to outside” may have grown out of the past participle “sortītus” “designated by lot”, hence “escaping” and “appearing outside”.[2][3]

Ménage and Diez, followed by Littré, derived the verb of movement instead from a Vulgar Latin “*surctus” or “*surrectīre”, from “surrectus”, participle of surgō (“to rise, spring up”), which suits Spanish surtir (“to spurt”) but, as Rey and Bloch and Wartburg object, does not explain the French /o/, Wiktionary combines the two, deriving the word from “sortīrī” with influence of “surrectus”.[6][2][3][1] The Grand Robert, like Littré, separates a legal “sortir” “to obtain” from the verb of movement.[7][6]

As a verb of movement “sortir” was rare before the 16th century; it then replaced Old French issir (see issue).[3][7][2] Compare Italian sortire.[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1145 in Wace with the Latin sense “to decide”, and about 1160 for “to decide by lot”; in the 12th century it also meant “to escape” (de la mort puisse sortir).[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Old and Middle French kept the senses of the Latin verb: “to cast lots, predict” (1155), “to choose” (about 1170) and “to allot” (about 1330).[2][4] The legal sense “to obtain”, as in sortir son plein effet, survives from 1395.[8][7]

The sense of movement appears about 1150 in sortir de la mort “to escape death” and about 1175 for leaving a place; the derivative ressortir already meant “to rebound” in the Chanson de Roland.[4][9] Sortir de prison is found in 1553 and sortir les pieds devant “to be carried out dead” in 1623.[4] Transitive uses followed: “to put something out” (1611), “to take (a horse) out” (1596) and a person for a walk (1788), and familiarly “to come out with (a remark)” (1903) and “to bring out (a product)” (1938).[4] The infinitive used as a noun gave au sortir de (1559).[7][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1145 – “To decide”, in Wace.[4]
  • 1155 – “To cast lots, predict”, in Wace's Brut.[4]
  • c. 1150 – Sortir de la mort “to escape death”.[4]
  • c. 1175 – “To go out of a place”, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[4]
  • 1400 – The noun sortie.[3]
  • 1559 – Au sortir de.[7]
  • 1611 – Transitive “to put out”, in Cotgrave.[4]
  • 1903 – “To come out with (a remark)”, in Colette.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go out, come out, leave: sortir de la maison, sortir de prison.[4][7]
  2. To go out (for amusement): sortir le soir, sortir avec quelqu'un, to go out with, date someone.[6][1]
  3. To get out of a state or situation: sortir d'une maladie, s'en sortir, to pull through.[4][1]
  4. To come out, appear: Le livre sortira en mai.[1][4]
  5. To take out, bring out: sortir la voiture du garage; to take (a person, a dog) out.[4][1]
  6. (familiar) To come out with, say: Qu'est-ce qu'il nous a sorti ?[4]
  7. To produce, put on the market.[4]
  8. (law) Sortir son effet: to take effect.[8][1]

Noun

  1. Au sortir de: on coming out of, at the end of: au sortir de l'hiver.[8]

Word family

  • ressortir
  • sortie
  • sortable

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 126a
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d 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