souder

Forms

souder^[1] Old French solder and sauder;^[2][3] saulder is found from the 12th century until 1660.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French solder, inherited from Latin solidō (“to make solid, to consolidate”),^[4][2][5][6] a derivative of solidus (“solid, dense”).^[2][3] The present form is a reshaping, from about 1160, of the older one.^[2][7] The learned consolider continues the prefixed Latin verb.^[1]

Cognate with Spanish soldar, Catalan soldar, Portuguese soldar, Italian saldare and Occitan soudar.^[2][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi's French glosses, at the end of the 11th century, have solder for joining two pieces of metal and for making things adhere.^[4][3] The Roman d'Eneas (about 1160) has bien recuiz et bien soldez “well annealed and well soldered”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb first meant to join living parts by adhesion, as the lips of a wound; an intransitive use “to heal over” (1314) gave way to se souder (1562), itself now out of use.^[2] It also meant to stop up a leaking cask (late 11th century).^[2] From the 12th century it was specialized for joining pieces of metal with a fusible alloy or, since 1676, by melting the parts in contact; this is now its main sense, with the tool fer à souder (1676) and later the lampe à souder (1923).^[2][4] The phrase souder argent vif “to do the impossible” has gone out of use.^[2]

Figuratively it meant to bind closely, of the heart joined to God in Gautier de Coinci (about 1225), and then to unite people or things firmly, a sense now common in the participle and the reflexive.^[4][2] In linguistics it was used from 1842 of words joined into one.^[4] Horse-dealers called a well-proportioned horse bien soudé (1871).^[2]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Rashi's glosses have solder.^[4][3]
• c. 1160 – The Roman d'Eneas uses it of metalwork.^[4]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie has the form soudee.^[4]
• c. 1225 – Gautier de Coinci uses it figuratively.^[4]
• 1314 – Intransitive “to heal over”.^[2]
• 1472 – Fers à soulder are recorded.^[4]
• 1660 – Last record of the variant saulder.^[2]
• 1676 – Félibien records fer à souder.^[4][3]
• 1842 – Hugo uses it in linguistics.^[4]
• 1923 – Lampe à souder is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To solder or weld: to join pieces of metal or plastic so that they form one mass.^[10][11][1]
2. (technical) To join (parts) by adhesion, as the parts of a fracture.^[11][9]
3. (figurative) To unite closely and firmly, often in the past participle: une équipe soudée.^[10][4]

Word family

• soudage
• soudeur
• soudure
• dessouder
• ressouder
• soudeuse

Related words

• solide
• consolider
• Latin solidō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 45b
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert