Etymologically
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souffler

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /su.fle/[1]

Forms

souffler[1] Old French sufler (about 1120–1155) and sofler (about 1120); souffler is a respelling of the late 12th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sofler, inherited from Latin sufflō (“to blow on; to inflate”),[4][2][1][5] formed with sub- (“under”) and flō (“to blow; to breathe out”).[4][6][3] The simple verb was replaced in imperial times by flātō.[2] Rey compares it with expressive words such as Old High German blāen (“to swell”) and Old English blāwan (“to blow”), the source of English blow.[2][7]

Cognate with Italian soffiare, Old Occitan soflar, Spanish sollar (beside the commoner soplar) and Portuguese soprar.[8][7][9] Most Gallo-Romance dialects south of the Loire use instead a verb of imitative origin related to buffet.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) has sufler “to send out air through the mouth or nose”.[4]

Semantic evolution

By about 1160 it meant “to breathe hard, pant” (Eneas),[4] and by about 1155 it was used of the wind.[3] In Jean de Meun's Rose (1269–1278) it is used of working the bellows of an organ.[4] Figuratively it was said of the spirit of God (about 1120), as in the biblical l'Esprit souffle où il veut (1718).[2]

The breath was linked to speech: ne sofler mot “to keep silent” (about 1130) became ne pas souffler mot (1835).[2][4] From it came “to say in a low voice” in souffler en l'oreille (1538), “to prompt” in souffler sa leçon à quelqu'un (1549) and, in the theatre, souffler un acteur (1622), then “to suggest” (1662).[2] Molière uses it for “to open one's mouth to protest” (1668), La Bruyère for “to take a short rest” (1694).[4]

Souffler la châtaigne à quelqu'un “to snatch something from someone” is recorded in 1560 and souffler quelque chose à quelqu'un in 1655 (Molière).[4] Glassmakers' souffler le verre dates from 1723, and the familiar sense “to take someone's breath away, to stun” from 1940.[4] Among the derivatives, soufflet “bellows” is from the 12th century, and its sense “slap” from 1459.[8]

Timeline

  • 1121–1134 – Sufler in Philippe de Thaon.[4]
  • c. 1130 – Ne sofler mot “to say nothing”.[2]
  • c. 1160 – “To pant”, in the Roman d'Eneas.[4]
  • 1269–1278 – Of working an organ's bellows (Roman de la Rose).[4]
  • 1538 – Souffler en l'oreille.[2]
  • 1622 – Souffler un acteur “to prompt”.[2]
  • 1668 – “To protest”, in Molière's George Dandin.[4]
  • 1694 – “To rest”, in La Bruyère.[4]
  • 1723 – Souffler le verre.[4]
  • 1835 – Ne pas souffler mot recorded by the Académie.[4]
  • 1940 – “To stun, astonish”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To blow, to send out air through the mouth or nose: souffler sur sa soupe, souffler sur le feu (also figuratively, to stir up trouble).[10][1]
  2. (intransitive) To breathe hard, pant: souffler comme un bœuf, comme un phoque.[3][4]
  3. (intransitive, figurative) To catch one's breath, to rest.[1][4]
  4. (intransitive) Of the wind, to blow.[10][4]
  5. (transitive) To blow out (a flame); to blow (glass).[1][4]
  6. (transitive) To whisper; to prompt (an actor, a pupil); ne pas souffler mot, not to say a word.[1][2]
  7. (transitive) To suggest, to put an idea into someone's head.[2]
  8. (transitive, familiar) To take (something) from someone: souffler quelque chose à quelqu'un.[4]
  9. (transitive, familiar) To astonish, to take someone's breath away.[4]

Word family

  • soufflé
  • soufflement
  • soufflerie
  • soufflet
  • souffleur
  • boursouflé
  • essouffler
  • souffle
  • insuffler

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d 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 p q r s t u v w 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, 407a
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert