souffrance

Forms

souffrance f (plural souffrances)^[1] Old French sofrance (about 1175), soffrance (about 1200); souffrance from the 13th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French souffrir + -ance.^[4][5][6] The TLFi, the Grand Robert and Rey compare, or allow for the influence of, Late Latin sufferentia (“endurance; resignation; patient waiting”), from sufferō (“to bear, endure”);^[4][7][3] the GLLF gives the Latin word as the source, with a French derivation as the other possibility, and Wiktionary calls it inherited from the Latin.^[2][1] The base verb souffrir goes back to Vulgar Latin *sufferiō, for the classical verb, from ferō (“to carry, bear”).^[5][8]

Littré lists Walloon sofrants, Old Occitan sufrensa and Italian sofferenza.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Marie de France's Lais (about 1170) it means a delay, a respite; about 1175 Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence has metre en souffrance “to put off”.^[4] Rey notes an early sense of “truce”, as in souffrance de guerre (about 1240).^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages souffrance often meant permission or delay, as se souffrir meant “to abstain, wait”, following the old sense of souffrir, “to bear”, kept until the 16th century.^[5] The idea of tolerating appears in par sofrance “with the permission of” (about 1210) and in law, where it is the tolerance of something one could prevent (1694); the jour de souffrance, a window allowed on a neighbour's property, dates from 1792.^[4][9]

The sense of delay lives on only in en souffrance “pending”, said of accounts (1606), of affairs (1770), and of goods or parcels not collected (1930).^[4][3] Meanwhile, from about 1175, the word named physical or mental pain, the sense that is now the ordinary one, as well as endurance and patience.^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Marie de France uses it for a delay or respite.^[4][3]
• c. 1175 – First used for physical or mental pain.^[4]
• c. 1210 – Par sofrance “with the permission of”.^[4]
• 1606 – Nicot records en souffrance of an account item held over.^[4]
• 1694 – The Académie records the legal sense of tolerance.^[4]
• 1792 – Jour de souffrance in Beaumarchais's letters.^[4]
• 1930 – Marchandises en souffrance, goods not collected.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. suffering; physical or mental pain, or a bout of it: les souffrances d'un blessé.^[6][4][1]
2. En souffrance: pending, held up; of goods or mail, not collected by the addressee: un colis en souffrance.^[6][4]
3. (dated) endurance, patience; tolerance.^[6][4]
4. (law) The tolerance of something that could be prevented, jour de souffrance: a window or opening allowed on another's property.^[4][9]

Related words

• souffrir
• souffrant
• souffre-douleur
• Latin sufferō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 401b
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette