soulier

Forms

soulier m (plural souliers)^[1] Old French soller, solder and soler; the form with ⟨-ier⟩ is first found in the early 13th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French soler, inherited from Late Latin subtelāris (understood with calceus (“shoe”)), recorded in the 7th century in Isidore of Seville, remade with a change of suffix as in sanglier.^[3][4][5] The Late Latin adjective is formed from subtel (“hollow under the sole of the foot”); it probably named a shoe that left the top of the foot uncovered.^[3][4] Rey starts instead from a popular Latin word for “shoe”, an altered form of Medieval Latin subtalāris (“reaching the ankle”).^[2] The Late Latin noun is formed from sub- (“under”) and tālus (“ankle, heel”), the source of talon.^[2][6][7]

The word is only Gallo-Romance; the form without the new suffix survives in the Walloon, Picard, Norman and Lorraine dialects and in Franco-Provençal.^[4][3] Littré rejects Diez's derivation from Latin solum (“ground, base”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first finds soler in the Roman d'Eneas (about 1160), for a shoe covering the whole foot or part of it;^[3] Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF find soller already in the late 11th century, the GLLF in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The shape of the shoe changed over the centuries;^[2] souliers de bois “clogs” (about 1150) and souliers à l'apostolique “sandals” (about 1560) went out of use, while souliers plats (1668) survives.^[2] Today chaussure is the usual word, and in France soulier is kept mostly for heavy shoes and figurative phrases.^[2][9] In Canada it remains the ordinary word for a shoe.^[9][1]

From the 16th century it entered many figurative phrases, most now gone: c'est là que le soulier me blesse “that is what bothers me” (1608) gave way to c'est là que le bât blesse.^[2] Être mal dans ses petits souliers (1808) and être dans ses petits souliers (1834) meant to be ill at ease.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Soler appears in the Roman d'Eneas.^[3]
• early 13th century – A manuscript of Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier de la charrette has the form soulier.^[3]
• c. 1560 – Souliers à l'apostolique “sandals” is recorded.^[2]
• 1608 – C'est là que le soulier me blesse is recorded.^[2]
• 1668 – Souliers plats is recorded.^[2]
• 1808 – D'Hautel records être mal dans ses petits souliers.^[3][7]
• 1834 – Balzac writes être dans ses petits souliers.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shoe with a stiff sole that does not rise much above the ankle.^[9][3]
2. (Canada) Any shoe; elsewhere this general sense is dated.^[9][1]
3. Être dans ses petits souliers: to feel awkward, ill at ease.^[3][9]

Related words

• talon
• Late Latin subtel

Usage notes

Littré notes that the final ⟨r⟩ is never sounded in liaison, while the plural ⟨s⟩ is.^[8]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 363a
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert