soupir

Forms

soupir m (plural soupirs)^[1] Old French sospir, souspir and suspir; the present form appears in the 13th century.^[2][3] The spelling souspir was still recorded in the Trévoux dictionary in 1740.^[3]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French soupirer (“to sigh”).^[4][3][5][6] Like the verb, it is a remade form: it replaced Old French sospir (about 1130) and suspir (about 1155), the verb having taken its ⟨sou-⟩ from other words beginning so.^[2] The verb goes back to Latin suspīrō (“to breathe deeply, to sigh”), formed from sub- and spīrō (“to breathe”).^[2] Littré instead derived the noun straight from Latin suspīrium (“a sigh”), and Wiktionary mentions this as a possibility.^[7][1]

Cognate with Old Occitan sospir, Catalan suspir, Spanish suspiro and Italian sospiro.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest record, in the Lapidaire of Marbode in the first quarter of the 12th century, uses sospir of a hiccup or belch; about 1150 Wace uses it for the deep breath let out under the stress of grief or emotion.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th century the sigh was the sign of love and its sufferings: in the Eneas (about 1160) Dido's sighs fail to move Aeneas.^[4][2] The galant vocabulary later spoke of being l'objet des soupirs of someone, the person he loves (1762).^[2][5] The last breath of a dying man is dernier soupir (1538), whence rendre le dernier soupir “to die” (1611 or 1671) and recueillir le dernier soupir “to be present at someone's death” (1690).^[2][4][5]

By likeness of sound it also meant a belch, jokingly soupir d'Allemand (1640), and in 1867 a fart.^[2][4] From 1640 it named the poetic expression of regret and melancholy, and the Romantics used it for a plaintive sound or song (Chateaubriand's sighs of the bells, 1803, Lamartine's sigh of the sea, 1830).^[2][4]

In music soupir is a rest the length of a quarter note (1546 in a translation from Italian), and then the sign for it;^[2][4][9] Cotgrave recorded souspir and demy-souspir in 1611.^[2][4][9]

Timeline

• 1100–1125 – Sospir “hiccup, belch” in the Lapidaire of Marbode.^[4]
• c. 1150 – Wace uses it for a sigh of grief.^[4]
• c. 1160 – The Eneas uses it for the sighs of love.^[4]
• 13th century – The form soupir replaces sospir.^[2][3]
• 1538 – Le dernier soupir is recorded by Robert Estienne.^[5][2]
• 1546 – First musical use, for a rest.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records souspir and demy-souspir in music.^[4][9]
• 1640 – Soupir d'Allemand “belch”, and Corneille's use for regret.^[4]
• 1671 – Pomey records rendre le dernier soupir.^[4][9]
• 1823 – Lamartine uses it for a lyrical lament.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sigh, a deep breath in or out that shows an emotion: pousser un soupir.^[10][4]
2. Le dernier soupir: the last breath of a dying person;^[10][4] rendre le dernier soupir, to die.^[10][4]
3. (dated, literary) A lament of love, or a poetic expression of melancholy.^[10][4]
4. (literary) A faint, plaintive sound, as of the wind or the sea.^[4][7]
5. (music) A rest lasting as long as a quarter note, and the sign for it.^[1][4]

Related words

• soupirer
• soupirant
• Latin suspīrium

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert