sourdre

Forms

sourdre^[1] Old French surdre (1080) and sordre (about 1155); sourdre from the early 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French surdre, inherited from Latin surgō (“to raise, rise, emerge”).^{[5][2][6][1][7]} The Latin verb is formed from sub-, marking movement from below upwards, and regō (“to direct in a straight line”),^[5][2] which Rey, like the Petit Robert, connects with Latin rēx (“king”) and rēgula (“rule”) and an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *reg-.^[2][4] The learned surgir is a doublet, taken from the same Latin verb.^[1][2][8]

Cognate with Italian sorgere and Old Occitan sorzer.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland, meaning “to appear, come up”, of people: Quant de paiens li surdent les antgardes (“when the vanguards of the pagans come up against him”).^[5][2][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb meant “to appear”, of people, and more generally “to rise, rise up”, with uses that have died out: of the wind (about 1155), of a rumour (about 1210), of a bird taking flight (1354), and the phrase sourdre le cul “to hurry” (about 1380).^[2] About 1138 Gaimar uses it of water springing from the ground, the sense that survives, behind source;^[5][2][3] by about 1175 it was used also of tears and blood.^[2][3] In the 12th century it also meant “to show itself gradually”, still used in the 17th–19th centuries of ideas and feelings.^[2][5]

From the 15th century it was said of plants coming up from the ground, of light and later of sounds,^[5][2] while since 1560 sourdre de meant “to result from”.^[5] Much of its old range passed to the doublet surgir, and the verb is now literary, used only in the infinitive and the third persons of a few tenses.^[2][6] In Acadia it is still used, with its full conjugation, for “to turn up suddenly”, and Quebec French has ressoudre “to spring up, turn up”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1100 – Surdre appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1138 – Gaimar uses it of springing water.^[3][5]
• c. 1170 – The derivative source is recorded.^[6]
• Early 13th century – The form sourdre appears.^[2][3]
• c. 1470 – Chastellain uses it of plants and of light.^[5]
• 1560 – Calvin uses sourdre de “to come from”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary) Of water, to well or rise out of the ground: l'eau sourd au pied du rocher.^[4][10][11]
2. (figurative, literary) To arise, emerge, come into being.^[4][11][5]
3. Sourdre de: to result from, come from.^[5][8]

Word family

• source
• surgeon
• sourcier

Related words

• surgir
• résurgence
• insurger
• ressource
• Latin surgō

Usage notes

The verb is defective: it is used only in the infinitive and the third persons, chiefly of the present and imperfect (il sourd, ils sourdaient).^[2][4]

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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 458a
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)