sous-titre

Forms

sous-titre m (plural sous-titres)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French sous- + titre.^[2][3][4][5] The film sense (1912) follows the English word subtitle, recorded from 1909.^[2][6] The noun titre itself is from Latin titulus (“inscription, title of honour”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Balzac's Les Employés (1837), meaning a secondary title of a book.^[2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

From the secondary title of a book or article, the word passed to the cinema: in 1912 it named a short explanatory text shown between the scenes of a silent film, after English subtitle.^[2][4][6] With sound films in a foreign language it came to mean the translation of the dialogue shown at the bottom of the picture, a use the GLLF dates to about 1935.^[4][6] The verb sous-titrer and the noun sous-titrage followed in 1923, while intertitre (1955) took over the text set between two images.^[6] Bloch and Wartburg date the word only from 1872.^[7]

Timeline

• 1837 – First recorded, in Balzac, for a secondary title.^[2][6]
• 1909 – The English word subtitle is recorded in the film sense.^[2]
• 1912 – Used for a caption in a silent film.^[2][4]
• 1923 – The derivatives sous-titrer and sous-titrage appear.^[6]
• c. 1935 – Applied to the translated dialogue of sound films.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A secondary title placed after or below the main title of a book, newspaper or article, a subtitle.^[8][2]
2. (cinema, chiefly plural) A translation of the dialogue of a film shown at the bottom of the screen, a subtitle or caption.^[8][1]
3. (history of cinema) A short explanatory text shown between the scenes of a silent film, now an intertitre.^[8][2]

Word family

• sous-titrer
• sous-titrage

Related words

• titre
• intertitre
• surtitre

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 360a
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert