soustraire

Forms

soustraire^[1] Old French sustraire, sostraire, soztraire, sotraire; later substraire (late 15th century) and soubtraire (1538 to the early 17th century).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sustraire, borrowed from Latin subtrahō (“to draw from beneath, take away”),^[1][2][5] formed from sub- (“under”) and trahō (“to pull, drag”), the verb that gave traire.^[3][6] The first syllable was remade after words such as souscrire and after sous,^[2][7][3] and the verb is conjugated like that verb.^[1][8] Nicot (1606) and Cotgrave (1611) still have the headword ⟨soubtraire⟩, and ⟨soustraire⟩ is the headword from Pomey (1671).^[2]

Littré notes that the pronunciation with /s/ before /t/ is irregular, and that in the 16th century the word was written ⟨soubstraire⟩ but said without the ⟨b⟩.^[9] Cognate with Old Occitan sostraire and Italian sottrarre.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon uses sustraire in his Comput (1119) in the sense “to take away, deduct”.^[2][6] In his Bestiaire (1121–1134) he writes Adam fut sustrait De sun saint paraïs (“Adam was taken away from his holy paradise”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb meant taking something from someone so as to deprive them of it, often by trickery or fraud: Benoît de Sainte-Maure has soztraire in this sense about 1165.^[3][2] From it came “to deprive of” (1226), now out of use, and “to make disappear by theft”, which is still alive.^[3] In the Middle Ages it could also simply mean “to withdraw”.^[7]

The reflexive verb first meant “to withdraw”, said of the sun (1160–1170); since the early 13th century it has meant “to free oneself from”: Villehardouin writes of people who s'estoient sotrait a l'obedience de Rome (“had withdrawn from obedience to Rome”).^[3][2] Soustraire qqn de “to shield someone from a danger” (early 13th century) became soustraire qqn à about 1580.^[3]

The arithmetical sense dates from the 13th century,^[7][6] and Nicolas Chuquet's arithmetic of 1484 has the form soustraire.^[2] The noun soustraction (1484, earlier subtraction from the 12th century) follows the verb's senses.^[7]

Timeline

• 1119 – Sustraire “to take away” appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]
• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire uses it for depriving someone of something.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure has soztraire “to take away by trickery”.^[2]
• c. 1208 – Villehardouin uses the reflexive verb for “to free oneself from”.^[2]
• 13th century – The arithmetical sense is recorded.^[7][6]
• 1484 – Nicolas Chuquet writes soustraire in his Triparty en la science des nombres.^[2]
• 1538 – The spelling soubtraire is recorded; it lasts until the early 17th century.^[3]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses soustraire à “to shield from”.^[6]
• 1671 – Pomey's dictionary has the headword soustraire.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take something away from someone, usually by trickery or fraud; to steal: soustraire des lettres d'un tiroir.^[10][2][9]
2. Soustraire qqn ou qqch. à: to shield someone or something from what threatens it.^[10][9]
3. (arithmetic) To subtract one number from another.^[9][1]
4. (reflexive) Se soustraire à: to evade, escape from or free oneself of a duty or authority: se soustraire à une corvée.^[10][1]

Related words

• soustraction
• traire
• sous
• Latin subtrahō
• English subtract

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 367b
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert