souvenir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /su.v(ə).niʁ/^[1]

Forms

souvenir^[1] Old French suvenir (1080), sovenir (about 1130), souvenir from the early 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sovenir, inherited from Latin subveniō (“to come up; to come to mind”), from sub (“under”) and veniō (“to come”).^{[5][2][3][6][1]} Latin “subvenīre” meant “to come up unexpectedly” and “to come to help”; in imperial Latin it also meant “to occur to the mind”, used impersonally, just as succurrō did.^[5][7][2] Its learned doublet is subvenir.^[1][2]

Littré attributes the sense “come to memory” to the Romance languages.^[8] Cognate with Old Occitan sovenir and Italian sovvenire.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1100 the Chanson de Roland uses it impersonally: De grant dulur li poüst suvenir “he might well remember great sorrow”.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Old French used it impersonally (il me souvient de), a construction now literary; it also meant “to help” (1270–75), a sense taken over by the borrowing subvenir.^[5][2] Personal uses appear in Brunetto Latini (about 1265), and the reflexive se souvenir, modelled on se rappeler, from the 14th century; it became usual only in the 16th, when it replaced Old French se membrer, se remembrer and others.^[5][7][2]

Souvienne vous de Guinegate ! is a threat in Commynes (about 1500), and je m'en souviendrai ! marks resentment from 1798.^[5][2] The infinitive used as a noun, le souvenir, dates from the 13th century, souvenirs as memoirs from about 1720, en souvenir de from 1823, and a keepsake from 1836.^[2][3] English borrowed souvenir, “memory”, in 1775 and “memento” by 1782.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Impersonal suvenir in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1130–1140 – Remembering as a deliberate act, in Wace.^[5]
• 13th century – Le souvenir, the noun.^[3][2]
• c. 1265 – Personal use in Brunetto Latini.^[5]
• 14th century – Se souvenir.^[2][7]
• c. 1720 – Souvenirs, memoirs.^[2]
• 1775 – English borrows souvenir.^[9]
• 1836 – Souvenir, a keepsake.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Se souvenir de: to remember, recall: je me souviens de lui.^[10][1]
2. Se souvenir que: to remember that.^[1][10]
3. To bear in mind; to remember with gratitude or with resentment: je m'en souviendrai !^[2]
4. (literary, impersonal) Il me souvient de: I remember.^[10][11]

Noun

1. A memory, something remembered: un souvenir agréable.^[11][1]
2. Memory, remembrance: rappelez-moi à son bon souvenir.^[10][11]
3. A keepsake; a souvenir sold to tourists.^[11][1]
4. Souvenirs: memoirs.^[2]

Word family

• souvenance
• ressouvenir

Related words

• venir
• subvenir
• English souvenir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 376a
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)