suer

Forms

suer^[1] Old French suder (about 980); Walloon suwer (about 1380).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French suer, earlier suder (about 980), inherited from Latin sūdō (“to sweat”).^[3][2][4][1] The Latin verb also meant, by figure, “to toil, wear oneself out” and later “to exude”.^[2] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sweyd-, seen also in the Germanic *swaitjan (“to sweat”) and in Old English swāt “sweat”, the source of the English word sweat.^[2][1]

Cognate with Italian sudare, Occitan suzar, Spanish sudar and Portuguese suar.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as suder in the Passion du Christ about 980, with the concrete Latin sense of giving off sweat through the skin; the form suer appears in the early 12th century in the Voyage of Saint Brendan.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Today the verb is felt as familiar and is often replaced by transpirer.^[2] Old phrases include suer d'ahan (from about 1310) “to sweat with toil”, now out of use, and faire suer la vérole, from which suer meant “to be treated for the pox” from the late 16th to the late 18th century;^[2][3] suer à grosses gouttes (1648) is still said.^[2][3] As early as about 1155 it meant “to be in anguish”, now in suer d'angoisse.^[2]

In Middle French it came to mean “to give off moisture” (about 1380), and in cooking faire suer something is to make it release its water.^[2] The figurative Latin sense “to toil” returns in the 16th century (1538), with suer sang et eau (1585 in the DHLF, 1588 in the TLFi) “to make great efforts”.^[2][3] Since work goes with effort and boredom, faire suer quelqu'un meant “to bore or annoy” from 1678, and se faire suer “to be bored” in the 20th century.^[2][8]

Faire suer le bonhomme (1615) was said of soldiers squeezing money out of peasants, and faire suer le burnous (1911) of colonists in the Maghreb who exploited local labour.^[2][8] In the late 19th century came suer un cheval (1872), to gallop a horse until it sweats, and the slang en suer une (1888) “to dance”.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Suder in the Passion du Christ.^[3][2]
• Early 12th century – Suer in the Voyage of Saint Brendan.^[3][2]
• c. 1155 – Wace's Brut uses it of sweating from fever.^[3]
• c. 1283 – Suer la peur is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1310 – Suer de hahan is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1380 – Walloon suwer “to give off moisture”.^[2]
• 1538 – It means “to toil, take great pains”.^[8][2]
• 1588 – Suer sang et eau is recorded.^[3][8]
• 1615 – Faire suer le bonhomme is recorded.^[2]
• 1648 – Guez de Balzac uses suer à grosses gouttes.^[3][9]
• 1678 – Faire suer quelqu'un “to annoy” is recorded.^[8][2]
• 1783 – Buffon uses suer l'acier in metalworking.^[3]
• 1872 – Suer un cheval is recorded in a sporting dictionary.^[3][2]
• 1888 – En suer une “to have a dance” is recorded.^[8][2]
• 1911 – Faire suer le burnous is recorded.^[8][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sweat, perspire: suer à grosses gouttes, suer de peur.^[8][3]
2. (intransitive) By extension, to toil, take great pains.^[8]
3. (familiar) Faire suer quelqu'un: to bore or annoy someone;^[8][2] se faire suer, to be bored.^[8][2]
4. (technical) To give off moisture or be covered with it: Les murs de la cave suent en été.;^[8] (cooking) faire suer vegetables or meat, to cook them gently so that they release their juices.^[8]
5. (transitive) To exude through the pores;^[8] suer sang et eau, to make great efforts.^[8]
6. (transitive, figurative) To give off, reek of: Cette maison sue la tristesse.^[8]
7. (familiar, dated) En suer une: to have a dance.^[8][2]

Word family

• suée
• suette
• ressuer
• suint
• suant

Related words

• sueur
• Latin sūdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse