suif

Forms

suif m (uncountable)^[1] Old French sieu, siu, seu and sui; the spelling with a final ⟨f⟩ appears in the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sieu, inherited from Latin sēbum (“tallow, grease”).^[2][3][4][5] The older siu became sui by metathesis, and the final ⟨f⟩ was added in the 13th century by analogy with words that had forms with and without /f/, such as nois beside noif “snow”.^[2][3][6] Bloch and Wartburg compare the ⟨f⟩ of soif.^[4]

Cognate with Italian sego and Spanish sebo,^[4] and with the dialect forms Norman sieu and Walloon sew.^[7] The same Latin word was later borrowed as sébum.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as sieu about 1170 in the Quatre Livres des Rois, meaning the melted fat of certain animals.^[2][3] Littré quotes a 12th-century line of the same text: Mielz volt à Deu obeir que le seu del multun offrir “he would rather obey God than offer the fat of the ram”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the fat of herbivorous animals, especially when rendered; it was used above all for candles, and in the 19th century un suif could mean a tallow candle.^[2][3] In the classical period it was a medical word for earwax (1690), and in shipbuilding suif noir was a mixture spread on a ship's hull (1694), whence donner du suif to a vessel (1680).^[3] By analogy it named vegetable fats (1721), later suif végétal (1845), and a fossil wax, suif minéral (1836).^[3][2] Pejoratively it has meant human fat since before 1867.^[3][6]

In familiar French suif meant a reprimand from 1834, perhaps through the link between tallow and soap (compare passer un savon) or from the nautical use, where greasing a hull meant rubbing it.^[3][2] Since about 1935 it has meant a quarrel or a brawl, in chercher du suif à quelqu'un and il va y avoir du suif.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Sieu appears in the Quatre Livres des Rois.^[2]
• 1197 – The form siu is used by Hélinant in the Vers de la mort.^[2]
• 1260 – The form suif, with the analogical ⟨f⟩, is recorded.^[3]
• 1680 – Donner du suif is used of greasing a ship.^[3]
• 1690 – Used in medicine for earwax.^[3]
• 1721 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux applies it to a vegetable fat.^[2]
• 1723 – Suif en branche is recorded.^[3]
• 1832 – Hugo uses it for a tallow candle in Notre-Dame de Paris.^[2]
• 1834 – First record of the sense “reprimand”.^[2][3]
• c. 1935 – The sense “quarrel, brawl” appears.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Tallow, the fat of herbivorous animals, especially when rendered, formerly used for candles and soap: une chandelle de suif.^[2][9]
2. A vegetable fat resembling tallow: suif végétal, arbre à suif.^[9][3]
3. Suif minéral: a kind of fossil wax.^[9][3]
4. (pejorative) Human fat.^[9][2]
5. (dated) A tallow candle.^[2][6]
6. (familiar, dated) A quarrel or brawl: chercher du suif à quelqu'un “to pick a fight with someone”, il va y avoir du suif “there is going to be trouble”.^[9][3]

Word family

• suiffer
• suiffard
• suiffeux

Related words

• sébum
• Latin sēbum

Usage notes

Suif en branche is raw tallow taken from the carcass before it is melted, so called, Littré says, because it looks branched when pulled from the animal.^[7][3] Boule de suif, a fat, round person, is the title of a story by Maupassant.^[3][9]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 358b
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert