surgeon

Forms

surgeon m (plural surgeons)^[1] Old French sorjon, sourjon, sourgon, and the northern variant surdon (1285); Middle French sourgeon; the spelling surgeon dates from 1541.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French sourdre + -on, from the forms of the verb with /ʒ/, in particular its present participle sourjant.^[2][5][6] The verb is from Latin surgō (“to rise, spring up”).^[3][6] The modern spelling is a learned remodelling after the Latin verb, as pronounced with /y/ in the schools;^[2][5][3] Bloch and Wartburg find it hard to believe that school Latin could have had such an influence in this field.^[6] Littré instead took it as formed straight from the Latin verb, like courson and suçon.^[7]

The northern form surdon shows the outcome /d/ of Latin ⟨g⟩ in the dialects of the north.^[3] Compare Italian sorgente “spring”, also from the present participle of the Latin verb.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1200 sorjon meant a spring, a source of water, in Graindor de Douai's Chanson d'Antioche.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “spring, source” lasted until the 17th century,^[3] and the Académie marked it as old from 1694;^[2] a small jet of water coming out of the ground (sourjon d'eau, about 1390) survives in literary use.^[3][2] The botanical sense, a shoot growing from the base or roots of a tree, compares the new growth with water welling out of the ground.^[3] The TLFi finds it in Adam de la Halle at the end of the 13th century,^[2] whereas Rey, the GLLF and the Petit Robert date it to 1549.^[3][4][8]

Like sourdre, it was used figuratively in the classical language for an offspring or descendant of a family (1579).^[3][4] The verb surgeonner “to put out shoots” is recorded in the 16th century and again from 1872.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Sorjon “spring” in the Chanson d'Antioche.^[2]
• c. 1270 – The form sourjon.^[2][3]
• late 13th century – Sourgon “shoot of a tree” in Adam de la Halle.^[2]
• 1285 – The northern variant surdon.^[3]
• 1541 – Calvin uses the spelling surgeon.^[2][3]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records the sense “shoot from the base of a tree”.^[4][3]
• 1579 – Used for a descendant.^[3][4]
• 1694 – The Académie marks the sense “spring” as old.^[2]
• 1872 – Littré records the verb surgeonner.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A sucker, a shoot growing from the root collar or stump of a tree, which can be separated with part of the root and planted.^[8][2][7]
2. (dated or literary) A small jet of water springing from the ground, a rock or the surface of water.^[2][4]
3. (figurative) An offshoot, something that grows again out of something else.^[1][8]
4. (archaic) A descendant, scion of a family.^[7][1]

Word family

• surgeonner

Related words

• sourdre
• source
• surgir
• résurgence
• ressource

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert