surseoir

Forms

surseoir^[1] Old French surseair (c. 1090) and sourseoir; the modern form is a 14th-century remaking after seoir.^[2][3] Middle French also had susceir (1485), surséder (late 15th century) and sursoyer (16th century).^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French sur- + seoir, on the model of Latin supersedeō (“to sit or be placed on, to refrain from, to put off”), itself from sedeō (“to sit”) with super-.^[3][4][5][6] Wiktionary calls it a doublet of superséder, a direct borrowing of the Latin verb, found as superseder in the 16th century and as supercéder in 1611.^[1][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1130 in the laws of William the Conqueror, used absolutely in the sense “to abstain, to hold back”: Et qui le cri orrat et sursera, la sursise al rei amend (“and whoever hears the cry and holds back shall pay the king the fine for holding back”).^[3][7][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to put off, to suspend for a time” is found with sourseoir in 1255 according to Rey, in 1347 according to the TLFi;^[2][3] a letter of Louis XI uses it transitively in 1462.^[3] Froissart and Juvénal des Ursins use it in the 15th century, and Amyot in the 16th.^[7] It became a term of law and of literary style, and the construction surseoir à (1636, Monet) is now the only one in use; the Code civil of 1804 still has the transitive surseoir l'exécution des poursuites.^[3][2][8] Its participle gave sursis, now the suspension of a criminal sentence.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1090 – First recorded as surseair.^[2][6]
• c. 1130 – Sursera “will hold back” in the laws of William the Conqueror.^[3][7]
• 1255 – Sourseoir “to put off”.^[2]
• 1372 – The derivative surséance is recorded.^[3][6]
• 1462 – Louis XI uses it transitively.^[3]
• 1636 – Monet records surseoir à.^[3][5]
• 1804 – The Code civil uses it in a transitive construction.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (law, literary) Surseoir à: to defer or suspend for a time, to wait for a delay to run out before going on with: surseoir à statuer, Le tribunal a sursis à l'exécution du jugement.^[8][3][5]
2. (obsolete, transitive) To put off, postpone something.^[8][3]

Word family

• sursis
• surséance
• sursitaire

Related words

• seoir
• superséder
• Latin supersedeō

Usage notes

The verb is conjugated like je sursois, nous sursoyons, je sursis, with the future je surseoirai, which keeps the ⟨e⟩.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert