suspendre

Forms

suspendre^[1] Old French sospendre, soupendre and souspendre, used until the 17th century beside the Latin form, which became the usual one from the 15th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin suspendō (“to hang up, hold in the air, keep in suspense”),^[5][2][3] formed from sus-, a variant of sub (“under”), and pendō (“to let hang”).^[2][3] In Christian Latin the verb also meant “to keep apart, deprive, forbid”, of excommunication, and so “to deprive of an office or benefice”, a sense kept in the administrative Latin of the Middle Ages.^[5][2]

From the 12th to the 16th century the verb often had a French shape (see Forms), under the influence of sous; the Latin form prevailed only from the 15th century, when the word was borrowed again from classical or administrative Latin.^[3][2][1] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert therefore date the verb to about 1460.^[6][7][8]

Compare Italian sospendere, Catalan sospendre, Spanish suspender and Occitan suspendre.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century) it means “to hang something up, to hold it above the ground by fixing it at the top”.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

From about 1175 it also meant “to suspend someone from their functions”,^[5][2] and in the 14th century “to interrupt” a process, first a medical treatment (1314, Henri de Mondeville).^[5][2] The idea of a temporary halt grew in law and in general use: “to defer” (1478, suspendre un arrêt), “to hold back from judging” (1560, Calvin, suspendre son jugement, 1636), suspendre ses paiements (1759) and the stopping of a publication (1754, of the Encyclopédie).^[5][2] In sport it came to mean barring a licensed player from official events (1886).^[2]

The spatial sense had classical metaphors, such as holding a threat over someone like the sword of Damocles (1711, Crébillon).^[5][2] It gave technical uses: carriages hung to soften jolts (1630), jardins suspendus (1658) and ponts suspendus (1805).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – The Oxford Psalter uses it for hanging something up.^[5][2][3]
• c. 1175 – It means “to suspend someone from office”.^[5]
• 1314 – Souspendre “to interrupt” a treatment, in Henri de Mondeville.^[5][2]
• c. 1460 – The Latin-shaped suspendre becomes usual.^[6][7][2]
• 1478 – Suspendre un arrêt “to defer a ruling”.^[5][2]
• 1636 – Suspendre son jugement is recorded.^[2]
• 1658 – Jardins suspendus in Colletet.^[5]
• 1759 – Suspendre un payement in Barbier.^[5][2]
• 1805 – Ponts suspendus in Cottin.^[5]
• 1886 – Used in sport of barring a player.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To interrupt an action for a time: suspendre la séance.^[8][5]
2. To stop the activity or effects of something: suspendre un journal; to remove someone from a post for a time: suspendre un fonctionnaire.^[8][5]
3. To postpone, put off: suspendre ses paiements;^[8][5][2] suspendre son jugement, to wait before judging.^[8][5][2]
4. To hang something so that it hangs freely: suspendre une lampe au plafond.^[8][5][1]
5. (obsolete) To place something high up.^[8]
6. se suspendre: to hang from something, to cling to it.^[8][5]
7. être suspendu aux lèvres de quelqu'un: to listen to someone eagerly.^[8]

Related words

• pendre
• suspens
• suspension
• Latin suspendō

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 q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette