soror

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɔ.rɔr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsɔː.ror]^[1]

Forms

soror f (genitive sorōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *swesōr- (“sister”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr (“sister”).^[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish siur (“sister”), Welsh chwaer (“sister”), Sanskrit स्वसृ (svásṛ, “sister”), Lithuanian sesuõ (“sister”) and English sister.^[2][3] Latin generalized the suffix ⟨-ōr-⟩ throughout the paradigm, and sobrīnus “cousin” continues *swesr-īno-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Naevius.^[2][4] Plautus has a man saying a girl is as safe with him as if she were his sister.^[3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a sister, and in poetry the name for groups of mythological sisters, such as the Fates, the Muses (doctae sorōrēs, novem sorōrēs) and the Furies.^[3][5] By transfer it was used of something closely related or similar to another, such as the other hand.^[3] Isidore explains it as one born “of the same seed”.^[6]

In Christian Latin it was a sister in Christ, a woman vowed to chastity, and especially the wife of a man who had become a priest.^[7] Medieval Latin sorōritās “sisterhood” gave English sorority.^[8] It survives in French sœur and Romanian soră, and Italian sorella is from its diminutive.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has “as if she were my sister”.^[3][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of the threads of the three Sisters, the Fates.^[3][4]
• 1530s – English sorority is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sister.^[3]
2. (plural) A group of mythological sisters (the Fates, the Muses).^[3][5]
3. Something closely related or similar.^[3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A sister in Christ; a woman vowed to chastity.^[7]

Word family

• sorōrcula
• sorōricīda
• sorōriō
• sorōrius
• sorōritās

Related words

• sobrīnus
• English sorority
• English sister

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com