sirène French · revision 15771

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 11th century, Rashi's glosses, sereine|origins=grc Σειρήν}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /si.ʁɛn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sirène''' ''f'' (plural sirènes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''sereine'' (late 11th century), ''serena'' (1121–1134), ''seraine'' (13th century), ''serayne'' (late 16th), ''syrene'' (1377), ''serene'' (about 1550); settled only in the 18th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|sīrēna]], a remaking of classical [[la|Sīrēn]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|11, 655a) from [[grc|Σειρήν|tr=Seirḗn]], of obscure origin.^(DHLF 1992) The popular Old French form “sereine”, perhaps crossed with the adjective [[serein]], was later reshaped after the Latin.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) It is a doublet of [[serin]].^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré mentions a Phoenician word for “song”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The zoological sense comes from the New Latin genus name “Siren” given by Linnaeus.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Rashi's glosses (late 11th century) have ''sereine'', and Philippe de Thaon's ''Bestiaire'' (1121–1134) describes the fabulous creature of Greek myth.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Odyssey'' the Sirens were sea goddesses with the bodies of birds and the heads of women, who lured sailors to their death with their song; medieval and northern legend gave them a fish's tail, and this marine image has largely replaced the Greek one: Brunetto Latini already describes them as women down to the thighs and fish below.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi) Villon praises a queen ''qui chantoit à voix de seraine''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) Figuratively a ''sirène'' is a dangerously seductive woman (1604), and ''écouter le chant des sirènes'' is to let oneself be tempted.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ In 1819 Cagniard de La Tour gave the name to an acoustic device for measuring the pitch of sounds, and also from 1888 (Maupassant) it named the powerful hooter of ships and later the alarm siren.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992) In zoology it named a sea mammal (1671) and an American eel-like amphibian (1805).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 11th century – ''Sereine'' (Rashi).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1121–1134 – The creature of Greek myth (Philippe de Thaon).^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – ''Syrene'' (Oresme).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1604 – A seductive woman (Montchrestien).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1727 – ''Voix de sirène''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1819 – An acoustic device (Cagniard de La Tour).^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1888 – A ship's hooter (Maupassant).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(mythology)'' A [[m|en|siren]] or [[m|en|mermaid]], a creature half woman and half bird or fish, luring sailors with her song.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A dangerously seductive woman^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary); ''le chant des sirènes'', a tempting call.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An alarm or signal [[m|en|hooter]], a siren: ''sirène d'alarme''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(zoology)'' A siren, an eel-like American [[m|en|salamander]].^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[serin]]

+ * [[en|siren]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}