suivre French · revision 15966

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion of Clermont|origins=la sequor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɥivʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [sɥiv(r)]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [sɥir]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [swir]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''suivre'''^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|segre]] (about 980), [[m|fro|sivre]] (1080), ''siure'' (about 1175, from ''il siut''), ''suire'' (about 1280); ''suivre'' (1273) from a crossing of ''sivre'' and ''suire''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Old and Middle French also had ''siouvre'', ''sievre'', ''sieure'', ''siuwir'' and ''suivir''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|sivre]], earlier “segre”, [[inh|la-vul|*sequō|alt=*sequere]], a variant of the classical deponent [[la|sequor|alt=sequī|t=to follow]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|11, 488b) Bloch and Wartburg explain “suivre” from the 3rd person “il suit”, earlier “siut” by metathesis.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Latin verb belongs to an Indo-European root “*sekʷ-” “to follow”, found in Old Irish “sechur” “I follow” and Lithuanian “sekù”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|seguire]], [[pro|segre]], [[ca|seguir]], [[es|seguir]] and [[pt|seguir]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(REW 1935)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Passion'' of Clermont (late 10th century) has the gerund ''seguan'', going behind someone who moves;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''Sis filz le siut'' “his son follows him” and ''Il me sivrat ad Ais'' “he will follow me to Aix”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 12th century it meant to go away with someone and share their fate (Marie de France's ''mar me siwistes'');^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) at the end of the 14th century it meant to follow so as to watch (Eustache Deschamps), and ''suivre de l'œil'' dates from 1640.^(TLFi) From about 1119 it also meant to act after someone's example, and soon to obey an impulse, to conform to orders and rules (''suivre la mode'', Molière, 1665).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The sense “to come after in order or time” is from the 16th century (''le clair jour suyt la tenebreuse nuict'', 1557), and Racine's ''suivre qqn au tombeau'' (1664) is to die soon after someone.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Suivre son chemin'' and ''suivre les traces de qqn'' go back to the 12th and 13th centuries.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The intellectual senses, to follow a speaker's argument (Furetière, 1694), to keep up with a course or a case (''suivre un malade'', 1784), followed, ''faire suivre'' is the postal formula “please forward” (1883).^(TLFi)^(BHVF) The compound ''poursuivre'' took over the old sense “to seek to reach”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Seguan'' in the Clermont ''Passion''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Siut'', ''sivrat'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1119 – “To follow an example”, in Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * 1273 – The form ''suivre''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1557 – Of succession in time.^(TLFi)

+ * 1640 – ''Suivre de l'œil''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1665 – ''Suivre la mode'' in Molière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1694 – Following an argument, in Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1883 – ''Faire suivre'' on letters.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|follow]], go after: ''suivez-moi'', ''suivre qqn de près''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # To accompany, go with: ''suivre qqn en exil''.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+ # To come after (in order or time): ''les jours qui suivirent'', ''comme suit'': as follows, ''à suivre'': to be continued.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To go along (a road, a direction): ''suivre la rivière''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # To comply with, follow (advice, a rule, a fashion): ''suivre un régime''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # To follow, understand (a speaker, an argument): ''vous me suivez ?''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # To attend, take (a course); to keep up with (events): ''suivre un cours'', ''suivre l'actualité''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Faire suivre'': to forward (mail).^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ensuivre]]

+ * [[poursuivre]]

+ * [[suite]]

+ * [[suiveur]]

+ * [[suivi]]

+ * [[suivant]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[second]]

+ * [[secte]]

+ * [[conséquence]]

+ * [[la|sequor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}