somme French · revision 16774

+ French has three nouns spelled ''somme'': a sum (feminine), a burden, now only in ''bête de somme'' (feminine), and a nap (masculine).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ {{homograph|1|sum}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1119, Philippe de Thaon (sume)|origins=la summus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɔm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''somme''' ''f'' (plural sommes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The sum is [[bor|la|summa|t=the highest place; total, amount; the whole]],^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|12, 427b) short for a Latin phrase meaning “the top line”, because the Romans added from the bottom up.^(DHLF 1992) It is the noun use of the feminine of [[m|la|summus|t=highest]], the superlative of [[m|la|super|t=above]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Rey treats the Old French forms [[m|fro|sume]] (about 1155) and [[m|fro|some]] as inherited and the spelling with ⟨mm⟩ (13th century) as a remodelling after Latin, Bloch and Wartburg think its senses point to borrowing in all the Romance languages.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The phrase for “in short” is a calque of [[m|la|in summā|t=in all]].^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Philippe de Thaon's ''Comput'' (1119) has ''ceo est la sume'', “that is the essence”.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French ''ce est la some'' meant “this is the gist” and “in truth” (about 1175).^(DHLF 1992) A ''somme'' was a compendium of all events (about 1245), then a work summing up a science (Boutillier's ''Somme rural'', 1479), as Thomas Aquinas's ''Summa Theologiae''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The sense “amount of money” is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1175), and the arithmetical total in the ''Vie de saint Auban'' (about 1245).^(TLFi) ''En somme'' (Oresme, 1370) and ''somme toute'' (1464, ''Pathelin''), an old legal phrase, mean “in short, all in all”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1119 – ''Sume'' “the essence”, Philippe de Thaon.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1175 – An amount of money, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1245 – A total of quantities added.^(TLFi)

+ * 1370 – ''En somme'', Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1464 – ''Somme toute'', ''Farce de Maître Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1479 – A compendium, Boutillier's ''Somme rural''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sum]], the result of an addition; a [[m|en|total]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An amount of money.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A whole, a quantity.^(TLFi)

+ # A treatise summing up a subject; a [[m|en|compendium]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''En somme'', ''somme toute'': in short, all in all.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ {{homograph|2|burden}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1140, Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (some)|origins=grc σάγμα}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɔm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''somme''' ''f''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The burden is [[inh|fro|some]], [[inh|la-lat|sauma|t=packsaddle]] (7th century, spelled [[m|la-lat|salma]] in Isidore and [[m|la-lat|soma]] in the Reichenau Glosses), a late variant of [[m|la-lat|sagma]], borrowed from [[grc|σάγμα|tr=ságma|t=packsaddle; load; heap]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|11, 61a) Compare [[it|soma|t=load]], [[pro|sauma]] and [[es|salma]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Pèlerinage de Charlemagne'' (about 1140) has ''some'' for the load a horse or mule can carry, Béroul (late 12th century) uses it for a beast of burden.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “load” was recorded by the Académie until 1878; the word also meant a packsaddle (about 1230), figuratively “toil, trouble” (until Ronsard), and a measure of salt or liquids (1195).^(DHLF 1992) The only living use is ''bête de somme'' “pack animal” (Hulsius, 1596), figuratively a person worked hard (Voltaire, 1756).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Littré notes that the old pronunciation ''sôme'' survived in the countryside, the word having been assimilated to ''somme'' “sum”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1140 – ''Some'' “load”, ''Pèlerinage de Charlemagne''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1195 – A measure.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1596 – ''Beste de somme'', Hulsius.^(TLFi)

+ * 1756 – ''Bête de somme'' of a person, Voltaire.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Bête de somme'': a [[m|en|beast of burden]], pack animal; figuratively, a drudge: ''travailler comme une bête de somme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(old)'' A load; a [[m|en|packsaddle]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|3|nap}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 12th century, Voyage de saint Brendan (sumnes)|origins=la somnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɔm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''somme''' ''m'' (plural sommes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The nap is [[inh|fro|somme]], [[inh|la|somnus|t=sleep]], remodelled after [[sommeil]];^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|12, 92b) the regular outcome was [[m|fro|som]] (early 13th century), rare in Old French but still common in dialects.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Compare [[it|sonno]], [[pro|som]] and [[es|sueño]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Voyage de saint Brendan'' (early 12th century) has ''li sumnes lur cureit sus'', “sleep came over them”: the act of sleeping.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Gautier de Coinci (about 1223) has ''ne fist c'un somme'', “slept in one stretch”.^(TLFi) Until the 17th century it simply meant “sleep”, as it still does in most Gallo-Romance dialects; the restriction to a fairly short sleep dates from that century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Piquer un somme'' is a familiar phrase for taking a nap.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 12th century – ''Sumnes'', ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1223 – ''Ne fist c'un somme'', Gautier de Coinci.^(TLFi)

+ * 17th century – Restricted to a short sleep.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|nap]], a doze: ''faire un somme, un petit somme'', ''piquer un somme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Dormir d'un somme'': to sleep right through.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sommet]]

+ * [[sommeil]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Somme'' is also the name of a river and a department of northern France.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}