secours French · revision 16988

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la curro}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sə.kuʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''secours''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|sucurs]] (about 1100), [[m|fro|socors]] (first third of the 12th century), [[m|fro|secors]] (about 1160) and ''secours'' (about 1190).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|socors]], [[inh|la-vul|succursum]], a noun made from the supine of [[la|succurrō|t=to run to help]],^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|12, 383a) itself formed with [[m|la|sub-]] and [[m|la|currō|t=to run]].^(Wiktionary) The GLLF sees it as formed on the old verb [[m|fro|secorre|t=to help]], after the Latin supine.^(GLLF 1989) That verb, later remade as [[secourir]], is the source of the family.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|soccorso]], [[pro|socors]], [[es|socorro]] and [[pt|socorro]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''sucurs'' “help, assistance in danger”: ''Nostre parent devum estre à sucurs'' (“we must help our kinsman”).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Crier socors'' “to cry for help” is in the ''Roman de Troie'' (about 1165), ''venir a secors'' in Wace (1160–1174) and ''venir au secours'' in Robert Estienne (1538).^(TLFi)^(BHVF) The cry ''au secours !'' is recorded in Robert Garnier's ''Hippolyte'' (1573).^(TLFi) About 1190 the word also meant the troops sent to relieve a place,^(TLFi) and early in the 13th century the help of divine grace.^(TLFi)

+

+ Later senses are “money or goods given to help” (Molière, ''L'Avare'', 1668) and “care given to the sick or injured” (Madame de Sévigné, 1679).^(TLFi) With ''de secours'' it qualifies what is kept for an emergency: the ''porte du secours'' of a citadel (1543), the ''poste de secours'' “first-aid post” (1890) and the ''roue de secours'' “spare wheel” (1935).^(TLFi) In 1765 the ''Encyclopédie'' records the ''secours'', the blows and tortures that the Jansenist ''convulsionnaires'' asked for as relief.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

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

+ * c. 1165 – ''Crier socors''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1190 – The form ''secours''; also relieving troops.^(TLFi)

+ * 1543 – ''Porte du secours''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1573 – ''Au secours !''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1668 – Money given in help, in Molière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1679 – Care of the sick, in Madame de Sévigné.^(TLFi)

+ * 1890 – ''Poste de secours''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1935 – ''Roue de secours'' recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|help|alt=Help]], [[m|en|assistance]] given to someone in danger or need: ''porter secours à quelqu'un'', ''appeler au secours'', ''au secours !'', help!^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Reinforcements, troops sent to relieve a place.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+ # Aid in money or goods.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Care given to the injured or sick, ''premiers secours'', [[m|en|first aid]], ''poste de secours'', first-aid post.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''De secours'': kept for an emergency, spare: ''roue de secours''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[secourir]]

+ * [[secourable]]

+ * [[succursale]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}