super French · revision 17231

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1951, Queneau|origins=la super}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sy.pɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''super''' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective is the prefix [[super-]] used as an independent word.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) The prefix is from [[la|super|t=above, over]], the doublet of the inherited [[sur]].^(Wiktionary) The noun “super” (1956) is a clipping of [[supercarburant]] (1931), a compound of “super-” and [[carburant]].^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Queneau has it as an adjective in ''Le Dimanche de la vie'' (1951): ''c'était super et chérot''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun ''super'', short for ''supercarburant'' (high-octane petrol), is recorded in ''L'Aurore'' in 1956.^(BHVF)^(TLFi) As an interjection marking delight, ''super!'', it is found in 1978, and as an intensifying adverb (''super sympa'', ''super content'') in the 1980s press.^(TLFi) ''Super'' has also been used, from 1973, for a supermarket.^(BHVF) Though the adjective is usually invariable, ''des soirées supers'' is also found.^(Le Robert)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1931 – ''Super-Carburant''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1951 – The adjective, Queneau.^(TLFi)

+ * 1956 – ''Le super'' “high-octane petrol”.^(BHVF)

+ * 1973 – “Supermarket”.^(BHVF)

+ * 1978 – The interjection ''super!''^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar)'' [[m|en|great]], terrific: ''un film super'', ''un type super''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Very, really: ''super sympa'', ''super content''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Great! [[m|en|fantastic]]!^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # High-octane petrol: ''rouler au super''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[super-]]

+ * [[sur]]

+ * [[supercarburant]]

+ * [[supermarché]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate verb ''super'' “to suck up, to gulp” survives in Normandy and in nautical use (a leak ''supe'' when it is stopped up); it goes back to Anglo-Norman ''supeir'' (about 1130), from [[non|súpa|t=to drink, sip]], related to [[en|sup]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}