souvent French · revision 17372

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (sovent)|origins=la subinde}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /su.vɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''souvent'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|sovent]] (about 1050), ''suvent'' (1080); ''souvent'' from the 13th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|sovent]], [[inh|la|subinde|t=immediately after; repeatedly; often]], formed from [[m|la|sub-]] and [[m|la|inde|t=from there; from then]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|12, 333a)^(Wiktionary) Classical [[la|saepe|t=often]] disappeared from all the Romance languages; it was entirely gone by the “Peregrinatio Aetheriae” (381–388).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi) “Inde” also gave the pronoun [[en]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|soven]] and [[ca|sovint]], Italian “sovente” is borrowed, the native word being “spesso”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'', meaning “several times, repeatedly”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French it also meant “constantly” (about 1283), and ''suvent… suvent'' “now… now” (about 1155).^(DHLF 1992) ''Plus suvent'' is recorded in the early 12th century, and ''le plus souvent'' “most of the time” in 1538, when ''souvent'' also took the general sense “in many cases”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In familiar speech ''le plus souvent !'' (1808), then ''plus souvent !'' (1821, written ''pu souvent''), became an ironic “certainly not!”, and ''plus souvent que'' expressed refusal (1807).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) The old ''souventes fois'', ''souventefois'', is now regional.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Sovent'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * Early 12th century – ''Plus suvent'', in Benedeit.^(TLFi)

+ * 12th century – ''Souventefois''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1538 – ''Le plus souvent'', in Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1808 – ''Le plus souvent !'' “certainly not!”.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+ * 1821 – ''Plus souvent !''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|often]], frequently: ''il vient souvent''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In many cases: ''c'est bien souvent le cas'', ''le plus souvent'': mostly.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Plus souvent qu'à son tour'': more often than one should.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(popular, dated) Plus souvent !'': certainly not!^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[souventefois]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}