succès French · revision 17501

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1540, Amadis|origins=la cēdō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /syk.sɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

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

+ The Académie spelt it ''succez'' in 1694 and 1718, ''succès'' from 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|successus|t=approach, advance; succession; success]], the action noun of [[m|la|succēdō|t=to go up to; to follow; to turn out well]] (see [[succéder]]), from [[m|la|sub-]] and [[m|la|cēdō|t=to go]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|12, 380a) The TLFi dates it to 1540 in the Amadis translation;^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg, Rey and the Grand Robert to 1546, in Rabelais.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Bloch and Wartburg think the sense “outcome” came not from the Latin noun but from the verb, to which it was then more closely tied.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first senses were “succession, sequence” (in Rabelais's ''par succès'', of a chameleon changing colour one after another) and the way something turns out, good or bad.^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 17th century it could mean a result of either kind, with an adjective such as ''heureux'' or ''funeste'', and Furetière (1690) says it is used in a good or a bad sense.^(TLFi) The sense “favourable result, success” appears in the army about 1646 and in Pascal in 1647, and gradually replaced the older one, which fell out of use in the 19th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) ''Avec succès'' is recorded in 1631, ''succès d'estime'' in Collé (1762), ''succès fou'' in 1825.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ It was applied to success with the public (Boileau, 1669), in love (Prévost, 1731) and in society (1757), and in the 20th century to a successful play, film or book: ''un succès de librairie'', a best-seller.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The negative [[insuccès]], first found in Canada (1743–1744), may owe something to English ''unsuccess''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1540 – “Outcome”, in the translation of ''Amadis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1546 – “Succession”, in Rabelais.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1631 – ''Avec succès'', in Guez de Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1646 – A military victory, in Maynard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1647 – “Favourable result”, in Pascal.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1669 – Success with the public, in Boileau.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1740 – The Académie spells it ''succès''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1762 – ''Succès d'estime''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1825 – ''Succès fou''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A favourable result; [[m|en|success|alt=Success]]: ''assurer le succès d'une entreprise'', ''sans succès'', in vain.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The fact of achieving what one aimed at; a success at an examination.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Popularity with the public: ''avoir du succès'', ''un succès d'estime'', a critical success that does not sell.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A thing that succeeds, a [[m|en|hit]]: ''un succès de librairie'' (a [[m|en|best-seller]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Success in love: ''son charme lui a valu de nombreux succès''.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(dated)'' The outcome, good or bad, of an affair.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ # ''(gaming)'' An achievement.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[insuccès]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[succéder]]

+ * [[succession]]

+ * [[la|successus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}