source French · revision 17515

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1155, Wace|origins=la surgō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /suʁs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''source''' ''f'' (plural sources)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|sorse]] (about 1155) and [[m|fro|surse]] (about 1190); the spelling ''source'' is found from about 1354.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|sorse]], the feminine, used as a noun, of [[m|fro|sors]], [[m|fro|sours]], the old past participle of [[sourdre]] “to spring up”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) That participle is [[inh|la-vul|*sursus]], a popular form which had replaced classical [[la|surrēctus]], the past participle of [[m|la|surgō|t=to rise, spring up]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|12, 460a) Old French also used the masculine participle, and [[m|fro|sourt]], for a spring until the middle of the 14th century,^(DHLF 1992) and the present participle gave [[m|fro|sorjon]], later [[surgeon]] “sucker”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Latin [[m|la|fōns|t=spring]] gave [[fro|font]], which survives in southern dialects (see [[fontaine]]).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Bloch and Wartburg date the spelling with ⟨c⟩ to the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Cognate with [[it|sorgente]] “spring”, from the present participle of the same Latin verb.^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Wace has ''sorse'' in the ''Roman de Rou'' (1170–1183) for water coming out of the ground and for the place where a stream rises.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 12th century the word was used by metaphor for an origin: Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it for “origin, principle” in 1174–1176,^(TLFi) and Gautier de Coinci about 1225 for a person from whom blessings flow.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The phrases ''prendre sa source'' (1607) and ''couler de source'' (1671, figuratively in 1688) followed.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In the 16th and 17th centuries the figurative uses multiplied: the origin of a family (1538), the evidence on which a study is based (1623), with ''puiser aux sources'' (1635) and later ''tenir de bonne source'' (1876) for news from a reliable informant.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From 1633 it named what gives out light or heat, as in ''source de lumière'' (1686), ''source électrique'' (1885) and ''sources sonores'' (1930).^(TLFi) In economics it came to mean the origin of goods and income, and in tax law ''retenue à la source'', tax deducted before the income is paid.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1170–1183 – ''Sorse'', a spring, in Wace's ''Roman de Rou''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–1176 – “Origin, principle”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1225 – Of a person from whom good things flow, in Gautier de Coinci.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1354 – The spelling ''source''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1538 – “Origin of a family”, in Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1607 – ''Prendre sa source'', in d'Urfé's ''L'Astrée''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1623 – “Testimony used as the basis of a study”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1633 – A source of light and heat.^(TLFi)

+ * 1671 – ''Couler de source''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1885 – ''Source électrique''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|spring]]: water coming out of the ground, and the place where it comes out: ''eau de source'', ''source thermale''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The source of a [[m|en|river]] or stream, where it rises: ''prendre sa source''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' [[m|en|origin|alt=Origin]], cause, principle: ''la source du mal'', ''retour aux sources''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The original documents or texts a work relies on; the origin of a piece of news: ''citer ses sources'', ''de source sûre''.^(Larousse)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(physics, technology)'' What emits light, heat, energy or sound: ''source de chaleur'', ''source lumineuse''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Retenue à la source'': [[m|en|withholding]] of tax before income is paid.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Couler de source'': to follow naturally, to go without saying.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sourdre]]

+ * [[ressource]]

+ * [[surgeon]]

+ * [[surgir]]

+ * [[la|surgō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}