Origin of the word "souvenir"
Jesse Blount
At one time I thought the word might have been French in origin,
perhaps a contraction of the preposition "sou" (meaning under or
beneath), and the verb "venir (to go). But "under to go" makes no
sense to me in the way the word is generally used.
Can some one give me a better suggestion than this?
Jesse Blount
Michael F. Howard
: Does anyone have an insight on the origin of the word "souvenir?"
You were right the first time. Where you missed the boat
was that "venir" means come not go. In French "souvenir"
is to remember from Latin "subvenire" which means to come to
mind. Does the current usage seem obvious now?
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Steve Wildstrom
>Does anyone have an insight on the origin of the word "souvenir?"
>At one time I thought the word might have been French in origin,
>perhaps a contraction of the preposition "sou" (meaning under or
>beneath), and the verb "venir (to go). But "under to go" makes no
>sense to me in the way the word is generally used.
It's a simple loanword. "Souvenir" in French means "remembrance,"
essentially the same as it's english meaning. From souvenance, memories.
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Steve Wildstrom Business Week Washington Bureau wi...@access.digex.net
"These opinions aren't necessarily mine or anyone else's."
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Steve Wildstrom
Before you turn the flamethrowers on, just as I hit the send button for
my previous post, I noticed the stray apostrophe in "it's." Too late to
stop it, too soon to cancel it.
Peter Moylan
>Does anyone have an insight on the origin of the word "souvenir?"
>At one time I thought the word might have been French in origin,
>perhaps a contraction of the preposition "sou" (meaning under or
>beneath), and the verb "venir (to go). But "under to go" makes no
>sense to me in the way the word is generally used.
"Souvenir" is both a noun and a verb in French. As a noun it
means "memory" (in the sense of "recollection" or "reminiscence").
The reflexive verb "se souvenir" means "remember" ... or perhaps
"recall" would be a more accurate translation.
And yes, it does ultimately derive from venir=to come. French
has quite a few verbs of the form preposition+venir, and in
some of these combinations the logic of the derivation is
not entirely obvious. In the "souvenir" case I suspect that
the "sous" prefix has something to do with things surfacing
from the depths of one's mind.
Some other English words which have a French "xxxvenir" origin
are: intervene, contravene, prevent ... that's all I can think
of for now, but there are surely others.
--
Peter Moylan pe...@ee.newcastle.edu.au
(also pe...@tesla.newcastle.edu.au, ee...@cc.newcastle.edu.au)
Anders Thulin
>Does anyone have an insight on the origin of the word "souvenir?"
>At one time I thought the word might have been French in origin,
>perhaps a contraction of the preposition "sou" (meaning under or
>beneath), and the verb "venir (to go). But "under to go" makes no
>sense to me in the way the word is generally used.
You don't "stand under" it?
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Anders Thulin a...@linkoping.trab.se 013-23 55 32
Telia Research AB, Teknikringen 2B, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
Ben Walsh
>Jesse Blount (jbl...@redwoodgln.win.net) wrote:
>>Does anyone have an insight on the origin of the word "souvenir?"
>>At one time I thought the word might have been French in origin,
>>perhaps a contraction of the preposition "sou" (meaning under or
>>beneath), and the verb "venir (to go). But "under to go" makes no
>>sense to me in the way the word is generally used.
Much simple than that. The reflexive verb "Se souvenir" in French
simply means "To remember". je me souvien, etc.
ben
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Ron Newman
>Much simple than that. The reflexive verb "Se souvenir" in French
>simply means "To remember". je me souvien, etc.
Shouldn't that be "Je me souviens" ?
--
Ron Newman MIT Media Laboratory
rne...@media.mit.edu