souhaiter

Inherited from Old French sohaidier, ultimately from Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin *subhaitare (“vow with little commitment (lit. 'under-promise')”), a hybrid of Latin subtus "under" + Frankish *haitan (“to order, promise”), from Proto-Germanic *haitaną. Compare Picard souhédhier, and for the latter etymon see Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (haitan, “to address, call”), Old High German heizzan, Old English hātan (“to call, order”) (thence see dialectal English hight and hote) and Old Norse heita (“to call, name”).

• IPA^(key): /swɛ.te/ ~ /swe.te/

• Audio:

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souhaiter

1. to wish (for); to hope (for)
   • Sinsemilia, Tout le bonheur du monde

     On vous souhaite tout le bonheur du monde
     Pour aujourd’hui comme pour demain
     Que votre soleil éclaircisse l’ombre
     Qu’il brille d’amour au quotidien

     We wish you all the happiness in the world
     For today as for tomorrow
     May your sun light up the shadows
     May it shine love everyday

2. to wish someone well, particularly in a complimentary or polite way
3. (rare, dated) to desire someone's presence

• souhait

• → Ladino: suetar

• “souhaiter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.