soulager

French

Etymology

Alteration of Old French suslegier (probably under the influence of solacier (“to solace”) and soulas) from Vulgar Latin *subleviāre, from Latin sublevāre (“to lift up, to raise; to lighten”), from sub- (“from under”) + levō (“to raise, to lift up”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.la.ʒe/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

soulager

1. (transitive) to relieve, soothe
   • (Can we date this quote?) Charles Baudelaire, Le Crépuscule du Soir

     C’est le soir qui soulage / Les esprits.

     It’s the evening which soothes the spirits.

2. (reflexive) to make oneself feel better, to find relief
3. (reflexive, colloquial) to relieve oneself

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written soulage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Derived terms

• soulagement

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• logueras