souper (French)

Where does "souper" come from?

The French noun 'souper' traces its ancestry through Middle French 'soupper'[1][2] and Old French 'soper'[1][3], which both derive from the Old French noun 'supe' or 'sope' meaning 'soup'[1][3]. This earlier noun comes from Late Latin 'suppa' meaning 'sopped bread', which itself has roots in Proto-Germanic '*supô'[4]. Over time, the term shifted in meaning from a connection to soaked bread to designate dinner, the main evening meal, as well as a light meal eaten at night after the main meal.

Open questions

• The ultimate derivation from Proto-Germanic is based on a reconstructed form. [4]

Full etymology tree

• souper (French), 'dinner (the main evening meal)'
  • inherited soupper (Middle French), 'to have dinner'
    • inherited soper (Old French), 'dinner (evening meal)'
      • derived sope (Old French), 'alternative form of supe'
      • derived supe (Old French), 'soup (comestible liquid)'
        • inherited suppa (Latin), 'soup.'
          • borrowed *supô (Proto-Germanic), 'soup, broth'

Descendants and derived words

• Souper (German)

Sources

1. souper (French) - Wiktionary
2. soupper (Middle French) - Wiktionary
3. soper (Old French) - Wiktionary
4. supe (Old French) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris