Talk:Sûreté/Archives/2024/July

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Lit. Surety?

Several en.wiki articles state that sûreté literally translates to surety. This is no more correct than saying librairie literally translates to library (it translates to bookstore).

The main modern definition of sûreté is "the state of being safe" (TLFi), and a 17th century one is "where there is no harm, no reason to fear" (académie 1e édition). That's what it's always meant.

Coincidentally "the state of being safe" is the exact definition of the English "safety" (see Cambridge or Collins).

So a literal translation of "sûreté générale" gives us "general safety", "sûreté nationale" gives "national safety". As for a proper translation... that's another story. Ironhead (talk) 08:25, 9 July 2024 (UTC)