meu

Forms

meu (feminine meva or meua, masculine plural meus, feminine plural meves or meues)^[1] The Old Catalan feminine was mia; the analogical meua appears as a vulgar Roussillon form in the 13th century, and 14th-century documents have about 15 cases of it against some 24 of mia.^[2] Today meva is general in Central Catalan, Balearic and part of Western Catalan, while Valencia, Roussillon and many other districts keep meua.^[2][1] The unstressed possessives mon and ma come from the same Latin word, in proclitic use;^[1] mon has almost disappeared from Central Catalan except with a few kinship words.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan meu, which is inherited from Latin meus (“my, mine”).^[4][3][5][1] Coromines derives the possessive from the stem of the Latin oblique cases mihi and mē of Latin ego (“I”), and notes that it is pronounced with a close /e/ in every dialect.^[2]

The same Latin word is Italian mio, Spanish mío, Portuguese meu and French mien.^[6] Wiktionary traces the Latin word, through Old Latin ⟨meos⟩, to Proto-Italic *meos.^[1]

The old feminine ⟨mia⟩ is the regular outcome of mea.^[2] It was replaced by ⟨meua⟩ and ⟨meva⟩ by analogy with the masculine, because the final ⟨-u⟩ was no longer felt as a masculine ending once nouns had lost theirs.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA's oldest record is a feudal oath of the last quarter of the 11th century.^[7] The DCVB, the GDLC and Bruguera give 1233 as the first date.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

In Llull the possessive is already used before the noun with the article (lo meu fill) and with the feminine mia (les mies mans).^[8] In 15th-century prose it follows the noun in address (Pare meu, Curial e Güelfa, 1440).^[9]

Mia remained normal in the literary language until the Renaixença, and in popular poetry until the 16th and 17th centuries; it was sometimes shortened to mi’.^[2] Before a noun the unstressed mon, ma long competed with meu, mia with the article.^[2]

The DCVB adds the use after a preposition or adverb, as in davant meu “in front of me”, and els meus for one's family or party.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1075–1099 – oldest record in CICA, a feudal oath.^[7]
• 1233 – first date given by the DCVB, the GDLC and Bruguera.^[4][5][3]
• 13th century – analogical meua in the Roussillon Vides de sants.^[2]
• 1440 – Pare meu in Curial e Güelfa.^[9]

Meanings

Determiner

1. (possessive, first person singular) my, mine; with the article before the noun: la meva germana.^[5][4][1]
2. (after the noun, without article) Mainly in address: Amic meu, vine aquí.^[4]
3. (after a preposition or adverb) Of me: Seu al costat meu.^[5][4]

Pronoun

1. (with the article) Mine: Aquest llapis és el meu.^[4][1]
2. els meus: my family, my people.^[4]

Related words

• mon
• ma
• jo
• Latin meus
• Occitan meu

Usage notes

The plant meu (Meum athamanticum), baldmoney or spignel, is recorded from the 14th century and is a learned borrowing of Latin mēum, itself from Greek.^{[3][5][1][10]} The meu imitating a cat, “meow”, is onomatopoeic, like miolar; the DCVB also records it as a children's word for a cat.^[3][5][1][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 890
3. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 597
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. meu
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. meu
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5556
7. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. meu
8. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. meu
9. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. meu
10. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. meu