Etymologically
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avec

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /a.vɛk/[1]

Forms

avec[1] Old French avoc (mid-11th century), ove, ovec (12th century), avuec, avoec (early 13th century); avec became the settled form about 1284.[2][3] Avecque, avecques remained in use in poetry until the 17th–18th century.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French avoc, inherited from Vulgar Latin *apud hoque, from apud (“at, near, with”) and hoc (“this”).[2][3][5][1] Littré supported this origin by the Old French parallels “peroec” “for that” (“per hoc”) and “senoec” “without that” (“sine hoc”).[6] “Apud”, which had taken the sense “with” in Gaul, also gave Old French od, o “with”, used until the 16th century and then eliminated by “avec” because of its weak form.[2][7] Classical Latin used cum instead, the source of Italian con and Spanish con.[2][7]

Bloch and Wartburg derive the word from a popular adverb *ab hoc (“from there”), “immediately after, at the same time, together”, but Rey objects that the “b” should have disappeared and that “ab” does not fit the sense.[7][2] Cognate with Picard avuc, Norman aveuc and Walloon avou.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first forms, avoc, avuec, appear in the middle and at the end of the 11th century (Vie de saint Alexis), both as a preposition and as an adverb, already with most of their modern values.[2][4][7]

Semantic evolution

Avec has expressed accompaniment, simultaneity and closeness, and also addition, manner and means, at all periods.[2] The adverbial use, normal in Old and Middle French, has become familiar or regional: Belgian tu viens avec ? copies the syntax of the Germanic languages, and Quebec French uses avec for “too”.[2][1]

Timeline

  • mid-11th century – Avoc.[2]
  • mid-12th century – Ove, ovec.[2]
  • 1284 – The settled form avec.[2][3]
  • 16th century – Old French od “with” goes out of use.[2]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. with, in the company of: dîner avec un ami.[5][1]
  2. With, having: une maison avec un balcon.[4]
  3. With, by means of: marks the instrument or manner: écrire avec un crayon, avec soin.[1][4]
  4. With, in agreement or relation with: être d'accord avec qqn, être fâché avec ses frères.[4][5]

Adverb

  1. (familiar) With it, along: tu viens avec ?, (Quebec) too, also.[2][1]
  • Latin apud

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France