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celle-ci

Etymology and origin of the French word celle-ci

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
14th century
Ultimate origin
Latin (ecce,ille)

Forms

celle-ci f (masculine celui-ci, feminine plural celles-ci)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of the demonstrative pronoun celle and the adverb ci “here”.[1][2] The pronoun continues Vulgar Latin *ecce illa (“that one there”), from ecce (“behold”) and ille (“that”), the feminine of the Old French paradigm whose masculine forms were cil, cel and celui.[3][4][5] The forms reinforced with the adverbs of place appeared in Old French as adjectives, as in cele part la (“over there”) (about 1175), and were rare until the 14th century; the Petit Robert dates the pronoun celui-ci to the 14th century and celui-là to the 13th.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The forms with -ci expressing nearness are first found in the 14th century;[1][2] Froissart has celle fois chi “this time” in a temporal sense (last quarter of the 14th century).[1][2]

Semantic evolution

The Old French system distinguished cist (from ecce iste), for what is near, from cil (from ecce ille), for what is distant; the forms of celui survived as pronouns, and the adverbs ci and là were added to restore the contrast between near and far.[3][2] In principle celle-ci refers to what is nearer, or to what is about to be mentioned, and celle-là to what is farther away or has already been mentioned;[1] celle-là is the more common when there is no contrast.[1]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. This one (feminine), the one nearer or just mentioned: de ces deux maisons, celle-ci est la plus grande.[1]
  2. The latter (feminine), as opposed to celle-là, the former.[1]
  3. This one here, the one about to be mentioned.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
Cite this entry

“Celle-ci.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/celle-ci. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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