Etymologically
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celui-là

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sə.lɥi.la/[1]

Forms

celui-là m (feminine celle-là, masculine plural ceux-là, feminine plural celles-là)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French celui + -là, from the demonstrative celui and the adverb là.[2][1] The demonstrative comes from Vulgar Latin *ecce illui, from Latin ecce (“behold”) reinforcing the demonstrative ille (“that”).[3][2] It was the dative of the Old French series, beside the subject cil and the accusative cel.[3][2] The pronouns celui-ci (1372) and “celui-là” were created to make up for the loss of the old opposition between the demonstratives of nearness (cist, cestui) and those of distance.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg date it to the 15th century; reinforcement of the old demonstrative by là is found from about 1160 (Eneas).[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Between the mid-14th and the late 15th century celui became a pronoun only, while the distinction between cestui and celui faded; the adverbs ci and là took over the expression of nearness and distance.[3] The modern system was complete in the 17th century.[3] Popular speech contracts it to çui-là.[1][4]

Timeline

  • c. 881 – Old French demonstrative cels, Eulalie.[4]
  • 1372 – Celui-ci.[2]
  • 15th century – Celui-là.[2]
  • 17th century – The modern system of demonstratives is complete.[3]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. That one, the one there, as opposed to celui-ci: je préfère celui-là.[1][4]
  2. The former, as opposed to celui-ci “the latter”.[1]
  3. (emphatic, familiar) That person: celui-là, alors !, celle-là, je ne l'ai pas vue venir.[4]

Word family

  • çui-là

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ 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