chacun

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃa.kœ̃/^[1]

Forms

chacun m (feminine chacune)^[1] Old French cascun, chascun; an older form cadhun (Strasbourg Oaths, 842), later chaün, cheün, was ousted by chacun.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chascun, inherited from Vulgar Latin *cascūnus, a cross between quisque (“each”) with “ūnus” “one” and “*catūnum”, a contraction of “(ūnum) cata ūnum” “one by one”.^[2][3][5][6] The distributive cata (4th century) was borrowed from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down; by, each”).^[2][3][7] Bloch and Wartburg describe it instead as Old French “chaün” crossed with the descendants of “quisque”, which was lost before the literary period.^[7][8]

Cognate with Occitan cadun, Catalan cadascun and Italian ciascuno.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Life of Saint Alexis (about 1050) has the adjective cascune; the pronoun cascuns “each person” is in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was used as an adjective until the 17th century (La Fontaine, 1668), when Vaugelas condemned it and it was replaced by chaque, itself formed on chacun (chasque, about 1176) on the model of quelque and quelqu'un.^[2][3] Un chacun (12th century), common in the 16th century, was called low by Furetière in 1690, tout un chacun and chacun avec sa chacune (before 1250) survive as familiar archaisms.^[2][3] Rabelais has chacun s'en va dans sa chacunière, “everyone goes home” (1532).^[3]

Timeline

• 842 – Cadhun, Strasbourg Oaths.^[4][2]
• c. 1050 – Cascune, Life of Saint Alexis.^[2]
• c. 1100 – Cascuns, Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1176 – Chasque, the adjective formed from it.^[3]
• 1532 – Chacunière, Rabelais.^[3]
• 1668 – Last adjectival use, La Fontaine.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière calls un chacun low.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. each, each one (of a group): chacun de nous, chacune d'elles.^[4][1]
2. everyone, everybody: chacun en parle, à chacun son goût, chacun pour soi.^[8][1]
3. (familiar) Tout un chacun: anybody, chacun avec sa chacune: each with his partner.^[3][1]

Word family

• chacunière
• chaque

Related words

• un

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 482a
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse