elle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛl/^[1]
• IPA (Quebec, informal): /a/^[1]

Forms

elle f (third-person singular, plural elles, accusative la, dative lui, emphatic elle, possessive determiner son)^[1] Old French ele (about 881), plural eles.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ele, inherited from Latin illa (“that one (feminine)”), the feminine of the demonstrative “ille” “that”.^[2][4][1] Rey connects “ille” with an Indo-European base with “l” for a distant object, also seen in alius (“other”), ōlim (“formerly”) and ultrā (“beyond”).^[2] As a subject pronoun it followed the development of the masculine il.^[2][4] As an object it replaced, after 1250, the old pronoun li, lei, from *illaei, which survives in eastern, south-eastern and Norman dialects.^[2][4]

Cognate with Italian lei and Old Occitan liei, which continue the oblique form.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Sequence of Saint Eulalia (about 881) has the feminine subject ele, referring to the saint.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Elle took over the stressed object uses from li after the middle of the 13th century (à elle, pour elle).^[2][4] Used absolutely and with a capital, Elle names the beloved woman or the eternal feminine, as in George Sand's novel Elle et Lui.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 881 – Ele in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[3]
• late 10th century – The plural eles in the Passion de Clermont.^[3]
• after 1250 – Elle replaces li as a stressed object.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. she; it: third person feminine singular subject pronoun; plural elles “they”.^[1][5]
2. Her, it: stressed form, after a preposition or for emphasis: à elle, elle, elle sait.^[1]
3. Elle: the beloved woman.^[2]

Related words

• il
• la
• Latin ille

Usage notes

The name of the letter ⟨l⟩ is also written elle.^[1] In informal Quebec speech the pronoun is often pronounced /a/.^[1]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d 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
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert