hélas

Forms

hélas (invariable)^[2] Old French elas, also written e, las and hé, las.^[2][3] Because las was felt as an adjective, it long agreed with the speaker, giving a feminine hélasse.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is formed from French hé + las (“wretched, unhappy”), the interjection and the Old French adjective in its common medieval sense of wretched.^[2][3][4][5] The adjective is from Latin lassus (“weary”).^[4][6][1] It was also used as an interjection on its own and with other interjections, as in a las (about 1050, in the Life of Saint Alexis) or with ho;^[2][1] Wiktionary takes elas as a variant of the former.^[1] The two parts stayed separate words in Old French.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that the adjective alone, of either gender, served as an interjection until the 17th century, as still in Tartuffe,^[4] and call the first element an onomatopoeia.^[4]

Compare Occitan ailas and hailas.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as Elas in the 12th century, in an interpolated version of the Vie de saint Alexis, as a cry of grief;^[2][3] E, las! follows in Gautier d'Arras's Ille et Galeron (1176–1184), and Hé! las in the songs of Conon de Béthune at the end of the 12th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Since the 15th century the word has also been a masculine noun, first in Arnoul Gréban's Passion (1458); the GLLF finds it in Corneille in 1632 and calls the use literary.^[2][3][8] At the end of the 19th century it began to be used to give a yes or a no a note of regret or sympathy.^[8] The TLFi labels its use as a direct reaction to a painful event archaic and literary.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – A! las appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2]
• 12th century – Elas in an interpolated version of the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2]
• 1176–1184 – E, las! in Gautier d'Arras's Ille et Galeron.^[2][3]
• late 12th century – Hé! las in Conon de Béthune.^[2][8]
• 1458 – First used as a noun, in Gréban's Passion.^[2][3]
• 1632 – Corneille uses the noun.^[8]
• late 19th century – It begins to qualify a yes or no answer.^[8]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Expresses grief, regret or complaint; alas.^{[9][10][8][1]}
2. Gives a yes or no answer a note of regret or sympathy: hélas oui, hélas non.^[8][9]
3. Hélas, trois fois hélas !: an emphatic form of regret.^[9][10]

Noun

1. (literary) The exclamation itself, a sigh of complaint.^[8][2]

Related words

• hé
• las
• Latin lassus

Usage notes

Littré recommended the pronunciation without a final /s/, sounded only in liaison, as the las of the compound is silent; the Grand Robert gives /e.las/ and calls the pronunciation without /s/ old.^[7][5] Wiktionary also records in Louisiana French an unrelated invariable noun hélas “noise”, which it refers to héler.^[1]

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 l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b 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. 5, 196a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)