Etymologically
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jamais

Etymology and origin of the French word jamais

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
2nd half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger
Ultimate origin
Old French (ja,mais)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʒa.mɛ/[1]
  • IPA (Paris): /ʒa.me/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [ʒɑ̃me][1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [hɑ̃mɛ̃][1]

Forms

jamais[1]

Etymology

It is the welding, in the 13th century, of Old French “ja mais”, formed from Old French ja (“already, now”) + mais (“more”).[2][3][4] The two adverbs continue Latin iam (“already”) and magis (“more”).[5][6][1] The phrase thus meant “any more” and at first referred only to the future.[1][5]

Cognate with Spanish jamás, Italian giammai, Occitan jamai and Portuguese jamais.[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the Vie de saint Léger, in a future negation, Ja non podra mais Deu laudier “he will never again be able to praise God”: a denial that something which had happened before would happen again.[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old French ne … ja and ne … jamais were used only of the future; for the past the language said ne … onques, from Latin unquam (“ever”), which gave way to ne … jamais only from the 14th century.[2][5] From the 11th to the 13th century ne … jamais still meant “never again”, as its parts imply, against plain ne … ja “never”; when ne … ja disappeared, plus had to be added to express the old sense, which is why ne … plus jamais repeats the idea of “more”.[2][5]

The positive senses also arose in Old French: “from now on” (about 1130), “one day, ever” of a possible future event (about 1160) and of the past (about 1276).[3][2] À jamais “for ever” appears in the late 13th century, strengthened to à tout jamais before 1526, jamais plus dates from 1552, au grand jamais from 1573, after Rabelais's au grand fin jamais (1546), and jamais de la vie from 1841.[2][8]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Ja … mais in the Vie de saint Léger.[3]
  • c. 1100 – Ne … ja mais in the Chanson de Roland, a plain negation of the future.[3]
  • c. 1160 – Positive sense “one day, ever” in the Roman d'Eneas.[3]
  • c. 1280 – First used with a past tense, denying a past event.[3]
  • 13th century – The two words are written as one.[2]
  • 14th century – Ne … jamais begins to replace ne … onques for the past.[2][5]
  • 1546 – Au grand fin jamais in Rabelais's Tiers livre.[8]
  • 1573 – Au grand jamais.[2][9]
  • 1841 – Jamais de la vie.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Without negation: ever, at any time, past or future: Si jamais je te revois, plus que jamais.[10][11]
  2. À jamais, à tout jamais, pour jamais: for ever, forever.[11][12]
  3. With ne: never, at no time: Il ne l'a jamais vue.[11][10]
  4. Without ne, in answers and elliptical phrases: never: Maintenant ou jamais, jamais de la vie.[10][7]

Usage notes

The pleonasm of ne … plus jamais, where -mais and plus both mean “more”, is a relic of the Old French distinction between ne … ja and ne … jamais.[2][5]

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 e f g 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 26b
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Jamais.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/jamais. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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