je

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʒə/^[1]
• IPA: [ʒɵ]^[1]
• IPA (informal): /ʒ/^[1]
• IPA (informal): /ʃ/^[1]

Forms

je (first person singular, plural nous, object me, emphatic moi, possessive determiner mon)^[1] Old French eo, io (842), jo, jeo, gié.^[2][3] The form je appears about 1100.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French jo, inherited from Late Latin eo (recorded in the 6th century), a contraction of Classical Latin ego (“I”).^[2][4][3] The Late Latin form is supposed from the Romance languages as a whole, which all go back to it.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg explain the weakening by the minor role the pronoun took in speech, which led to a quick and weak pronunciation.^[5] The many Old French forms (“gié”, “jeo”, “jo”) reflect different sound changes of “eo” depending on whether it kept its stress, which are still not fully understood; the unstressed “je” seems to be a weakened “jo”.^[2][3]

Latin “ego” has correspondents in Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ), and, without the final vowel, Gothic 𐌹𐌺 (ik) and Old Norse ek.^[3][6] Cognate with Italian io, Spanish yo, Portuguese eu and Romanian eu.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Strasbourg Oaths (842) have eo and io: Si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo “so I will help this brother of mine Charles”.^[2][6] The form je is found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Latin ego was at first used in literary language to put the speaker forward and contrast them with others; in speech it soon became a mere marker of the first person, and this weakening may explain the form eo.^[3] As verb endings wore away, jo/je became more and more common before the verb.^[2] Je could still be used as a stressed form until the 17th century, as in the legal formula je soussigné “I, the undersigned”.^[2][3]

In 1871 Rimbaud used je as a noun for the self (“Je est un autre”), and in philosophy le je is the subject to which an individual ascribes their acts and states.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 842 – Eo and io in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[2]
• c. 1100 – Je in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 17th century – Last uses of je as a stressed pronoun.^[2]
• 1871 – Rimbaud uses je as a noun for the self.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. I: the first person singular subject pronoun, for a speaker of either sex.^[8][1]
2. (familiar) Used for another person to describe hurried actions: et je te pousse, et je te bouscule.^[8][9]

Noun

1. (invariable) The word je; the first person in a narrative: le je du narrateur.^[8]
2. (philosophy) The self, the subject.^[2][3]

Related words

• moi
• me
• Latin ego

Usage notes

Je is elided to j’ before a vowel or mute h (j'aime).^[6] After an inverted verb its e is mute (puis-je).^[8] It is replaced by moi when stressed or separated from the verb (moi, je viens).^[8]

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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 207a
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse