las

Forms

las (feminine lasse, masculine plural las, feminine plural lasses)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French las, inherited from Latin lassus (“worn out, tired, exhausted”).^[2][3][1][4] Rey notes that the Latin word was a popular form, perhaps first meaning “leaning, falling forward”, which careful writers seem to have avoided in favour of fessus (“tired”); Old Norse lǫskr (“soft, slack”) has been compared, as a hypothesis.^[5] Littré saw the Latin adjective as an assimilated form of laxus (“loose”).^[6]

The interjection is the same word: in Old French it agreed in gender when a woman was lamenting, as Littré noted, and the Grand Robert derives it from the adjective in its old sense “unhappy”.^[6][7] Wiktionary instead treats the interjection as a clipping of hélas.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan las, Italian lasso and Spanish laso.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the Fragment de Valenciennes (938–952), meaning “unhappy, wretched”.^[2][5] The physical sense “too tired to keep up the effort” appears about 1100, in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “unhappy, wretched” lasted until the 16th century, and longer in the interjection las ! (1050), which gave way to its compound hélas.^[5][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that las alone was used as an interjection, for both genders, until the 17th century.^[3]

Modern usage kept the physical sense “tired” (1080), alone and in the construction las de (about 1170), which already in the 12th century expressed the moral sense “sick of, weary of”.^[5][2] The feminine in de guerre lasse (about 1750) is explained either as a transfer of the weariness from the person to the war that causes it, or, after Grevisse, by the old pronunciation of the ⟨s⟩ of las before a pause.^[5]

Timeline

• 938–952 – The Fragment de Valenciennes uses it for “unhappy, wretched”.^[2]
• 1050 – The interjection las ! is recorded.^[5][7]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses it for “tired”.^[2]
• 1170 – Las de “unable to bear doing something any longer” appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2]
• 16th century – The sense “unhappy” goes out of use.^[5]
• 17th century – Las ! alone gives way to hélas.^[3]
• c. 1750 – The phrase de guerre lasse is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Tired, weary; lacking the energy to act or move.^[9][2] Après la randonnée, ils étaient las.^[9][2][8]
2. (literary) Las de: tired of and fed up with.^[9][2] Lasse d'attendre, elle est partie.^[9][2]

Interjection

1. (archaic) Alas.^[9][7][1]

Word family

• hélas

Related words

• lasser
• Latin lassus

Usage notes

The interjection is pronounced with a sounded ⟨s⟩, unlike the adjective.^[9][1] De guerre lasse means giving in after a long resistance.^[5][6]

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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 195a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert