Etymologically
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leur

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lœʁ/[1]

Forms

leur m pl or f pl[1] Old French lor, lur (before 950); leur from the 12th–13th century.[2][3][4] As a possessive it took a plural -s from the 14th century, which became the rule only in the 17th.[5][4] Brantôme and Malherbe still wrote leur amitiés.[5][4][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lor, inherited from Latin illōrum (“of those, of them”), the masculine genitive plural of the demonstrative “ille”.[2][7][3][5] Romanian lor shows that the first syllable was lost before 271.[2] In popular Latin “illōrum”, used as a possessive genitive, tended to replace suus (whence son), which gave the possessive “leur”.[2] The final “-e” of the feminine was prevented by the analogy of the other possessives.[1]

Cognate with Italian loro, Romanian lor and Old Occitan lor.[5] Italian “loro” is still invariable as a possessive.[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The possessive lor is found before 950, and the personal pronoun about 980 in the Valenciennes fragment.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The possessive leur keeps a trace of its old stressed use with the article: le leur voile (1050), and the possessive pronoun le leur, la leur (1080).[2] Les leurs “their kin, their people” is found in 1080, and le leur “their property” about 1165.[2][4] In the eastern dialects, from the south of the Vosges to the Dauphiné and the Massif Central, the pronoun often has the value of the stressed eux, elles.[5] Popular speech says leur z'en, leurzy (with a false liaison) and leux for leur.[8]

Timeline

  • before 950 – The possessive lor.[2]
  • c. 980 – The pronoun lor in the Valenciennes fragment.[4]
  • 1080 – Le leur and les leurs in the Chanson de Roland.[2][4]
  • 14th century – The possessive begins to take -s in the plural.[5]
  • 17th century – Plural leurs becomes the rule.[5]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (To) them: third person plural indirect object pronoun: je le leur dirai.[9][1]
  2. Le leur, la leur, les leurs: theirs: ma fille et la leur.[9][4]
  3. Les leurs: their family, their people, y mettre du leur, to make an effort.[9][4]

Determiner

  1. their: leur maison, leurs enfants.[1][9]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 551a
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert