Etymologically
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moi

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Pronunciation

Forms

moi[1] Old French mi (842), mei (1080), moi (about 1150).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mei, inherited from Latin mē (“me”), in stressed position; the same pronoun unstressed gave me.[2][5][3][4] Latin “mē” is the accusative of ego (“I”) and belongs to a group of Indo-European personal pronouns that includes Irish mé, Ancient Greek ἐμέ (emé), Sanskrit मा (mā), Old Church Slavonic мѧ (mę) and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺 (mik).[2] Littré instead derived it from the dative mihi, arguing that the old forms “mei”, “mi” exclude the accusative.[6]

Cognate with Norman mei and Picard moè, from Old French.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Strasbourg Oaths (842) have mi, stressed, for contrast: in o quid il mi altresi fazet “provided that he does the same for me”.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

As a personal pronoun moi had all its uses from Old French on.[2] The strengthened moi-même is found from 1080 (mei meïsme), and un autre moi-même “someone exactly like me” from 1564.[2] The noun le moi “what makes up a person's individuality” appears in 1581; in the 17th century it took the sense of self-centred personality, as in Pascal's le moi est haïssable, and Descartes (1640) defined it as the thinking subject.[2] In psychoanalysis it has translated the ego since about 1900.[2]

Timeline

  • 842 – Mi in the Strasbourg Oaths.[7]
  • 1080 – Mei and mei meïsme in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1150 – The form moi.[3][4]
  • 1581 – Le moi as a noun.[2]
  • 1640 – Descartes uses it for the thinking subject.[2]
  • c. 1900 – Moi in psychoanalysis.[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. me: stressed form of the first person singular, after a preposition or an imperative: avec moi, regarde-moi.[8][4]
  2. I, me: for emphasis, beside or in place of je: moi, je reste, c'est moi.[8][7]
  3. À moi: mine: ce livre est à moi, à moi ! “help!”.[4]

Noun

  1. (philosophy) The self, the thinking subject.[8][2]
  2. (psychoanalysis) The ego.[2]

Word family

  • moi-même

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 565b
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert