nôtre

Forms

nôtre (plural nôtres)^[1] Old French nostre; spelled nôtre from the 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French nostre, inherited from Latin noster (“our”),^[1][3][4][5] the tonic form of notre.^[2][6] The Latin possessive is derived from nōs (“we, us”) with a suffix marking the opposition of two notions.^[4]

The stressed form keeps the full Old French shape, while the unstressed possessive was shortened because it is enclitic.^[6] Compare Old Occitan nostre, Spanish nuestro, Portuguese nosso and Italian nostro.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (1080 for the GLLF and Rey, about 1100 for the TLFi) uses nostre as a predicate, “ours”: l'onur del camp ert nostre, the honour of the field will be ours, and nostre est li premers colps.^[7][6] The plural li nostre “our men, those of our side” is found from 1080.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The pronoun le nôtre grew from the article used with the possessive when a noun was not repeated, as in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (about 1140).^[7] Bloch and Wartburg date the use of le nôtre as a stressed pronoun to the 13th century, like le vôtre.^[8]

Les nôtres “those of our side” follows a Latin use of nostri;^[4] le nôtre “what belongs to us” (1120–1150) is now archaic.^[4] Y mettre du nôtre “to do our share” dates from 1690, but du nôtre “on our part” (1668) is no longer used.^[4] The adjective use before or after a noun, as in Molière's l'interruption nôtre, is classical; today the adjective is used as a predicate, as in faire nôtres “to adopt as ours”.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1080 – The Chanson de Roland has nostre as a predicate and li nostre “those of our side”.^[2][4][7]
• 1120–1150 – Le nôtre “what belongs to us”.^[4]
• c. 1140 – Pronoun use in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[7]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it in the comparative.^[2]
• 1668 – Du nôtre “on our part”.^[4]
• 1690 – Y mettre du nôtre is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Ours, belonging to us, mainly as a predicate: Ces souvenirs sont nôtres., faire nôtres ces idées.^[9][2]
2. (archaic) Our, placed after a noun.^[9][2]

Pronoun

1. Le nôtre, la nôtre, les nôtres: ours, the one or ones belonging to us: Leur jardin est plus petit que le nôtre.^[9][6]

Noun

1. Les nôtres: our family, friends or companions, those of our side: Serez-vous des nôtres ce soir ?^[9][4]
2. Y mettre du nôtre: to do our share, to make an effort.^[4][9]

Related words

• notre
• nous
• vôtre
• Latin noster

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 194a
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert