onques

Forms

onques^[1] Old French omque (about 881), unque (about 980), unc, unkes (1080), onkes (about 1160), and onc and onques (both about 1175).^[2][3] Modern French also writes onc and oncques; the Académie's 1694 dictionary has onc, and its 1935 edition onques.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French onques, inherited from Latin umquam (“at some time, ever”), which Latin used in negative, interrogative and conditional sentences and after a comparative.^[3][2][1][4] Rey analyses the Latin word as cum and quam (“than, how”).^[2] Its negative compound numquam (“never”) gave Old French nonque (“never”), found as early as 842 in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[3][2]

Old Occitan had oncas.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 881 as omque in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia, used with non and a verb in the past for “never”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Old French took over both Latin uses: with a negative it meant “never” (mostly with a verb in the past) or “not at all” (Roland, about 1100), and without one it meant “ever, at any time” in questions (about 1100), indirect questions (about 1160), conditions and after comparatives (about 1175).^[3][2]

In Middle French onques and jamais shared the work for a while, but by the 15th century jamais, which could go with any tense, had won.^[2] Onques survived as a stylistic archaism in the 16th and 17th centuries (La Fontaine), and Furetière called it “old and burlesque” in 1690.^[2][3] It was revived in the 19th century by writers evoking the Middle Ages, such as Balzac, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Goncourt and Anatole France.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 881 – Omque appears in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[3][2]
• late 10th century – Unque non in the Passion.^[3]
• c. 1050 – Unc … ne in the Life of Saint Alexis.^[3]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses unches and unkes, both for “never” and for “ever” in a question.^[3]
• c. 1175 – The forms onc and onques appear.^[2]
• 15th century – Jamais replaces it in ordinary use.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière calls it old and burlesque.^[3][2]
• 1830 – Balzac revives it as a literary archaism.^[3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (archaic, literary or humorous) With ne: never, at no time: Onques ne le revit.^[3][1]
2. (archaic) Without a negative: ever, at any time, one day.^[3][1]

Related words

• onc
• oncques
• jamais
• quiconque
• Latin umquam

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 26b
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter