ouïr

Forms

ouïr^[1] Old French oïr, first found in conjugated forms such as audid and oi.^[2] Middle French ouyr.^[1] The spelling ouïr is recorded from the 14th century.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French oïr, inherited from Latin audiō (“to hear, listen”).^[5][1][6][7] Rey notes that the Latin verb replaced the forms of an older Indo-European root meaning “hear”, which had no present tense, and that its formation is obscure, as is its link with auris (“ear”).^[2] Littré took the Latin verb to be derived from that noun.^[8]

Cognate with Romanian auzi, Italian udire, Occitan ausir, Catalan oir, Spanish oír and Portuguese ouvir.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the late 10th century in the conjugated form audid in the Passion, meaning “heard”.^[5][2] About 1100 the Chanson de Roland has Lo oi le corn Rollant (“he heard Roland's horn”).^[5]

Semantic evolution

Ouïr kept only the first sense of the Latin verb, “to hear, to listen to”.^[2] Its short and irregular conjugation made it give way, little by little, to entendre, and it was driven out of ordinary use in the course of the 17th century.^[2][7] In the 16th century most of its tenses were still alive (j'ois, nous oyons, j'oyais, j'ouïs, j'orrai); by the 17th century only the infinitive and the past participle ouï were current, and the future seems to have gone out of use early in that century.^[2]

It has survived mainly in j'ai ouï dire (late 12th century) and through the noun ouï-dire and the adjective inouï.^[2][3] The language of law kept it longer: parties ouïes is recorded from Furetière (1690),^[5] and the procedure term oyant compte, the party to whom an account is presented, dates from the same year.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the dialects held on to it better, in the Breton area, in the east from Wallonia to Provence and in the Massif Central, though everywhere under pressure from entendre.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 980 – The form audid appears in the Passion.^[5][2]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses oi “heard”.^[5]
• c. 1130 – Oïr parler “to hear tell” is recorded in the Eneas.^[4][2]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses ouïr with an infinitive.^[5]
• c. 1200 – The compound ouï-dire appears.^[2]
• 14th century – The spelling ouïr is found.^[3]
• Early 17th century – The future j'orrai goes out of use.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the legal phrase parties ouïes.^[5]
• 1694 – The Académie's dictionary shows the infinitive only in fixed phrases.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic or humorous) To hear, to listen to: nous avons ouï des cris dans la cour.^[3][9][10]
2. J'ai ouï dire que…: I have heard it said that…^[3][10]
3. Ouïr la messe: to attend Mass.^[5][8]
4. (law) To hear a witness's testimony: ouïr des témoins.^[3][10][8]
5. The imperative oyez is used as a crier's call for attention.^[3]

Word family

• ouïe
• ouï-dire
• inouï

Related words

• auditif
• audition
• audience
• Latin audiō

Usage notes

Littré notes that the word is not aspirated: l'ouïr, with elision.^[8] He also points out that the English court cry oyes is the French oyez.^[8]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b 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 i j 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
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)