personnel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɛʁ.sɔ.nɛl/^[1]

Forms

personnel (feminine personnelle, masculine plural personnels, feminine plural personnelles)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin persōnālis (“relating to a person”),^[2][3][4][5] a term of Latin grammar and law, from persōna (“mask; person”).^[2][3] By surface analysis it is personne + -el.^[1] The old spelling was “personel”, with personnel from the 15th century.^[6]

The noun sense “staff” (1831) may have been modelled on German Personal (1811).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1174, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Life of Saint Thomas, as a grammatical term for a verb conjugated in all persons.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century law (Beaumanoir, 1283) it described what attaches to the person as opposed to property (réel), as in action personele.^[2][7] The everyday sense “belonging to a particular person” dates from about 1460,^[2][3] and pronom personnel from 1690.^[2] In the 18th century it meant “aimed at the author” in criticism (1727) and attaque personnelle is found in 1753;^[2] Saint-Simon used it for “selfish”, a sense that survives of a player who lacks team spirit.^[3][4] The approving sense “original, individual” is recorded in Gide in 1914.^[2]

As a noun, le personnel came to mean all the people in one profession (1831) and the staff of a house, firm or service (1834), opposed to matériel in military language.^[3][2] English took personnel “body of persons in a service” from French in 1837.^[8]

Timeline

• 1174 – A grammatical term in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[2]
• 1283 – A legal term in Beaumanoir.^[2]
• c. 1460 – “Belonging to a person”.^[2]
• 1690 – Pronom personnel in Furetière.^[2]
• 1753 – Attaque personnelle in the Encyclopédie.^[2]
• 1831 – The noun “staff, personnel”.^[2]
• 1837 – English borrows personnel.^[8]
• 1977 – The clipping perso.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Personal: belonging to or concerning a particular person: intérêt personnel, fortune personnelle.^[9][10]
2. Addressed to one person: lettre personnelle; aimed at someone: attaque personnelle.^[9][10]
3. Original, showing a person's own character: un style très personnel.^[9][2]
4. (sports) Of a player, too selfish, lacking team spirit.^[9][3]
5. (grammar) Marking person: pronom personnel.^[2][9]

Noun

1. The staff of a firm, house or service.^[11][10]
2. All the people who practise a profession: le personnel politique.^[11]

Word family

• personnaliste
• personnellement
• personnaliser
• perso

Related words

• personne
• Latin persona
• English personnel
• English personal

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 273a
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)