Etymologically
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plus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ply/[1]
  • IPA: /plys/[1]
  • IPA: /plyz‿/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec, informal): /py/[1]

Forms

plus[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French plus, inherited from Latin plūs (“more”), the comparative of multus (“much”) (whence moult), corresponding to Ancient Greek πολύς (polús).[2][3][1] With adjectives “plūs”, like magis, tended to replace the comparative formed with a suffix; this use must have been common in speech, and, supported by its opposite minus, “plūs” ousted “magis” (whence mais).[2] It belongs to the root of pleō (“to fill”) and plēnus (“full”) (whence plein), but the details of its form are hard to explain; the “u” of Old Latin plous is due to “minus”.[2][4]

Cognate with Italian più and Occitan plus.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion de Clermont (about 980) has it as “more”: trenta tres anz et alques plus “thirty-three years and a little more”.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Plus with an adjective, “to a higher degree”, and plus que “more than” are found in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050), and plus de before a number about 1100.[6][7] Other phrases followed: plus… plus “the more … the more” (about 1170), sans plus (1176–81), de plus en plus (about 1275), qui plus est (Villon, 1461) and tant et plus (1530).[6] With ne it has expressed “no longer” since Old French.[1][2]

In Gallo-Romance plus as an adverb of quantity belongs to the northern dialects; south of a line from the Vendée to French-speaking Switzerland mais is used instead.[5][2] In mathematics plus is pronounced with its s, a pronunciation that tends to spread to avoid confusion with negative plus [ply].[8]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Plus “more” in the Passion de Clermont.[6]
  • c. 1050 – Plus with an adjective, and plus que.[6]
  • c. 1090 – Surplus.[5]
  • c. 1100 – Plus de before a number, in the Chanson de Roland.[6]
  • c. 1275 – De plus en plus.[6]
  • 1461 – Qui plus est in Villon.[6]
  • 1668 – Plus d'un in La Fontaine.[6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. more: forms the comparative: plus grand que; with the article, the superlative: le plus grand.[1][7]
  2. More, to a greater extent: il travaille plus, plus… plus “the more … the more”.[1][6]
  3. More (of): plus de pain, plus de dix.[1]
  4. Ne… plus: no more, no longer: il ne pleut plus.[1][2]
  5. Non plus: neither, either: moi non plus.[1]
  6. (mathematics) Plus: deux plus deux.[1][8]

Noun

  1. Le plus: the most, the maximum: le plus possible.[6][7]

Word family

  • plus-que-parfait
  • surplus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 102a
  4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert