posséder

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔ.se.de/^[1]

Forms

posséder^[1] Old French pursedeir (about 1120), porseoir (1170), porseir, porsoier, Old and Middle French possider (from 1260).^[2][3][4] The Académie wrote posseder in 1694 and 1718, posséder from 1740.^[5]

Etymology

It is a remaking (1364), after possession and possesseur, of Old and Middle French possider (“to have possession of”),^[5][2][6] itself borrowed from Latin possideō (“to occupy as one's own; to possess”).^[5][2][3][7] Beside it, from the 12th to the 14th century, French had more popular adaptations of the same Latin verb, such as pursedeir (Oxford Psalter, about 1120) and porseoir.^[2][5][6] The Latin verb is a compound of potis (“master, able”) and sedeō (“to sit”) (see seoir).^[2][8]

Compare Old Occitan possezir, Catalan posseir, Spanish poseer, Portuguese possuir and Italian possedere.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1364 in the Archives nationales uses it in the sense “to own”.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Most extensions date from the 16th and 17th centuries: “to have (a quality, a talent)” (1553), “to dominate (someone) morally”, of a feeling (Montaigne, 1580: cette amitié qui possède l'ame), and, in theology, of a demon taking hold of a body (possédé de maling esprit, Amyot, 1567).^[2][5] Corneille uses it for having a woman as wife (Le Cid, 1637) and La Rochefoucauld for enjoying her favours (1666); se posséder “to control oneself” is in Corneille (1652), and Pascal (1666) has “to know thoroughly” (posséder son sujet).^[5][2] The noun les possédants “the propertied classes” appears in Barrès (1897).^[5] In familiar French posséder quelqu'un means “to fool, take in”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Pursedeir, Oxford Psalter.^[4]
• 1260 – Possider.^[2]
• 1364 – Posséder “to own”.^[5]
• 1553 – “To have (a quality)”.^[2]
• 1567 – Possédé de maling esprit, Amyot.^[5]
• 1580 – “To dominate morally”, Montaigne.^[5]
• 1637 – “To have as wife”, Corneille.^[5]
• 1652 – Se posséder, Corneille.^[5]
• 1666 – “To know thoroughly”, Pascal.^[5]
• 1897 – Les possédants, Barrès.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To own, possess, have at one's disposal: posséder une maison, une fortune.^[9][1]
2. To have (a quality, a skill): posséder un grand talent; to know thoroughly: posséder son sujet, une langue.^[5][2]
3. To have sexual relations with (a woman); (dated) to have as wife.^[5][2]
4. Of a feeling, to dominate, hold: la jalousie le possède; of a demon, to possess.^[9][2]
5. (familiar) To fool, take in: il nous a bien possédés.^[9]
6. Se posséder: to control oneself.^[5][2]

Word family

• déposséder
• possédé
• possédant
• possédable

Related words

• possession
• possesseur
• seoir

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 239b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert