Etymologically
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posséder

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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
  • 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