prou

Forms

prou^[1] Old French prod, prud, pro and preu; the spelling prou is a 16th-century reshaping.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pro, used as an adverb; the Old French noun meant “profit, advantage” and also “abundance”.^[4][2][5] That noun is inherited from Vulgar Latin prode (“profit”), a noun use of the invariable adjective meaning “useful, profitable”, drawn from prōdest (“it is useful”), the third person of prōsum (“to be useful”), read as prode est on the model of potest beside pote est.^[4][1] Bloch and Wartburg explain the adverb's form by its frequently unstressed position, against the noun's regular preu.^[5] preux comes from the same Latin word.^[2][5] Littré cited Diez's older derivation from Latin probē (“well”).^[6]

Cognate with Occitan pro, Catalan prou and Italian pro.^[6][1][5] Compare the Old Occitan phrase petit o pro.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adverb meaning “much, well” it is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100): Ki tant ne set ne l'ad prod entendut.^[4][6] The noun pro is older, recorded about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis and as proud about 980.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The adverb meant “much, enough, very” until the 17th century.^[5][2] From about 1165 it was also used as an indefinite pronoun with de, “a lot of” (pro i a d'omes).^[4][2] The noun “profit” was common until the 15th century and lived on in the wish bon prou vous fasse, still used by La Fontaine in 1665 as an archaism.^[4][5][2]

Since the 17th century prou has been used almost only in set phrases: ni peu ni prou (1547) “not at all” has disappeared, and peu ou prou (1600) “more or less” survives in literary use although prou itself is no longer understood.^[2][4][5] The word has vanished from the northern dialects but survives in the south and in French-speaking Switzerland in the sense “much, enough”.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 980 – The noun proud “profit” in the Passion of Clermont.^[2][3]
• c. 1100 – The adverb prod “much” in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1165 – Pro de “a lot of” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[4]
• c. 1200 – The spelling prou is recorded for the noun.^[2][3]
• 1547 – Ne peu ne prou in Amyot.^[4]
• 1600 – Peu ou prou in Olivier de Serres.^[4]
• 1665 – La Fontaine's bon prou vous fasse “much good may it do you”.^[4][2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (obsolete) Much, a lot, enough.^[4][1][3]
2. Peu ou prou (literary): more or less, to some degree.^[4][7]
3. Ni peu ni prou (dated): not at all.^[4][6]

Related words

• preux
• peu
• Latin prōsum

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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert