Etymologically
Log in

quel

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 05:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

quel m (feminine quelle, masculine plural quels, feminine plural quelles)[1] Old French qual (about 980), then quel (1050); the feminine quele, later quelle, was formed by analogy and replaced the inherited feminine quel by the 16th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French quel, inherited from Latin quālis (“of what kind”).[3][2][4][5][1] The Latin word, correlative of tālis (whence tel), was used in direct and indirect questions; in late popular Latin it was also used for the relative quī.[3][2] It is formed on the stem of the interrogative quis with a suffix “-li-”.[2]

Old French declined it: subject “quels”, “queus”, “quieus”, object “quel”; the feminine was at first the same as the masculine.[3][2] Cognate with Romanian care, Italian quale, Occitan qual, Catalan qual, Spanish cual and Portuguese qual.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the second half of the 10th century the Vie de saint Léger uses qual as an adjective; the Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) has it in an indirect question, Qual agre dol, no'l sab om vius “what sorrow he had, no living man knows”.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts it asked about the quality, nature or identity of a person or thing, and also about quantity or rank, roles that were Latin quis, quantus and quotus.[2] The exclamatory use is as old: quels dols m'est presentet ! (about 1050).[3][2]

Quel que with the subjunctive, “whatever”, is found in 1080; it survives before être (quelle que soit) but elsewhere gave way to quelque… que.[2][4] As a pronoun quel competed with lequel until the classical period (quel veux-tu ?); today it is used so only before être (quelle est la plus courte ?).[2][8] It also formed lequel (1080) and quelque.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 10th century – Qual in the Vie de saint Léger.[3]
  • c. 1050 – Quel as an exclamation in the Vie de saint Alexis.[3]
  • c. 1080 – Quel que and lequel in the Chanson de Roland.[2][4]
  • c. 1112 – The welded form quelque.[2]
  • 16th century – The feminine quelle replaces the old form.[2][3]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. which, what: in direct or indirect questions: Quelle heure est-il ?, je ne sais quel chemin prendre.[9][1]
  2. What a…: in exclamations: Quelle chance ![1][9]
  3. Quel que: whatever: quelles que soient ses raisons.[2]

Pronoun

  1. Which one: only before être: de ces routes, quelle est la plus courte ?[8]

Word family

  • tel
  • qualité

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 m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  4. ^ a b c d 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. 2, 1411b
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert