qui

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ki/^[1]
• IPA (Louisiana): /ki/^[1]
• IPA (Louisiana): /ti/^[1]

Forms

qui m or f^[1] Old French oblique (stressed) cui, from Latin cui, used after prepositions until the 13th century; it later merged in spelling with qui.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French qui, inherited from Latin quī (“who, which”), the nominative singular masculine of the relative and interrogative pronoun.^[4][3][1] In Late Latin (4th century) “quī” became the form for all three genders, eliminating quae and quod.^[3][2] The dative cui, common to all genders, became the oblique case singular and plural in popular Latin, giving Old French cui, soon written “qui”.^[3][2] The object form que comes from the accusative quem, and quoi from quid.^[2]

The Latin pronoun belongs to an Indo-European stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, with an added particle “-i”; a parallel stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷi- gave the interrogative quis.^[3] Cognate with Italian chi and Occitan qui; Gothic 𐌷𐍅𐌰𐍃 (ƕas) is related.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Strasbourg Oaths (842) qui is a relative subject with an antecedent: nul plaid… qui… cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit “no agreement … that may harm this brother of mine Charles”.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Nearly all the uses of qui are attested before the end of the 12th century.^[3] Without an antecedent it meant “whoever” from the second half of the 10th century, often in sayings (qui fai lo bien “whoever does good”), as in modern qui vivra verra.^[6][7] Until the 17th century it could also be a neuter interrogative, “what”, as in La Fontaine's Qui fait l'oiseau ?^[2] The old separation of qui from its antecedent by several words became rarer, and its elision to qu’ was given up because it was confused with que.^[3]

Timeline

• 842 – Relative qui in the Strasbourg Oaths.^[6]
• 2nd half of 10th century – Qui without antecedent, “whoever”.^[6]
• c. 1050 – Chi… chi “whoever” in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[6]
• 1080 – Qui after a preposition, for a person, in the Chanson de Roland.^[8]
• 13th century – End of the separate oblique form cui.^[2]
• 17th century – Last uses of qui as a neuter interrogative.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (relative) who, which, that: subject of a relative clause: les gens qui nous aiment.^[7][8]
2. (relative) Whom: after a preposition, for a person: l'homme à qui je parle.^[8]
3. (relative, without antecedent) Whoever, the one who: qui vivra verra.^[7][8]
4. (interrogative) Who, whom: qui est là ?, à qui est cette maison ?^[1][2]

Word family

• quiconque
• pourquoi

Related words

• que
• lequel
• quoi
• Latin quī

Usage notes

In Louisiana French qui is also a conjunction meaning “if”, perhaps related to si.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse