Etymologically
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qui

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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

  • 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