subjonctif

Forms

subjonctif m (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin subiūnctīvus (“serving to join”), a grammarians' word of the 4th century.^[2][3][1] In Late Latin it described conjunctions that introduce a subordinate clause and vowels that can follow other vowels.^[3][4] It was formed on the supine of subiungō (“to yoke, place beneath, subordinate, add”), from sub- (“under”) and iungō (“to join”), the source of French joindre.^[2][3] The Latin /un/ became /ɔ̃/, as in the traditional French pronunciation of Latin.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan subjunctiu, Spanish subjuntivo and Italian soggiuntivo.^[5] The mood was called coniūnctīvus in Latin, the source of French conjonctif, used for it from the 15th to the 19th century.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 14th century as an adjective meaning “expressing dependence, placed after”, in the phrase ordre subjunctive, in a grammatical text that Thurot cites from a manuscript of 1460.^[2] In 1529 Geoffroy Tory wrote of vocales subjonctives, vowels that can follow other vowels.^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was rare after the 16th century.^[2] As a noun the word is used by Meigret in 1550 for a verbal mood, and by Aneau in 1551 or 1556 in a sense that is not clear.^[2][3][4] From 1660, in Arnauld's grammar of Port-Royal, subjonctif or mode subjonctif is the personal mood of the verb, first seen as the mood of dependence; it took the place of conjonctif and optatif, which the 17th century also used.^[2][3][6]

Grammarians now describe it as the mood of will, feeling and subjectivity (doubt, uncertainty) rather than of subordination alone.^[3][8] The adjective also qualified what expresses subordination, as in proposition subjonctive (1765), a use now dated.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 14th century – Subjunctive is used as a grammatical adjective, “placed after, dependent”.^[2]
• 1529 – Tory writes of vocales subjonctives.^[3][4]
• 1550 – Meigret uses subjonctif as the name of a verbal mood.^[2][9]
• 1660 – Arnauld's grammar uses subjonctif for the mood, as noun and adjective.^[2][3][4]
• 1765 – Proposition subjonctive is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) The subjunctive mood, used in subordinate clauses and to express will, feeling, doubt or possibility: il faut qu'elle parte is in the subjunctive.^[8][10][11]

Adjective

1. (grammar) Of the subjunctive: le mode subjonctif.^[5][8]
2. (dated) Expressing subordination: conjonction subjonctive.^[2]

Related words

• conjonctif
• joindre
• jonction
• Latin subiungō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)