us

Forms

us m pl (plural only)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French us, inherited from Latin ūsus (“use, practice, experience”).^[1][2][3][4] Rey treats it as a borrowing of the Latin word.^[5] The Latin noun is the action noun of ūtor (“to use”), which also gave user.^[5][6] Cognate with Romanian uz, Italian uso, Spanish uso, Portuguese uso, Occitan us and Catalan ús.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace has aveir en us + infinitive, “to be used to doing something”, about 1150, and in 1155 turner en costume e en us “to make a habit of”.^[2][5] Wace also has custume et us about 1155, and Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence us et custume about 1190.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the word had the main senses of the Latin: “habit”, as in estre a us “to be in the habit”, current until the 18th century, and “use, employment” (about 1175), which became archaic.^[5][2] It survives in les us et coutumes “traditional usages”, recorded about 1207 in Villehardouin,^[8] and in Noël du Fail in 1585 (selon les us et coustumes du pays).^[2] Pomey already called it an old word in 1671.^[2] In law, Littré describes it as a term for usages, nearly always joined with coutumes.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Wace uses aveir en us “to be accustomed to”.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Custume et us in Wace.^[8][5]
• c. 1175 – The sense “use, employment” is recorded.^[5]
• c. 1190 – Us et custume in Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[8]
• c. 1207 – Les us et coutumes in Villehardouin.^[8]
• 1585 – Noël du Fail writes selon les us et coustumes du pays.^[2]
• 1671 – Pomey labels it an old word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural, dated or literary) Usages, customs: les us de la campagne.^[2][8]
2. Les us et coutumes: the customs and traditional practices of a region, people or group.^[6][8]
3. (rare) In the singular, a custom.^[2][8]

Word family

• usage

Related words

• user
• usuel
• usufruit
• abus
• outil
• ustensile
• utile
• Latin ūsus

Usage notes

In les us et coutumes the ⟨s⟩ is sounded in liaison.^[6][7] Littré held it silent before a consonant and called the Académie's sounding of it in every position an error.^[7] A separate, now obsolete us (Molière, 1661) comes from the ending of Latin masculine nouns of the second declension such as dominus: a savant en us was a scholar who Latinised his name out of pedantry, as in Molière's line Non pas de ces savants dont le nom n'est qu'en us (Les Fâcheux).^[9][5][7]

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 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 84a
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert