Etymologically
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vieux

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Pronunciation

Forms

vieux (masculine singular before vowel vieil, feminine vieille, masculine plural vieux, feminine plural vieilles)[1] Old French nominative vielz (about 1050), object vieil (1080), vieux (13th century); feminine vieille (about 1155).[2][3] Vieil is used before a vowel or mute h (un vieil homme), a rule applied since the 17th century.[4][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vieil, inherited from Late Latin veclus (“old”), an alteration of classical Latin vetulus (“oldish; old man”), a familiar diminutive of vetus (“old, former”); the form “veclus” is condemned as incorrect in the “Appendix Probi”.[2][5][1][6] “Vetus” itself gave Old French viez (“old, worn”), used mostly of things until the 14th and 15th centuries, while “vieux” was said almost only of people.[5][2][3]

Rey traces “vetus” to an Indo-European root “*wet-” “year”, seen in Ancient Greek ἔτος (étos, “year”) and in Latin vitulus (“calf”); the sense “old” may come from the contrast between the wine of last year and new wine.[2][7]

Cognate with Romanian vechi, Italian vecchio, Catalan vell, Spanish viejo and Portuguese velho.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis as velz, of the world, “which has existed for a long time”; about 1100 the Chanson de Roland uses it of a person: Il est mult vielz, si ad sun tens uset.[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word spread from people to things: vieilles debtes (1357), vieulz loups and vieilles gens (1385), vins vielz (1421).[4][5] It came to mean “former, of an earlier time” (le vieil droit, 1480, vieil François, 1579, le bon vieux temps, 1547) and took a pejorative nuance (1464).[4] Sur ses vieux jours dates from 1612 and faire de vieux os from 1676.[4]

As a familiar form of address, mon vieux is recorded from 1790; in slang le vieux and les vieux mean one's father and one's parents.[8][1] Derivatives include vieillesse (1120), vieillard (1155), vieillir (1160) and vieillerie (1680).[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Velz in the Vie de saint Alexis.[4]
  • c. 1100 – Of a person, in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • c. 1155 – Feminine vieille.[2]
  • 1385 – Les vieilles gens in Eustache Deschamps.[4]
  • 1547 – Le bon vieux temps in Noël du Fail.[4]
  • 1612 – Sur ses vieux jours.[4]
  • 1676 – Faire de vieux os.[4]
  • 1790 – Mon vieux as a form of address.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Old, aged: un vieil homme, devenir vieux.[4][1]
  2. Old, existing for a long time: une vieille maison, du vin vieux.[4]
  3. Long-standing: un vieil ami.[4][7]
  4. Former, of an earlier time: le vieux Paris, le bon vieux temps.[4]
  5. Old, worn, used: de vieux vêtements.[4][2]

Noun

  1. An old person: les vieux.[1][4]
  2. (familiar) Mon vieux, ma vieille: as a form of address, old chap.[8]
  3. (slang) One's father; in the plural, one's parents.[1]

Word family

  • vieillard
  • vieillerie
  • vieillesse
  • vieillir
  • vieillot
  • vétuste
  • vétéran
  • Latin vetus

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 360a
  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 Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF