Etymologically
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voici

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vwa.si/[1]

Forms

voici (defective)[1] Old French veiz ci and vois ci; joined forms veeschi (late 13th century), vecy and vezci (14th century); voici from 1485.[2] The Académie wrote voicy in 1694 and 1718 and has written voici since 1740.[3]

Etymology

It is from French vois + ci (“here”), “vois” being the second person singular imperative of voir (“to see”): literally “see here”.[3][2][1] The Grand Robert allows that “vois” may be a bare verb stem taken from the indicative.[4] “Voir” continues Latin videō (“to see”).[5][6]

Old French kept the parts separate: the TLFi reads “veiz me ci” in the “Chanson de Roland” as “you see me here” and suggests that the frequent question form led to the joining, Rey and the GLLF take it as a plural imperative, “see me here”, set against singular “vei mi ci” (about 1170).[3][2][7] “Vois ci” then replaced the older “veiz ci”.[2][4] voilà was formed in the same way, a little later.[2]

Littré gives the dialect forms Walloon voci and Burgundian “veci”.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland has the parts still apart: Dreiz emperere, veiz me ci en present (“rightful emperor, see me here before you”).[8][3] The joined vechi is first found in Baudouin de Sebourc (1360–1370), pointing to a person or thing close by.[3]

Semantic evolution

Machaut uses vezci in 1361 to introduce what is about to be said, and vezcy que (1369) presents an action happening at that moment.[3] With an infinitive it draws attention to an action under way (1485), surviving mainly as literary voici venir.[3][2] Ronsard (1564) gives it a time sense, “here is the month and the day”, and Diderot (1771) uses it for “it is now (so long) since”.[3] Set phrases followed: ironic nous voici bien (1671), nous y voici (1725) and en voici bien d'une autre “here's another surprise” (1728).[3]

Rey notes that the contrast of voici (near) with voilà (farther), recorded from 1458, survives only in formal language or when both words appear together; everyday French mostly uses voilà.[2][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Veiz me ci in the Chanson de Roland.[3]
  • 1360–1370 – Vechi, joined, in Baudouin de Sebourc.[3]
  • 1361 – Machaut's vezci introduces what follows.[3]
  • 1458 – Voicy contrasted with voilà.[2][7]
  • 1485 – The form voici; use with an infinitive.[2][3]
  • 1564 – A time sense in Ronsard.[3]
  • 1728 – En voici bien d'une autre in Lesage.[3]
  • 1771 – “It is now (so long) since”, in Diderot.[3]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. Here is, here are: presents a person or thing close by: voici mon fils, me voici, les voici qui arrivent.[9][10]
  2. Opposed to voilà, points to what is nearer: voici Pierre et là-bas voilà Paul.[10]
  3. Announces what is about to be said or done: voici mes intentions.[10][2]
  4. Points to what is arriving or beginning: voici la pluie, (literary) voici venir….[11][9]
  5. (literary) ago, for: voici deux ans.[1][2]
  6. Nous y voici: here we are, we have come to the point.[3]

Word family

  • revoici

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ 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, 426b
  7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)