vouloir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vu.lwaʁ/^[1]

Forms

vouloir^[1] Old French voleir (881), voloir (12th century); vouloir is found before 1220.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French voleir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *volēre, formed on the stem of Classical Latin forms of velle (“to want”) such as volō (“I want”), “volēbam” and “voluī”, and under the influence of *potēre (whence pouvoir).^[2][4][5][3] “Velle” meant “to desire, wish”, hence “to consent to”, “to decide, order” and “to claim, maintain”, and served as an auxiliary in verbal periphrases.^[2] It goes back to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to want, choose”), found in Slavic and Italic, and in German wollen and English will.^[2][6]

Cognate with Romanian vrea, Italian volere, Occitan voler and Catalan voler.^[6] Spanish and Portuguese use querer, from quaerō, instead.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Sequence of Saint Eulalia (881) has the perfect with an infinitive, “to intend to”: Voldrent la veintre li Deo inimi “the enemies of God wanted to overcome her”.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Vouloir first had the general sense “to intend to”, with an infinitive, a clause or a neuter pronoun (je le veux).^[2] It then meant “to wish strongly”, first in voleir mal a qqn “to hate someone” (late 10th century), still used in the 18th century, and vouloir qqch. is found from 1080.^[2][3] Vuleir meilz “to prefer” occurs about 1100.^[7] Vouloir du bien, du mal à qqn is recorded in 1538.^[3]

The infinitive became a noun, le vouloir “will”, in the 12th century, and bon, mauvais vouloir “good, ill will” is found in 1432.^[8][6] The old present participle veuillant survives in bienveillant and malveillant (12th century).^[5]

Timeline

• 881 – Voldrent in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.^[7]
• late 10th century – Voleir mal a “to hate”.^[2]
• 1080 – Vouloir qqch. in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• 12th century – The noun vouloir, bienveillant.^[8][5]
• 1432 – Bon vouloir.^[6]
• 1538 – Vouloir du bien à qqn.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To want, to wish, to desire: je veux partir, il veut que tu viennes.^[1][3]
2. To consent, to agree: je veux bien.^[3][2]
3. (imperative, formal) Please: veuillez vous asseoir.^[1]
4. To expect, to require: la loi veut que….^[1][2]
5. Vouloir dire: to mean.^[1]
6. En vouloir à qqn: to bear a grudge against someone.^[1]
7. Se vouloir: to claim to be, to see oneself as.^[1]

Noun

1. (literary) Will: selon son bon vouloir.^[6][1]

Word family

• bienveillant
• malveillant

Related words

• volonté
• volontiers
• Latin volō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 216b
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert