Etymologically
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vouloir

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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
  • 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