vous

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vu/^[1]
• IPA: /vu.z‿/^[1]

Forms

vous (second-person plural and second-person formal singular, informal singular tu, object vous, emphatic vous, possessive determiner votre)^[1] Old French vos (about 900), vous from the 12th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vos, inherited from Latin vōs (“you (plural)”).^[2][4][5][1] Bloch and Wartburg note that “vous” is the form that developed in unstressed position, and that it is the only one used since the first texts.^[6][3] The Latin pronoun has correspondents in several Indo-European languages: Sanskrit वः (vaḥ), Avestan vå and Old Church Slavonic вы (vy);^[2] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *wōs.^[1]

Cognate with Italian voi, Occitan vos, Spanish vos and Portuguese vós.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Jonas fragment (937–952) already has vos as an unstressed object before the verb: si vos avient qe… “if it happens to you that…”.^[8] Rey dates the pronoun for a group of people, the speaker excluded, to about 900.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1050 vous was also used to a single person, in place of tu, to mark distance and usually respect; the Chanson de Roland has it in this sense.^[2][8][3] This polite vous developed on the model of the royal nous, and exists or has existed in all the Romance languages except perhaps Romanian.^[6] Vous standing for the indefinite on is found in Old French before 1162.^[2]

Vous autres dates from 1647 (Corneille) and vous-même from 1663 (Molière).^[2][3] The pronoun has been used as a noun since 1794, as in de vous à moi (1830), and dire vous “to address as vous” from 1876.^[2] The verb voussoyer is recorded from the 14th century (as vosier); vouvoyer is a 19th-century form.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 900 – Vos for several people.^[2]
• c. 1050 – Vous used to one person, out of respect.^[2]
• c. 1100 – Polite vous in the Chanson de Roland.^[8]
• 14th century – Vosier, the ancestor of voussoyer.^[6]
• 1647 – Vous autres in Corneille.^[3][2]
• 1663 – Vous-même in Molière.^[2]
• 1794 – Vous used as a noun.^[2]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. you: second person plural pronoun, subject, object or after a preposition.^[1][9]
2. (polite) You, to a single person, in the formal address called vouvoiement.^[9][1]
3. You, one: indefinite, standing for on: cela vous fait plaisir.^[2]
4. Used in reflexive and reciprocal verbs: vous vous connaissez.^[9]

Word family

• rendez-vous
• vous-même
• vous-mêmes
• vouvoyer

Related words

• votre
• nous
• Latin vōs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 634b
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert