Etymologically
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vous

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Pronunciation

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

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