je French · revision 16186

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=842, Serments de Strasbourg|origins=la ego}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʒə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: [ʒɵ]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (informal): /ʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (informal): /ʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''je''' (first person singular, plural nous, object me, emphatic moi, possessive determiner mon)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|eo]], [[m|fro|io]] (842), [[m|fro|jo]], [[m|fro|jeo]], [[m|fro|gié]], ''je'' from about 1100.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|jo]], [[inh|la-lat|eo]] (recorded in the 6th century), a contraction of Classical Latin [[m|la|ego|t=I]].^(TLFi)^(FEW|3, 207a)^(DHLF 1992) The Late Latin form is supposed from the Romance languages as a whole, which all go back to it.^(TLFi) Bloch and Wartburg explain the weakening by the minor role the pronoun took in speech, which led to a quick and weak pronunciation.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The many Old French forms (“gié”, “jeo”, “jo”) reflect different sound changes of “eo” depending on whether it kept its stress, which are still not fully understood; the unstressed “je” seems to be a weakened “jo”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Latin “ego” has correspondents in [[grc|ἐγώ|tr=egṓ]], and, without the final vowel, [[got|𐌹𐌺|tr=ik]] and [[non|ek]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Cognate with [[it|io]], [[es|yo]], [[pt|eu]] and [[ro|eu]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Strasbourg Oaths (842) have ''eo'' and ''io'': ''Si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo'' “so I will help this brother of mine Charles”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The form ''je'' is found in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Latin ''ego'' was at first used in literary language to put the speaker forward and contrast them with others; in speech it soon became a mere marker of the first person, and this weakening may explain the form ''eo''.^(DHLF 1992) As verb endings wore away, ''jo''/''je'' became more and more common before the verb.^(TLFi) ''Je'' could still be used as a stressed form until the 17th century, as in the legal formula ''je soussigné'' “I, the undersigned”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In 1871 Rimbaud used ''je'' as a noun for the self (“Je est un autre”), and in philosophy ''le je'' is the subject to which an individual ascribes their acts and states.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – ''Eo'' and ''io'' in the Strasbourg Oaths.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Je'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 17th century – Last uses of ''je'' as a stressed pronoun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1871 – Rimbaud uses ''je'' as a noun for the self.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|I]]: the first person singular subject pronoun, for a speaker of either sex.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Used for another person to describe hurried actions: ''et je te pousse, et je te bouscule''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(invariable)'' The word ''je''; the first person in a narrative: ''le je du narrateur''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' The [[m|en|self]], the subject.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[moi]]

+ * [[me]]

+ * [[la|ego]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Je'' is elided to ''j''' before a vowel or mute ''h'' (''j'aime'').^(Littré 1873) After an inverted verb its ''e'' is mute (''puis-je'').^(Petit Robert 2007) It is replaced by ''moi'' when stressed or separated from the verb (''moi, je viens'').^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}