être French · revision 16189

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=842, Serments de Strasbourg|origins=ine-pro *es-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ɛːtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [ɛt(ɾ)]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [dɛt(ɾ)]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''être'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French infinitive [[m|fro|estre]]; the spelling ''être'' dates from the 17th century.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|estre]], [[inh|la-vul|*essō|alt=*essere]], a popular remaking of Classical Latin [[m|la|sum|alt=esse|t=to be]].^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) The conjugated forms come, more or less regularly, from the Latin ones, with alterations already in Late Latin and many analogical remakings.^(TLFi) The past participle [[été]] and the present participle [[étant]] were taken from Old French [[m|fro|ester|t=to stand]], from [[la|stō|t=to stand]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Old French imperfect [[m|fro|iere]], [[m|fro|ere]], from [[m|la|sum|alt=eram]], gave way by the middle of the 13th century to [[m|fro|esteie]], the ancestor of the modern imperfect; some explain it by the same verb, others as remade on the infinitive.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The future [[m|fro|serai]] comes from a combination of the infinitive with [[m|la-vul|*aiō|t=I have]], and replaced the older futures [[m|fro|ier]], [[m|fro|er]] from [[m|la|sum|alt=erō]] in the 14th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The preterite [[m|fro|fui]] continues [[m|la|sum|alt=fuī|t=I was]], from a different Indo-European root, [[ine-pro|*bhū-]], whose original sense “to grow” survives in [[grc|φύω|tr=phúō]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The Latin verb, like [[grc|εἶναι|tr=eînai]], goes back to an Indo-European root [[ine-pro|*es-]] “to be found”, which was not at first a copula; it is also the source of [[en|is]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Cognate with [[it|essere]], [[ca|ésser]], [[oc|èsser]], [[es|ser]] and [[pt|ser]].^(Wiktionary) Spanish and Portuguese have kept [[m|es|estar]] (from the same verb “stāre”) beside [[m|es|ser]], which they use only as copula and auxiliary.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the Strasbourg Oaths (842) the verb is already used with a prepositional complement describing the state or situation of the subject.^(TLFi) The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (881–882) uses it to link a subject to a quality: ''Buona pulcella fut Eulalia'' “Eulalia was a good maiden”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the second half of the 10th century ''être'' is found in the strong sense “to exist, to be real”, a sense kept in philosophy, as in ''je pense, donc je suis'', the French version of Descartes's ''cogito ergo sum''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) By about 980 it was used impersonally (''il est'' “there is”), with the demonstrative ''ce'' (''c'est'') to present and highlight part of a sentence, and as the auxiliary of the passive, of pronominal verbs and of some intransitive verbs.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Être à'' followed by an infinitive meant “must be” (1119), and ''être à'' “to be busy at” is found in 1174–76.^(TLFi)

+

+ The infinitive was used as a noun from the 12th century, first for “existence, way of being”, then for “a being, a creature”;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005) ''bien-être'' was formed in 1580 by Montaigne and ''non-être'' in the 14th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In the 17th century ''en être'' was a veiled way of saying that a man was homosexual.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – The verb appears in the Strasbourg Oaths.^(TLFi)

+ * 881–882 – The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' uses it with an attribute.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 980 – First use as the auxiliary of the passive and in impersonal ''il est''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1030 – The infinitive ''estre'' is used as a noun.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1080 – The infinitive is recorded in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * mid-13th century – The imperfect forms ''iere'', ''ere'' drop out of ordinary use.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 14th century – The old future forms ''ier'', ''er'' disappear.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1580 – Montaigne coins ''bien-être''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1657–59 – Tallemant des Réaux records the innuendo ''en être''.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|be]]: links a subject to its attribute: ''la terre est ronde''.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+ # To [[m|en|exist]], to be real.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # To be (somewhere), to be [[m|en|located]].^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(impersonal)'' ''Il est'': there is; used to give the time or the date.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Être à'': to belong to; with an infinitive, to need to be done: ''c'est à refaire''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(auxiliary)'' Forms the [[m|en|passive]] and the compound tenses of pronominal verbs and of some intransitive verbs of motion or change of state (''venir'', ''naître'', ''mourir'').^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|being]], a living creature: ''les êtres vivants''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A person, an individual: ''un être cher''.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' The fact of being; [[m|en|existence]]: ''l'être et le néant''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A person's inner nature; [[m|en|essence]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[peut-être]]

+ * [[bien-être]]

+ * [[non-être]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ester]]

+ * [[la|sum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Être'' itself forms its compound tenses with ''avoir'' (''j'ai été'').^(Grand Robert 2005) The old use of ''ester'' “to stand” survives in law in ''ester en justice'' “to go to law”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}