le French · revision 16195

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 881, Sequence of Saint Eulalia|origins=la ille}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /lə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /l‿/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Paris): /lø/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): /l(ə)/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''le''' ''m'' (feminine la, masculine and feminine plural les, prevocalic masculine or feminine singular l')^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French masculine subject [[m|fro|li]], object [[m|fro|lo]] (881) and ''le''; feminine ''la''; plural ''li'', ''les'', feminine ''las'', ''les''.^(TLFi)

+ Contracted forms: ''au'' (from ''a le''), ''aux'', ''du'' (from ''de le''), ''des'', Old French also had ''el'', ''ou'' (from ''en le'') and ''ès'' (from ''en les'').^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|le]], [[inh|la|ille|t=that]], from the accusative forms [[m|la|ille|alt=illum]], “illam”, “illōs”, “illās”, with the loss of the first syllable because these words were unstressed and always placed before the noun.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) Littré found it odd that “ille” dropped its stressed syllable, and explained it by the same proclitic use.^(Littré 1873) The object pronoun “le”, “la”, “les” (“je le vois”) is the same word, from the same Latin forms.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ “Ille” was the demonstrative for a distant object in the Latin system of three demonstratives; its value weakened, especially in speech, and it replaced [[m|la|is]], a monosyllable, with a fuller form.^(DHLF 1992) Next to a noun it was reduced to an article, placed after the noun in Romanian and before it in the other Romance languages, Rey dates the choice of the order in the Latin of Gaul to after 271, when Dacia was cut off.^(DHLF 1992) Cognate with [[oc|lo]], [[es|el]], [[pt|o]] and [[it|lo]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (about 881) already has the subject form ''li'' (''li rex pagiens'' “the pagan king”), the object form ''lo'' and the feminine ''la'' (''la domnizelle'').^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French the article was used much less than now: it was rare before abstract nouns and, except to give them extension, before proper names.^(DHLF 1992) Traces of the old use survive in proverbs and fixed phrases such as ''us et coutumes''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The contraction ''au'' absorbed the old ''ou'' from ''en le'' (still used by Villon), as in ''jeter au feu''; hence ''au Portugal'' but ''en Espagne'', ''au printemps'' but ''en été''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) ''Aux'' likewise ousted ''ès'' from ''en les'', kept only in phrases such as ''docteur ès lettres''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) A grammatical joke recorded since 1919 turns ''redis-le-moi'' into ''redis-le-me-le''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 842 – The pronoun ''lo'' in the Strasbourg Oaths.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 881 – The article ''li'', ''lo'', ''la'' in the ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia''.^(TLFi)

+ * late 10th century – ''Le'' as subject and elided ''l'''.^(TLFi)

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

+ * 1919 – The joke ''redis-le-me-le'' is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Article===

+ # [[m|en|the]]: the definite article, masculine singular; feminine ''la'', plural ''les'', ''l''' before a vowel.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Before a noun taken in a general sense: ''le chien est un mammifère''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Before a family name in the plural: ''les Bourbons''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # Him, it: direct object pronoun of the third person masculine, ''la'' her, ''les'' them.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(neuter)'' It, so: stands for an idea already expressed: ''je le sais'', ''il le faut''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Stands for an adjective or noun used as attribute: ''fatiguée, je le suis''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[au]]

+ * [[du]]

+ * [[des]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lui]]

+ * [[il]]

+ * [[la|ille]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}