elle French · revision 16198

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛl/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec, informal): /a/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''elle''' ''f'' (third-person singular, plural elles, accusative la, dative lui, emphatic elle, possessive determiner son)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|ele]] (about 881), plural ''eles''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|ele]], [[inh|la|ille|alt=illa|t=that one (feminine)]], the feminine of the demonstrative “ille” “that”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) Rey connects “ille” with an Indo-European base with “l” for a distant object, also seen in [[m|la|alius|t=other]], [[m|la|ōlim|t=formerly]] and [[m|la|ultrā|t=beyond]].^(DHLF 1992) As a subject pronoun it followed the development of the masculine [[il]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) As an object it replaced, after 1250, the old pronoun [[m|fro|li]], [[m|fro|lei]], from [[m|la-vul|*illaei]], which survives in eastern, south-eastern and Norman dialects.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|lei]] and [[pro|liei]], which continue the oblique form.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (about 881) has the feminine subject ''ele'', referring to the saint.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Elle'' took over the stressed object uses from ''li'' after the middle of the 13th century (''à elle'', ''pour elle'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Used absolutely and with a capital, ''Elle'' names the beloved woman or the eternal feminine, as in George Sand's novel ''Elle et Lui''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 881 – ''Ele'' in the ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia''.^(TLFi)

+ * late 10th century – The plural ''eles'' in the ''Passion de Clermont''.^(TLFi)

+ * after 1250 – ''Elle'' replaces ''li'' as a stressed object.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|she]]; it: third person feminine singular subject pronoun; plural ''elles'' “they”.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Her, it: stressed form, after a preposition or for emphasis: ''à elle'', ''elle, elle sait''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Elle'': the beloved woman.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[il]]

+ * [[la]]

+ * [[la|ille]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The name of the letter ⟨l⟩ is also written ''elle''.^(Wiktionary) In informal Quebec speech the pronoun is often pronounced /a/.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}