vous French · revision 16205

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 900|origins=la vōs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vu/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /vu.z‿/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vous''' (second-person plural and second-person formal singular, informal singular tu, object vous, emphatic vous, possessive determiner votre)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|vos]] (about 900), ''vous'' from the 12th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vos]], [[inh|la|vōs|t=you (plural)]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|14, 634b)^(Wiktionary) 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.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) The Latin pronoun has correspondents in several Indo-European languages: [[sa|वः|tr=vaḥ]], [[ae|vå]] and [[cu|вы|tr=vy]];^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary traces it to [[itc-pro|*wōs]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|voi]], [[oc|vos]], [[es|vos]] and [[pt|vós]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==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…”.^(TLFi) Rey dates the pronoun for a group of people, the speaker excluded, to about 900.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==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.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) This polite ''vous'' developed on the model of the royal ''nous'', and exists or has existed in all the Romance languages except perhaps Romanian.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Vous'' standing for the indefinite ''on'' is found in Old French before 1162.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Vous autres'' dates from 1647 (Corneille) and ''vous-même'' from 1663 (Molière).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) 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.^(DHLF 1992) The verb ''voussoyer'' is recorded from the 14th century (as ''vosier''); ''vouvoyer'' is a 19th-century form.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 900 – ''Vos'' for several people.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Vous'' used to one person, out of respect.^(DHLF 1992)

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

+ * 14th century – ''Vosier'', the ancestor of ''voussoyer''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1647 – ''Vous autres'' in Corneille.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1663 – ''Vous-même'' in Molière.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1794 – ''Vous'' used as a noun.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|you]]: second person plural pronoun, subject, object or after a preposition.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(polite)'' You, to a single person, in the formal [[m|en|address]] called ''vouvoiement''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # You, one: indefinite, standing for ''on'': ''cela vous fait plaisir''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Used in reflexive and reciprocal verbs: ''vous vous connaissez''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rendez-vous]]

+ * [[vous-même]]

+ * [[vous-mêmes]]

+ * [[vouvoyer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[votre]]

+ * [[nous]]

+ * [[la|vōs]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}