jamais French · revision 16279

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=2nd half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʒa.mɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Paris): /ʒa.me/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [ʒɑ̃me]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Louisiana): [hɑ̃mɛ̃]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''jamais'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the welding, in the 13th century, of Old French “ja mais”, formed [[af|fro|ja|mais|t1=already, now|t2=more]].^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(FEW|5, 26b) The two adverbs continue [[la|iam|t=already]] and [[m|la|magis|t=more]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) The phrase thus meant “any more” and at first referred only to the future.^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[es|jamás]], [[it|giammai]], [[oc|jamai]] and [[pt|jamais]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the second half of the 10th century in the ''Vie de saint Léger'', in a future negation, ''Ja non podra mais Deu laudier'' “he will never again be able to praise God”: a denial that something which had happened before would happen again.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French ''ne … ja'' and ''ne … jamais'' were used only of the future; for the past the language said ''ne … onques'', from [[la|unquam|t=ever]], which gave way to ''ne … jamais'' only from the 14th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) From the 11th to the 13th century ''ne … jamais'' still meant “never again”, as its parts imply, against plain ''ne … ja'' “never”; when ''ne … ja'' disappeared, ''plus'' had to be added to express the old sense, which is why ''ne … plus jamais'' repeats the idea of “more”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ The positive senses also arose in Old French: “from now on” (about 1130), “one day, ever” of a possible future event (about 1160) and of the past (about 1276).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''À jamais'' “for ever” appears in the late 13th century, strengthened to ''à tout jamais'' before 1526, ''jamais plus'' dates from 1552, ''au grand jamais'' from 1573, after Rabelais's ''au grand fin jamais'' (1546), and ''jamais de la vie'' from 1841.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 2nd half of the 10th century – ''Ja … mais'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Ne … ja mais'' in the ''Chanson de Roland'', a plain negation of the future.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – Positive sense “one day, ever” in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1280 – First used with a past tense, denying a past event.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – The two words are written as one.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 14th century – ''Ne … jamais'' begins to replace ''ne … onques'' for the past.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1546 – ''Au grand fin jamais'' in Rabelais's ''Tiers livre''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1573 – ''Au grand jamais''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1841 – ''Jamais de la vie''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # Without negation: ever, at any time, past or future: ''Si jamais je te revois'', ''plus que jamais''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''À jamais'', ''à tout jamais'', ''pour jamais'': for ever, [[m|en|forever]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # With ''ne'': [[m|en|never]], at no time: ''Il ne l'a jamais vue.''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Without ''ne'', in answers and elliptical phrases: never: ''Maintenant ou jamais'', ''jamais de la vie''.^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[déjà]]

+ * [[mais]]

+ * [[désormais]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The pleonasm of ''ne … plus jamais'', where ''-mais'' and ''plus'' both mean “more”, is a relic of the Old French distinction between ''ne … ja'' and ''ne … jamais''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}