personne French · revision 16314

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1135, Couronnement de Louis|origins=la persona}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɛʁ.sɔn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''personne''' ''f'' (plural personnes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|persone]] and [[m|fro|presonne]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|persone]], [[inh|la|persōna|t=actor's mask; role, character; person]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|8, 268b) The Latin word first meant a theatre mask, then the role given to the mask and, outside the theatre, an individual, as already in Cicero; in Late Latin it also meant “honour, dignity”, grammarians used it from Varro on to translate [[grc|πρόσωπον|tr=prósōpon]], and lawyers opposed it to “res” “thing”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It is thought to be a technical borrowing from Etruscan “phersu”, which names a masked figure in an inscription, Wiktionary calls the origin unknown, perhaps Etruscan, and Littré rejects a derivation from [[m|la|persono|t=to sound through]], whose /o/ is short.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|persona]], [[es|persona]] and [[pt|pessoa]]; the word exists in all the Romance languages except Romanian.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1135 in the ''Couronnement de Louis'' in the physical sense “bearing, stature”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From “bearing” came “the body of the person spoken of” (about 1170), alive in ''content de sa personne'' (1538), ''bien fait de sa personne'' (about 1660) and ''bien de sa personne'' (1935).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) By about 1140 it also meant an important person, and in 1174 an ecclesiastical dignitary, a sense continued by [[en|parson]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In the same year it named a person of the Trinity and an individual, man or woman.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''En personne'' (1464) replaced ''en sa propre personne'' (about 1250); ''jeune personne'' dates from 1547 and ''grande personne'' “adult” from 1640.^(TLFi)

+

+ As a negative pronoun, ''ne … persone'' “nobody” is recorded from 1226–1288; the southern dialects use forms of Old Occitan ''degun'', from Latin ''nec ūnus'', instead.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1135 – ''Persone'' “bearing” in the ''Couronnement de Louis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1140 – “Person of importance”, in Gaimar.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174 – “Individual” and “person of the Trinity”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^(TLFi)

+ * 1226 – Pronoun ''persone'' “no one”.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1464 – ''En personne'' in ''Pathelin''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – ''Content de sa personne''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1640 – ''Grande personne'' “adult”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|person]], an individual: ''une personne âgée'', ''par personne''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # One's body, oneself: ''content de sa personne'', ''en personne'', in person.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Jeune personne'': a young woman, ''grande personne'': an adult.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(grammar)'' A person: ''la première personne du singulier''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(theology)'' A person of the [[m|en|Trinity]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(law)'' ''Personne physique'', ''personne morale'': natural person, legal entity.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # With ''ne'': [[m|en|nobody|alt=Nobody]], no one: ''Personne ne le sait.''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Without ''ne'': anyone: ''Vous le savez mieux que personne.''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[personnage]]

+ * [[personnifier]]

+ * [[personnification]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[personnel]]

+ * [[personnalité]]

+ * [[la|persōna]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}