vieux French · revision 16328

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la vetus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vjø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vieux''' (masculine singular before vowel vieil, feminine vieille, masculine plural vieux, feminine plural vieilles)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French nominative [[m|fro|vielz]] (about 1050), object [[m|fro|vieil]] (1080), ''vieux'' (13th century); feminine ''vieille'' (about 1155).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ ''Vieil'' is used before a vowel or mute ''h'' (''un vieil homme''), a rule applied since the 17th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vieil]], [[inh|la-lat|veclus|t=old]], an alteration of classical [[la|vetulus|t=oldish; old man]], a familiar diminutive of [[m|la|vetus|t=old, former]]; the form “veclus” is condemned as incorrect in the “Appendix Probi”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|14, 360a) “Vetus” itself gave Old French [[m|fro|viez|t=old, worn]], used mostly of things until the 14th and 15th centuries, while “vieux” was said almost only of people.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Rey traces “vetus” to an Indo-European root “*wet-” “year”, seen in [[grc|ἔτος|tr=étos|t=year]] and in [[la|vitulus|t=calf]]; the sense “old” may come from the contrast between the wine of last year and new wine.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Cognate with [[ro|vechi]], [[it|vecchio]], [[ca|vell]], [[es|viejo]] and [[pt|velho]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' as ''velz'', of the world, “which has existed for a long time”; about 1100 the ''Chanson de Roland'' uses it of a person: ''Il est mult vielz, si ad sun tens uset''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 14th century the word spread from people to things: ''vieilles debtes'' (1357), ''vieulz loups'' and ''vieilles gens'' (1385), ''vins vielz'' (1421).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It came to mean “former, of an earlier time” (''le vieil droit'', 1480, ''vieil François'', 1579, ''le bon vieux temps'', 1547) and took a pejorative nuance (1464).^(TLFi) ''Sur ses vieux jours'' dates from 1612 and ''faire de vieux os'' from 1676.^(TLFi)

+

+ As a familiar form of address, ''mon vieux'' is recorded from 1790; in slang ''le vieux'' and ''les vieux'' mean one's father and one's parents.^(BHVF)^(Wiktionary) Derivatives include [[vieillesse]] (1120), [[vieillard]] (1155), [[vieillir]] (1160) and [[vieillerie]] (1680).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Velz'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – Of a person, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1155 – Feminine ''vieille''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1385 – ''Les vieilles gens'' in Eustache Deschamps.^(TLFi)

+ * 1547 – ''Le bon vieux temps'' in Noël du Fail.^(TLFi)

+ * 1612 – ''Sur ses vieux jours''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1676 – ''Faire de vieux os''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1790 – ''Mon vieux'' as a form of address.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|old|alt=Old]], aged: ''un vieil homme'', ''devenir vieux''.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Old, existing for a long time: ''une vieille maison'', ''du vin vieux''.^(TLFi)

+ # Long-standing: ''un vieil ami''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Former, of an earlier time: ''le vieux Paris'', ''le bon vieux temps''.^(TLFi)

+ # Old, worn, used: ''de vieux vêtements''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An old person: ''les vieux''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Mon vieux'', ''ma vieille'': as a form of address, old chap.^(BHVF)

+ # ''(slang)'' One's father; in the plural, one's parents.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vieillard]]

+ * [[vieillerie]]

+ * [[vieillesse]]

+ * [[vieillir]]

+ * [[vieillot]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vétuste]]

+ * [[vétéran]]

+ * [[la|vetus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}