soi French · revision 16997

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=2nd half of the 10th century, Vie de saint Léger|origins=ine-pro *swé}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /swa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''soi''' ''m or f''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|se]] (in the ''Vie de saint Léger''), then [[m|fro|sei]] (11th century) and ''soi'' (about 1160–1175).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Académie spelled it ''soy'' in 1694 and 1718, ''soi'' from 1740.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|sei]], [[inh|la|sē|t=himself, herself, themselves]], the accusative of the Latin reflexive pronoun, in its stressed position.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The unstressed form of the same pronoun gave [[se]], just as [[moi]] and [[toi]] stand beside [[me]] and [[te]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) The Latin pronoun goes back to [[ine-pro|*swé]],^(Wiktionary) a root that Rey says marked a person's belonging to a group, or his being set apart from it, and that he also finds in [[sœur]] and in [[grc|ἔθος|tr=éthos|t=custom]] and [[m|grc|ἔθνος|tr=éthnos|t=nation]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|sé]], [[pt|si]] and [[es|sí]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The pronoun is first found in the second half of the 10th century, in the ''Vie de saint Léger'' (''ob se'', in a Provençal spelling) and the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (''Tut sun aver qu'od sei en ad portet'', “all his wealth that he took with him”), after a preposition and referring to the subject.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the earliest texts ''soi'' could be strengthened by ''même'' (''sei medisme'', in the ''Alexis'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It mostly goes with an indefinite or general subject, but it long also referred to a definite person, especially where [[lui]] would be ambiguous;^(DHLF 1992) this use is now dated.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Many phrases were formed with it.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''De soi'' “on one's own authority” (about 1172–1174) has gone out of use.^(DHLF 1992) ''Être à soi'' first meant “to be at liberty, in the wild” (about 1375), then “to be in full possession of one's reason” (mid-16th century) and “to be free” (1659).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''En soi'' was used in philosophy from 1541 (Calvin) for what exists independently of the mind,^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) and ''chez soi'' “at home” is in Montaigne (1580), the noun ''un chez-soi'' in Furetière (1690).^(GLLF 1989) Corneille has ''un autre soi-même'' “another self” in ''Horace'' (1640).^(TLFi)

+

+ As a noun, ''le soi'' “the self” appears in philosophy in 1700, in Pierre Coste's translation of Locke, again in Sartre's ''L'Être et le Néant'' (1943), and in psychoanalysis in 1948.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 2nd half of the 10th century – ''Se'', ''sei'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger'' and the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – The form ''soi''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1541 – ''En soi'' in philosophy (Calvin).^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1580 – ''Chez soi'', in Montaigne.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1640 – ''Un autre soi-même'', in Corneille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – The noun ''chez-soi'' (Furetière).^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1700 – ''Le soi'' in philosophy, translating Locke.^(TLFi)

+ * 1943 – Sartre's ''soi'' in ''L'Être et le Néant''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1948 – ''Le soi'' in psychoanalysis.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|oneself|alt=Oneself]]: the stressed reflexive pronoun of the third person, mostly referring to an indefinite subject (''on'', ''chacun'', ''personne''): ''n'aimer que soi''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # After a preposition: ''à soi'', ''chez soi'' (at home), ''sur soi'' (on one's person), ''en soi'' (in itself).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated)'' Himself, herself, itself, referring to a definite subject.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(philosophy, psychoanalysis)'' The [[m|en|self]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chez-soi]]

+ * [[soi-disant]]

+ * [[soi-même]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[se]]

+ * [[moi]]

+ * [[toi]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}