ceci French · revision 17162

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=13th century, Cortebarbe, Les Trois Aveugles de Compiègne}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sə.si/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ceci''' n^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle French ''cecy''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|ce|ci|t1=this, that|t2=here]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) The neuter pronoun “ce” is from popular Latin [[la-vul|*ecce hoc|t=behold this]], with Old French “iço”, “ice” and “ço”, “ce”; as it became unstressed it was replaced as a stressed pronoun by “ceci” and [[cela]], both of the 14th century according to Bloch and Wartburg.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Cortebarbe's fabliau ''Les Trois Aveugles de Compiègne'' (13th century) ''ceci'' refers back to what has been said, a use filled by ''cela'' in modern French.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1532 Rabelais uses ''cecy'' for what follows.^(TLFi) From the 15th century ''ceci'' and ''cela'' together name vaguely two things, familiarly: ''On faict cecy, on faict cela'' (Coquillart).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The Académie in 1740 records ''ceci'' as distinct from ''cela'', and in opposition to it for the nearer object.^(TLFi) Hugo's ''Ceci tuera cela'' means that the new will kill the old.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – ''Ceci'', Cortebarbe.^(TLFi)

+ * 15th century – ''Cecy … cela'', Coquillart.^(TLFi)

+ * 1532 – Of what follows, Rabelais.^(TLFi)

+ * 1740 – Opposed to ''cela'' for the nearer object, Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|this]] (thing), as opposed to ''cela'', the nearer one: ''ceci est à moi, cela est à vous''.^(Littré 1873)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # This, what follows: ''retenez bien ceci'', ''ceci dit'', ''à ceci près que''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # This, the thing present or under discussion: ''ceci ne m'appartient pas''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Ceci, cela'': one thing and another.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ce]]

+ * [[ci]]

+ * [[cela]]

+ * [[ça]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}