mille French · revision 17272

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mil/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mille''' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''mil'' (about 1050) and the plurals [[m|fro|milie]] (1080), [[m|fro|mile]] (1145) and ''mille'' (1208).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ ''Mil'' is still written in dates: ''l'an mil'', ''mil neuf cent''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|mile]], [[inh|la|mīlle|t=thousand]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|6/2, 89a) Two Latin forms lie behind the French word: the singular “mīlle” gave Old French “mil”, and the plural [[m|la|mīlia]] gave “milie”, “mile”, “mille”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The plural form became a singular about 1360–70 and won out in spelling, but kept the pronunciation of “mil”.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Rey explains that Latin “mīlle” came to be treated as indeclinable, after [[m|la|decem]] and [[m|la|centum]], while the plural “mīlia” stayed a noun; the Latin word has no known origin.^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary takes it back to [[itc-pro|*smīɣeslī]] and [[ine-pro|*smih₂ǵʰéslih₂|t=one thousand]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|mille]], [[es|mil]] and [[pt|mil]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) has ''cent mil'' for a vast number; in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) the plural is ''milie'', and Roland's army has ''set cenz chameilz e mil hosturs muez'' “seven hundred camels and a thousand moulted hawks”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides the exact number, ''mille'' stands for any great number (1538): ''mille fois'', ''mille mercis'', ''trente-six mille'' (1795), ''des mille et des cents'' “heaps of money” (1808), and oaths such as ''mille bombes'' (1769).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Je vous le donne en mille'' “you'll never guess” is recorded in 1761.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992) As a noun it is the number or figure 1000 (1690), and ''mettre dans le mille'' “to hit the bull's-eye” (1866) comes from the game of ''tonneau'', where the disc that falls into the frog's mouth scores the thousand.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The noun ''mille'' “mile” (1213) is the same word, from the Roman ''mille passuum'' “a thousand paces”; since 1580 it has also rendered the [[en|mile]], and the ''mille marin'' is the nautical mile.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Cent mil'', ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – Plural ''milie'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1208 – Plural ''mille'', Villehardouin.^(TLFi)

+ * 1213 – ''Mille'' as a measure of distance.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1360–70 – ''Mille'' used as a singular.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – “A great number”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1761 – ''Je vous le donne en mille''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1866 – ''Mettre dans le mille''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # A [[m|en|thousand]]: ''mille euros'', ''deux mille ans''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A great many: ''mille mercis'', ''je vous l'ai dit mille fois''.^(Larousse)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''Je vous le donne en mille'': you'll never guess.^(Le Robert)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The number one thousand, ''mettre dans le mille'', to hit the [[m|en|bull's-eye]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A [[m|en|mile]]: the Roman mile of a thousand paces; the English mile, ''mille marin'', ''mille nautique'', the nautical mile of 1,852 metres.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[millier]]

+ * [[millième]]

+ * [[million]]

+ * [[milliard]]

+ * [[millefeuille]]

+ * [[mille-pattes]]

+ * [[millepertuis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[millénaire]]

+ * [[millénium]]

+ * [[milli-]]

+ * [[la|mīlle]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Mille'' is invariable: ''deux mille''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) In dates ''mil'' is also written, ''l'an mil'', ''mil huit cent onze''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse) The noun ''mille'' “mile” takes a plural, ''des milles''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}