plusieurs French · revision 17298

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ply.zjœʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''plusieurs''' (plural only; same form in the masculine and feminine)^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ Old French [[m|fro|pluisur]] (about 1050), [[m|fro|plusur]], [[m|fro|plusor]] (1080); ''plusieurs'' appears in 1325 and was general before the end of the 15th century, under the influence of [[supérieur]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|plusor]], [[inh|la-vul|*plūsiōrēs]], an alteration after [[m|la|plūs|t=more]] of [[m|la-lat|plūriōrēs|t=several]] (4th century).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|9, 101b) “Plūriōrēs” remade classical [[m|la|plūrēs|t=more, more numerous]], plural of “plūs”, with the comparative suffix “-ior”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|plusor]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first record, ''li pluisur'' in the ''Life of Saint Alexis'' (about 1050), meant “most people, the greater number”; neither the construction nor the sense survived Old French.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Modern usage dropped the idea of a comparative and kept that of an indefinite number: the ''Chanson de Roland'' already has ''plusurs choses'' “several things” and the pronoun ''plusor''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) As a pronoun it is often followed by ''de'', ''d'entre'' (1716, La Motte).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In African French ''plusieurs'' can mean “many, a lot of”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Li pluisur'' “most people”, ''Life of Saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''Plusurs choses'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1325 – The form ''plusieurs''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1716 – ''Plusieurs de'', La Motte.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|several]], more than one; a fairly small number: ''plusieurs fois'', ''à plusieurs reprises''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(Africa)'' Many, a lot of.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # Several people or things: ''plusieurs d'entre eux'', ''nous en avons plusieurs'', ''à plusieurs'', together, as a group.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plus]]

+ * [[pluriel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}