THE ETYMOLOGY OF WHICH IT IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL TO KNOW

The process of investigation by which tlie foîlowing etymologies have been ascertained can be found in Littré's Dictionnaire de la Langue Française," or Brachet's Etymological Dictionary, " English édition, by G. W. Kitchin, M. A.

Ailleurs, adv,, elsewhere ; from Lat. aliorsum, for alioverstim' from aliiis, other, and versus, turned. Derivative, d'ailleurs'

besides. , ^ -, i , • • r

Ainsi, adv., so, thus ; Old French ensi, farther h-^z\ insi ; from Lat. in-sic. Cf. Aussi.

Alors, adv., then ; from à, préposition, and lors, ^ee lors and or.

Après, /r^/. and adv., after ; from à, préposition, and près. Sec Près. ^ ^

Assez, adv., enough ; from Lat. adsahs. Assez at first meant " much," and was placed after the substantive. In this word ds is assimilated to ss. Cf. Avssi.

Aucun, adf, any, anyone, someone ; from Lat. aliçuîs and iums. In Old French ah'çins became alque, with the signification of aliûtii. Auain becomes négative when accompanied hy ne. ^

Aujourd'hui, adv., to-day,in Old French written aujourd'hui, is a pleonasm, literally meaning on the day of to-day." Hui is Lat. hodic. See Jour. i

Auparavant, adv., before ; from au, par, and avant, ihe article au was not attached to this word before the fifteenth century ; Old French said/^r-rtz/^;2^. ^'^^^ AVANT. ^

Auprès, adv., and prep. with de ; from au and près. See Près. ^

Aussi, adv., also, likewise. Old French alsi, from Lat. ahud sic ; ds is assimilated to ss. See Assez.

Avant, prep , before, adv., far, forvvard ; from Lat. aba7tte, a torm found in a few inscriptions of the Empire. The Lat. 0 becomes V. Cf habere, avoir, to have, etc. Derivative, avantage.

AvEC.prep.y with; formerly aveuc, originally avoc, from a barbarous Lat. abkoc, which is a transformation of the expression «/^^^y^^^, literally **withthis," apud having the signification of cum in several Merovingian and Carolingian documents. This dérivation is demonstrated by the Old French peroec, for this {per hoc) senoec, without this (sine hoc).

Beaucoup, adv., much ; from beau and cottp, b. blow. The Old French phrase was more often gran/^ coup than beaucoup. This sensé of grand is to be seen in other phrases, as un beau mangeur^ a great eater.

Car, conj., for, because ; from Lat. quare. In Old French car kept its etymological sensé ; in the thirteenth century men said, Je ne sais ni car ni comment^ where they would now say, Je ne sais ni pourquoi ni com7ne?ît.

Ce, d:m. adj.^ this. Old French ço^ originally iço, from Lat. eccehoc ; iço was afterwards reduced to qo, whence modem French ce.

Cet, dem. adj., this. Old French icist, later cist, from Lat. ecciste;

cist became cest, whence the modem French cet. C^VXy pron., thèse. Old French iceux^ from Lat. ecçillos ; iceux

finally was reduced to ceux.

Chacun, distrib. pro., each one ; Old French, chascun, chasqun,

from Lat. quisque unus. The change of c into cJi before a, of

which there is not a trace in Merovingian Latin, was produced

early in French.

Chez, prep., at the house of ; from Lat. casa. Chez was in very old French a substantive, meaning a house ; the phrase de chez in "Je viens de chez vous " bears witness by its form that the Word was originally a subst.

Combien, adv., how rnany ; from corn (== to what point), old form of comme and bien.

Comme, adv., how, as ; from Lat. quo7?iodo.

Comment, adv., why, Low ; composed of comme and ent, which is from Lat. inde.

Dans, prep., in; Old French dejiSy contracted from de z.nà ens ; Lat. intus.

Dehors, adv., outside, without; subst., exterior, appearance ; from

de and ho7'S, formerly fors, from Lat. foras. Déjà, adv., already ; Old French desjà, from dès—[See lower)

and/à, adv., already, from Lat. jam.

Demain, adv., to-morrow; from Lat. and 7?iane, morning. Depuis, prep. and adv., since ; from de and puis. (See Puis.) Derrière, prep. and adv., behind ; from Lat. de rétro, which

became in Old French riere (as petra produced pierre) : arrière,

ad rétro ; dr became rr by assimilation. Cf. Assez.

l64 BERTRAND ET RATON.

DÈS, /r^/., from;from Lat. deipso—sz. tempore. De-ipso, contractée! into dHpso, becomes dès, according to Brachet.

From Lat. de-ex, a double préposition, like dans, which repre-

sents de-intus, according to Littré.

Désormais, adv., henceforth ; Old FrencK des ore mais; ore is from Lat. hora, mais from Lat. magis ; properly, from this hour forward. Similarly dorénavant, which was in Old French d'o7^e en avant. -, r -r j

Devant, /rc^. and adv., before, in front. Composed of de and avant, Derivative, devancer, to anticipate.

DiMANXHE, stcdst., Sunday ; Old French diemenche, from Lat. diesdominica, the Lord's Day.

Donc, adv., then. Aphceresis of Old French adoyic, from Lat. ad- ^'/z 72^, according to Brachet. t- '

From Lat. de-unquain; Ital. dunque, accordmg to Littre.

Dont, adv., then ; pron., whom, whence ; Old French d'ojtd, from Lat. de-unde.

En, adv., then ; pron. of him, her, &c. ; formerly ent, originally int, from Lat. inde, which had in popular Latm the sensé of ex illo,

abillo. r T 7 7

Encore, adv., again; formerly aneore, from Lat. hanc horam. Eux, pers pron. m, pl., they, them ; formerly eus, originally els,

from Lat. illos.

Fois, stihst,, time ; from Lat. vues. Cf. Pro hac vice, pour cette fois.

GUFRE adv., little, but little, not very. The word means " much" in Old French: **S'il eut guère vécu, il eust conquis toute l'Italie," says a I4th cent, chronicle. Guère is of German origin.

Hier, adv., yesterday ; from Lat. heri. ^ . ^ . . , H0RS,/r^/., out ; formerly>r^, from forts. Denvative, hormis, except.

Ici, adv., here ; from Lat. ecce-hic ; whence the adv. ci : ce livre-ci.

Jamais, adv.,^\tx', from jà and mais, with the sensé of magis,

more. . , . i r

Te i^ers. -pron., I ; in the iith cent./^?, m çth cent. 2c and eo from ' Lat. About the middle of the I2th cent, jo was weakened into>, justasthe Old French forms f^?, lo, are softened into

^ov'^', subst.,^ day; formerly jor, originally y^7r«, Italian giorno, from Lat. diurmis, properly diurnal, daily, then m Low Latm the length of time called a day. Jornus is found for duirnus, in Caroiingian documents.

j USQUE, J)reJ>. , as far as, until ; from Lat. de usque^ which became diusque\ whence jusque by consonification of di into / See Jour.

La, adv.y there ; from Lat. illac.

Leur, adj.^ their ; from Lat. illorum. Leur, representing illormn, was always invariable ; it was in the I5th and i6th centuries that it began to take s in the plural. Leur, pers. pron., has the same etymology.

LORS, adv,, then; formerly lores, originally Vores ; from Lat. Jioi^a^ with agglutination of the article. Derivative, lorsque, when.

Maintenant, adv., now ; présent participle of maintenir, to maintain, taken adverbially : *' while holding in hand."

Mais, conj., but ; from Lat. magis. The original sensé of more " is still seen in the phrase Je n'en peux mais, I cannot do any more ; (I cannot help it).

Malgré, /r^/., in spite of ; from mal and gré, Lat. gratum.

Matin, substy morning ; from Lat. matuiinum.

Meilleur, adj.^ better ; from Lat. meliore77i.

MÊME, adj., same; formerly mesme, onginally medisme. Itaîian medesiino, from Lat. metipsimus, contracted from inetipsissimiis.

Mieux, adv., better ; formerly mieus, originally miels, from Lat. melius.

Moindre, adj., less, least ; formerly mendre, from Lat. minor. Moins, adv., less, lacking ; from Lat. minus.

Œil, subsL, an eye ; formerly oil^ from Lat. oailus, by regular contraction to oc'lus, found in popular Latin. OU became œuiL then œil. See Yeux.

Ou, conj. , or ; Italian Oy from Lat. aut.

Où, adv., where ; formerly it ; Italian ove^ from Lat. ztbi.

Oui, adv,, yes ; formerly oïl, from Lat. hoc illud, From Lat. hoc comes Old French form o, in the thirteenth century. *'Ne dire ni o ni non=Ne dire ni oui ni non." Just as hoc became (?, so the compound hoc ilhid (it is that same thing) became oïl. ^ This form had answering to it the form nennil {non illud) ; and just as nennil lost /, and became nenni in Modem French, so o'il became oV, whence oui.

Or, conJ., now ; formerly ore (properly, at this hour), from. Lat. ho7'a. Derivatives, lors, alors, encore, désormais, dorénavant.

Pareil, ^i^., ^ alike ; from Lat. pariculus, derived from par, Pariculus is found in very ancient mediseval Latin documents.

Pas, adv., is the same as pas, subst., a pace ; from Lat. passi::. Pas is used as an adverb to strengthen the négation. It has the full force of the négative before a noun, an adjective, an adverb, etc.

Peu, adi\^ little ; Italian poco, from Lat. paucics. Pire, adj., worse ; from Lat. pejor.

Pis, adv., worse ; from l^^it. pejus.

Plusieurs, adj. pl., several ; from Lat. pluriores, derived from phires.

Point, adv., is the same as point, subst., a point; from Lat. pi'jîctum. Point is used as an adverb to strengthen the négation. See Pas.

Près, prep., near ; Italian pressa, from Lat. pressus, properly pressed close, hence near. Derivatives, après, presque.

Puis, adv., afcerwards ; from Lat. post Derivatives, puisque, depuis.

Quand, adv., when ; cojtj., though ; from Lat. qumido. Quant, adv., respecting ; from Lat. quantum. Que, rel. pron., whom, that ; from Lat. que77i.

conj., that; from Lat. qiwd. Also from Lat. quain, in tlie

the connection plus . . . que, which is Lat. plus . . . quani.

Rien, subst., a thing (etymological sensé) ; from Lat. rem. When joined with a négative it means "no thing," {nihiP), just as ne , . . personne=?z^Wi>. People having become accustomtd to take this substantive with ne so as to form a négative expression, rie?i took the meaning of **nothing," when used by itself, as, for instance, in the phrase, "On m'a donné cela pour rien," I had that for nothing ; I had not to pay for that. By this account of the sensé oirien we may explain the passage of Molière in which it is at once négative and positive : —

Dans le siècle où nous sommes, On ne donne rien pour rien.

— Ecole des Femmes, il., 2.

Sans, /r^/., without ; formerly sens, from Lat. sijte.

Semaine, subst., a week ; in the I3th cent, s ep?nai7ie ; ltd\i2.n sctti-

mana, from Lat. septimana (found in the Theodosian Code). Si, adv., so ; from Lat. sic. Derivatives, ainsi, aussi. Sous, prep., under ; formerly sos, Italian sotto, from Lat. subtus. Souvent, adv., often ; Italian sovente, from Lat. subinde, found in

Pliny, X., 34.

Sur, /rc^)., on, upon ; from Lat. supe7'.

SÛR, adj., sure ; formerly seur, origmally seiir, from Lat. securus.

Très, adv., veiy; from Lat. trans—lit., beyond ; then, later, ' * very,

Y, adv., there. Old French i, originally iv, Italian ivi, from Lat. ibi. In jNIerovingian Latin ibi takes the sensé of illi, illis.

Yeux, subst, plural of œil, eyes, is formed tlius i-Old French euil became imU, then ieul, which being in the plural leuls became iens by losing / {cf, illos, eux) ; ieus, also written yeus, became yeux by s=x.

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