THE ETYMOLOGY OF WHICH IT IS PARTI CULARLY USEFUL TO KNOW

The process o! investigation by which the following étymologies hâve been ascertained can be found in Littré’s “ Dictionnaire de la Langue Française,’ * or Brachet’s EtymologicalDictionary,” Englisb édition, by G. W. Kitchin, M.A.

Ailleurs, adv., elsewhere; from Lat. aliorsum , for alioversum, from alius, other, and versus , turned. Dérivative, d’ailleurs, besides.

Ainsi, adv., so, thus ; Old French ensi, farther back insi ; from Lat. in-sic. Cf. Aussi.

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

Après, prep. and adv., after ; from à, préposition, and près. See Près.

Assez, adv. , enough ; from Lat. adsatis. Assez at first meant “much,” and was placed after the substantive. In this word ds is assimilated to ss. Cf. Aussi.

Aucun, adj any, anyone, someone ; from Lat. aliquis and unus. In Old French aliquis became alque, with the signification of aliqui. Aucun be cornes négative when accompanied by ne.

Aujourd’hui, adv., to-day, in Old French written au jour d'hui, is a pleonasm, literally meaning " on the day of to-day.” Hui is Lat. hodie . See Jour.

Auparavant, adv., before; from au, par, and avant. The article au was not attached to this word before the fifteenth century ; Old French said par-avant. See Avant.

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

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

Avant, prep., before, adv., far, forward ; from Lat. abante, a form found in a few inscriptions of the Empire. The Lat. b becomes v. Cf. habere, avoir, to hâve, etc. Dérivative, avantage-

Avec, prep., witli ; formerly aveuc, originally avoc, from a barbarous Lat. abhoc, which is a transformation of the expression apud hoc , literaiiy “ with this,” 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 coup, a blow. The Old French phraso was more often grant coup than beaucoup. This sense of gt'and 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 sense ; in the thirteenth century men said, ye ne sais ni car ni comment, where they would now say, Je ne sais ni pourquoi ni comment.

Ce, dem. adj., this. Old French ço, originally iço, from Lat. ecce* hoc ; iço was afterwards reduced to ço, whence modem French ce.

Cet, dem. adj., this. Old French icist, later cist, from Lat. ecciste; cist became cest, whence the modem French cet.

Ceux, pron., these. 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 ch 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 many ; from com (= to w’iat point), old form of comme and bien.

Comme, adv., how, as; from Lat. quomodo.

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

Dans, prep., in; Old French dette, contracted from de and ens ; Lat. intus.

Dehors, adv., outside, without; subst., exterior, appearance ; from de and hors, formerly fors , from Lat. foras.

Déjà, adv., already ; Old French desjà, from dès — (Se? lower) — and jà, adv., already, from Lat. jam.

Demain, adv., to-morrow; from Lat. de and mane, moming.

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 rière (as petra produced pierre) : arrière, ad rétro ; dr became rr by assimilation. Cf. Assez.

ETYMOLOGICAL VOCABULARY

DÈS, prep ., from ; from Lat. deipso — sc. tempore. De-ipso, contractée! into d'ipso , becomes dès , according to Brachet.

— From Lat. de-ex, a double préposition, like dans , which represents de-intus , according to Littré.

Désormais, adv., henceforth; Old French dès ore mais ; ore is G from Lat. hora, mais from Lat. mugis ; properly, from this ® hour forward. Similarly dorénavant , which was in Old French dore en avant .

Devant,/^/, and adv., before, in front. Composed of d: and avant . Dérivative, devancer, to anticipate.

Dimanche, subst., Sunday ; Old French diemenche , from Lat. diesdominica , the Lord’s Day.

Donc, adv., then. Aphæresis of Old French adonc , from Lat. adtune , according to Brachet.

From Lat. de-unquam; Ital. dunque , according to Littré.

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

En, adv., then ; pron. of him, her, &c. ; formerly entf originally int9 from Lat. inde, which had in popular Latin the sense of ex illo9

ab illo.

Encore, adv., again ; formerly ancore, from Lat. hanc horam .

Eux, pers pron . m. pl., they, them ; formerly eus , originally els, from Lat. illo s.

Fois, subst., time; from Lat. vices. Cf. Pro liac vice, pour cette fois.

Guère, adv., little, but little, not very. The word means “much •• in Old French: “S’il eut guère vécu, il eust conquis toute lTtalie,” says a I4th cent, chronicle. Guère is of German origin.

Hier, adv., yesterday ; from Lat. heri.

Hors, prep., out ; formerly fors, from Lat .foris. Dérivative, hormis, except.

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

Jamais, Æ^.,ever; from jà and mais, with the sense of magis , more.

J F; pers. pron., I ; in the lith cent./<p, in çth cent, io and eo, from Lat. ego. About the middle of the I2th cent, jo was weakened into je, just as the Old French forms ço, lo, are softened into ce, le.

Jour, subst., a day ; formerly jor , originally jorn, Italian giorno, from Lat. diurnus , properly diurnal, daily, then in Low Latin the length of time called a day. Jornus is found for diurnus , in Carolingian documents.

JUSQUE, prep., as far as, until ; from Lat. de usque , which became diusque ; whence jusque by consonification of di into j. Ses Jour.

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

Leur, adj., their ; from Lat. illorum . Leur, representing illorum, 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 loves, originally fores ; from Lat. hora9 with agglutination of the article. Dérivative, 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 sense of “ more ** is still seen in the phrase Je n’en peux mais, I cannot do any more ; (I cannot help it).

Malgré, prep ., in spite of ; from mal and gré, Lat. gratum .

Matin, subst ., moming ; from Lat. matulinum.

Meilleur, adj ., better; from Lat. meliorem.

Même, adj., same; formerly mesme, originally medisme. Italian medesimo , from Lat. metipsimus , contracted from metipsissunus .

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, subst., an eye ; formerly ail, from Lat. oculus , by regular contraction to oc’lus, found in popular Latin. OU became œuil, then œil. See Yeux.

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

Où, adv., where ; formerly u ; Italian ove, from Lat. ubi.

Ouï, adv., yes ; formerly oïl, from Lat. hoc illud. From Lat. hoc cornes Old French form o, in the thirteenth century. “Ne dire ni o ni non=Ne dire ni oui ni non.” Just as hoc became o, so the compound hoc illud (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 oïl became oï, whence oui.

Or, conj., now ; formerly ore (properly, at this hour), from Lat. hora . Dérivatives, lors, alors, encore, désormais, dorénavant.

Pareil, adj., alike ; from Lat. pariculus, derived from par. Paricmlus is found in very ancient mediæval Latin documents.

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

ETYMOLOGICAL VOCABULARY

Peu, ado., little; Italian poco, from Lat. paucus.

Pire, adj., worse ; from Lat. pejor .

Pis, adv., worse ; from Lat. pejus.

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

Point, adv.9 is the same as point , subst., a point ; from Lat. punctum. Point is used as an adverb to strengthen the négation. See Pas.

Près, prep.9 near ; Italian presso, from Lat. pressus , properly pressed close, hence near. Dérivatives, après, presque.

Puis, adv.9 afterwards ; from Lat. post. Dérivatives, puisque, depuis.

Quand, adv.9 when ; conj., though ; from Lat. quando .

Quant, adv.9 respecting ; from Lat. quantum .

Que, rel. pron., whom, that ; from Lat. quem.

conj. , that ; from Lat. quad. Also from Lat. quam, in the

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

Rien, subst. , a thing (etymological sense) ; from Lat. rem. When joined with a négative it means “no thing,” (nihil), just as ne , . . personne=«<?w0. People having become accustomed to take this substantive with ne so as to form a négative expression, rien 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 sense of rien 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.

j —Ecole des Femmes, iL, s.

) Sans, prep.9 without ; formerly sens, from Lat. sine.

! Semaine, subst., a week ; in the 13Ü1 cent, sepmaine ; Italian setti • tnana, from Lat. septimaim (found in the Theodosian Code).

J Si, adv.9 so ; from Lat. sic. Dérivatives, ainsi, aussi.

; Sous, prep. , under ; formerly sos, Italian sotto, from Lat. subtus .

j Souvent* adv., often ; Italian sovente, from Lat. subinde, found in

i Pliny, x., 34.

1 Sur, prep., on, upon ; from Lat. super .

. SÛR, adj.9 sure ; formerly seur, originally seür, from Lat. securus.

Très, adv.9 very; from Lat. trans — lit., beyond ; tlien, later, “ very.”

Y, ado., there. Old French t, originally iv, Italian ivi, from Lat. ibt. In Merovingian Latin ibi takes the sense of t lit, illis.

Yeux, subst plural of œil, eyes, is formed thus : — Old French euü became ieuil, then ieul , which being in the plural ieuls became ieus by losing / (cf. illos, eux) ; ieus, also written y eus, became yeux by s— x.

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Lon'rcs; Imprimerie Ranken et Cie., Drury House, St. Mary-le-Strand,

ANDROMAQUE. (Henry Tarver, B.-ès-ScJ ATHALIE. (Rev. P. H. E. Brette, B.D.) BRITANNICUS. (Gustave Masson, B.A.) ESTHER. (A. Roche.)

IPHIGÉNIE. (Jules Bué, M.A.)

PHÈDRE. (Henry Bué, B.-ès-Sc.)

LES PLAIDEURS. (Francis Tarver, M.A.) NARD.

LE JOUEUR. (Victor Oger.)