Inherited fromMiddle Frenchpersonne, fromOld Frenchpersone,presonne, fromLatinpersona, of unknown, perhapsEtruscan, origin.
personne f (pluralpersonnes)
- person
- donner de sapersonne ―to give of oneself
- enpersonne ―inperson
- grandepersonne ―grownup
- nom depersonne ―personal name
- non-assistance àpersonne en danger ―failing to come to the assistance of aperson in danger
- personne âgée ―agedperson
- personne morale ―legalperson
- personne physique ―naturalperson
1913,Marcel Proust,Du côté de chez Swann:Mais les noms présentent despersonnes — et des villes qu’ils nous habituent à croire individuelles, uniques comme despersonnes — une image confuse qui tire d’eux, de leur sonorité éclatante ou sombre, la couleur dont elle est peinte uniformément comme une de ces affiches, entièrement bleues ou entièrement rouges, dans lesquelles, à cause des limites du procédé employé ou par un caprice du décorateur, sont bleus ou rouges, non seulement le ciel et la mer, mais les barques, l’église, les passants.- But names present to us—ofpersons and of towns which they accustom us to regard as individual, as unique, likepersons —a confused picture, which draws from the names, from the brightness or darkness of their sound, the colour in which it is uniformly painted, like one of those posters, entirely blue or entirely red, in which, on account of the limitations imposed by the process used in their reproduction, or by a whim on the designer's part, are blue or red not only the sky and the sea, but the ships and the church and the people in the streets.
- (grammar)person
- premièrepersonne ―firstperson
- deuxièmepersonne ―secondperson
- troisièmepersonne ―thirdperson
personne m orf
- (withne)no one,nobody
- Synonym:âme qui vive
- commepersonne ―like no other, better than anyone
- Il n'y apersonne ici. ―There isnobody here.
- Qui l'a lu?Personne. ―Who has read it?No one.
- Il n'a parlé avecpersonne. ―He spoke tonobody.
- Personne ne parle avec lui. ―No one speaks with him.
- anyone
- Synonyms:quiconque,qui que ce soit
- Il le sait mieux quepersonne. ―He knows it better thananyone.
FromFrenchpersonne(“person”), compareHaitian Creolepèsonn.
personne
- nobody,no one
- Alcée Fortier,Louisiana Folktales
personne
- alternative form ofpersoun
15th century, fromRobert Cotton’s manuscript Faustina D. iv., “Appendix VII.”, inBrewer, John Sherren, editor,Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores, or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages: Monumenta Franciscana, London:Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, published1858, pages45,569:And by þis skill comes man to þe knawynge of Godd, þat he es a Godd in hymself and thre inpersonnes.[…]The IIde is, that when they goo abowte eny procuratyoun that in noo wyse they may present enypersonne to whom the almys may be gevynn, for and yf they doo they resceive money by a mene persone, therfor when they go for suche almys they shall exhorte them that gevith hit he wille wytsaff to doo the almes them self, or ellis to commyt yt to a nother, the whiche may do hit in his name; but yf it wille nat please hym soo too doo then the bretherne may name apersonne, the whiche in his name that gevethe yt may doo the almys, as Pope Nicholas saith in his declaration.- (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)
c.1440, fromRobert Thornton’s manuscript, “I. Dan Jon Gaytryge’s Sermon”, inPerry, George, editor,Religious Pieces in Prose and Verse, London:N. Trübner & Co., published1867,pages3–4:The toþer artecle es þat we sall trowe þat He, Godd and man bathe in apersonne, was sothefastly of þat blessyde maydene, Godd getyne of his ffadire be-fore any tyme, and man borne of his modir and broghte furthe in tyme.[…] The sexte artecle es þat we sall trowe þat one þe fourtede day eftyr þat He rase thurgh strenghe of hym-selfe, He steye in till Heuene, whare oure kynde es now in his blyssydepersonne, noghte anely euyne ne mete till his angells, bot hey coround kynge abowne all His angells, þat before tyme was lesse þan þe kynde of angells.- (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)
a.1578,Letters and Memorials of State, in the Reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, King Charles the First, Part of the Reign of King Charles the Second, and Oliver’s Usurpation (in Middle English), London, published1746, pages190,268,269:Laſtly, Where the ſaid SirNicholas hath ſeruyd your Majeſtie as Cheiff Comyſſioner in the Province ofVlſter xj Yeres, and hetherto hath not had any ordinary Allowaunce for the ſame, aſſuring him ſelf, that thoſe whome hath bin Lord Deputies, and the whole Realme, will ſaye that his Chardges and Expences therin, hath not bin inferior to either the Preſydents ofConnaught orMounſter: He humblie beſecheth your Majeſtie, that if he be thought a fyttPerſonne to contynewe the ſaid Chardge, then he maye have ſomme convenyent Allowaunce to him aſſigned for Thexecucion therof.[…] The cheifePerſonne who kept his Howſe, before vs all, burthened the ſaied SirNicholas, with no more Hurtes donne vnto the ſaid Viſcount hym ſelfe, then the Takinge of a Barrell of Drincke; a Bacon, and certeine Oetes, all which his Man delyvered for Enterteinemente, beinge of no ſoche Value, as for ſoche aPerſonne, to ſoch a Servitor, in his Tyme of Service to be accompted of.[…]For by the Declaration ofHenrie Davills,Robert Harpooll, CaptenMacwoorthe, and v or vj otherPerſonnes of Creditt, who were with SirNicholas, it apearethe, that after he tooke vp Lodginge, he gave Chardge to everie Capten, to foreſee that there ſhould be no Spoile committed by the Soldiours, beinge in Nombre Cxl, nor any Thinge to be taken withouthe Payment, proteſtinge Hanginge to any, that ſhould take the Value of a Mutton.- (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)
