ellemême

ellemême is a historical orthographic form of the French reflexive pronoun with emphatic force, equivalent to elle-même in modern usage. It functions as an intensifier to stress the subject or object in a sentence, often in literary or formal contexts. In current standard French, the expected spelling is elle-même, with the hyphen, as in Elle-même l’a admis.

The form is chiefly attested in early modern and classical French texts. Variants include elle mesme and elle-mesme, reflecting older orthographic practices before the standardisation of hyphenation and spelling. In some pre-revolutionary editions, the spaceless or hyphenless versions also appear. These spellings are now largely seen as historical or typographical curiosities rather than contemporary norms.

Usage and function: elle-même serves to reinforce the antecedent it accompanies, whether a noun or pronoun. It can be placed in mid-sentence or at the beginning of a clause for emphasis. Examples include: Elle-même l’a dit. Elle l’a fait elle-même. In modern French, the same function is carried by elle-même, and variants like moi-même or soi-même are used with other subjects (moi-même for first person, soi-même for impersonal or indefinite reference).

Relation to modern practice: today, elle-même is the standard form; elle mesme or elle-mesme are chiefly of historical interest. The term remains relevant for scholars studying older texts or for understanding the evolution of French orthography and pronoun emphasis.

See also: French pronouns, emphasis in French, orthography of hyphenation.