i avoir

Old French

Excerpt from the Oxford manuscript of The Song of Roland. The final five words are i ad plus de mil (“there are more than a thousand”).

Alternative forms

• i aveir
• i aver
• i avoyr

Etymology

From Latin hīc (“here”) and habēre (“to have”).

Verb

i avoir

1. (impersonal) there be
   • 12^th Century, Unknown, Raoul de Cambrai:

     Laissiés les mors, n'i a nul recouvrier.

     Leave the dead, there are none to be recovered.

Conjugation

• see avoir

Descendants

• French: y avoir