Function of "de" in these sentences

Could someone explain the function of de in each of the following two sentences, please.

Non d'ici, s'il vous plaît ("Not here, please")

Comme si de rien n'était ("As if nothing had happened")

I can't see what the de adds to the meaning.

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on December 6, 2012 at 6:08pm

Hi Curt,

It would help to have more context, but the first one basically means "Not from here please", i.e. as far as I can see the "de" is just carrying its boring old meaning as a preposition. It would be quite a formal way of saying this (the usual way would be pas d'ici), but theoretically possible.

In the second case, it's basically a set expression. Nowadays, it wouldn't be grammatical as such. However, one way you can understand it is to imagine that it as an alternative word order to "Comme s'il n'était de rien", and that "n'était de..." is basically a way of saying what in modern French would be "ne s'agissait de...".

I stress, though, that it's just a set expression nowadays. It isn't really possible to "unpick" the meaning of each individual word as though it was contemporary French.

Neil

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Key StudentPermalink Reply by Curt Jugg on December 6, 2012 at 9:50pm

Thanks, Neil

The fact that the second sentence is a set expression clarifies the situation for me.

As for the first sentence, its context is that it is one of three alternative answers in an exercise set on the bonjourdefrance.com website. The question runs as follows:

Le serveur vous propose une table, vous préférez une autre table. [And you have to choose from]

Je préfère près de la fenêtre

C'est possible près fenêtre?

Non d'ici s'il vous plaît

Because of the way the question was worded I assumed that the meaning was "Not here, please" . I must admit I would have expected that to be "Pas ici, s'il vous plaît" but my knowledge of French is pretty limited and I wondered if there was a particular turn of phrase I wasn't aware of.