The author examines how "partial" negations in Latin are rendered in French. The author lists the answers to this question and tests it to the translation practice on the basis of a corpus composed of two rhetorical treatises in Latin, their translation into Old French and two versions in Modern French. The results of this research showed a clear diminuition of constructions expressing the partial nature of the negation. Translators generally choose to put the negative denominator in front of the verb, which makes the construction susceptible to different interpretations.