I once heard that this used to be a way to emphasize, by adding the thing you do not do. Not very clear, bit here are some examples:
- je ne marche _pas_ (I not not walk _any step_)
- je ne me bat _guerre_ (I do not fight _any war_)
- je ne coud _point_ (I do not sew _any point_)
And then slowly disconnected. All those words are still used as negations, and I cannot think of any word of negation that cannot be interpreted this way, so that might be true (but I cannot really think of more than those 3 either). What makes me doubt is what words would have persisted (why _ step_ as the one most common?)
It merely means I do not walk. There's no particular connotation. It has absolutely nothing to do with pas as in a step.
> - je ne me bat _guerre_ (I do not fight _any war_)
Je ne me bat guère means "I hardly fight". No relation to war.
> - je ne coud _point_ (I do not sew _any point_)
Je ne couds point means "I don't sew". Again, no particular connotation. Point means the same as pas in this case and has nothing to do whatsoever with stitches.
You're mentioning the current, disconnected meaning, while the original author showed a possible origin of those expressions. I dont know if they're valid but they're certainly interesting and potentially right.
> - je ne me bat _guerre_ (I do not fight _any war_)
This is not 'guerre' here but 'guère', which is a homonym but has no relation to 'guerre' (war). 'Guère' comes from an old French word that means 'a lot'.
Taking this into account it is clearer that "je ne me bat guère" means "I don't fight much"/"I hardly fight".
You could have picked any verb instead of 'to fight'. I suspect your other examples are equally contrived.
- je ne marche _pas_ (I not not walk _any step_)
- je ne me bat _guerre_ (I do not fight _any war_)
- je ne coud _point_ (I do not sew _any point_)
And then slowly disconnected. All those words are still used as negations, and I cannot think of any word of negation that cannot be interpreted this way, so that might be true (but I cannot really think of more than those 3 either). What makes me doubt is what words would have persisted (why _ step_ as the one most common?)