French words in English: Difference between revisions
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<font color="darkred"><big><center>''See the tab above for an extensive '''CATALOG''' of French words in English.'' </center></big></font> | <font color="darkred"><big><center>''See the tab above for an extensive '''CATALOG''' of French words in English.'' </center></big></font> | ||
There have been '''French words in English''' since the | There have been '''French words in English''' since not long after the Norman Conquest. [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer] imported those that end in -'''sion''' or -'''tion''' (though he often also spelt them -cion or -cioun). More recent additions are '''ménû''', '''machìne''' (-sh-), '''façàde''' (*fəssàd), '''crèpe''' and '''elìte''' (the accents, ''which are not the same as the ones used in French'', show stress and pronunciation, see [[English phonemes]] for the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] and [[English spellings]] for a table). English more-or-less French pronunciation is typified by the proper names *Cítron, *Përzho and *Rénno for '''Cítroen''', '''Pëugeot''' and '''Rénault'''. Pronouncing French words too Frenchly sounds pretentious in an English context. Why say '[[Stephane Grapelly|Stephàne Grapellỳ]]' when it is so much easier to say *Stéfən Grəpélly? '''[[Boulogne|Boulŏgne]]''' (*Bə-lŏin, as opposed to French 'Bû-lónyə') and '''[[Paris|Páris]]''' (with s sounded) have anglicised pronunciations, as do the painters '''[[Edgar Degas|Dègàs]]''' (*Dâygà for 'Dəgá' - the name was originally de Gas) and '''[[Auguste Renoir|Rénoir]]''' (*Rénwà instead of *Rənwàr - the anglicised pronunciations are generally spurned by those anglophones who have learnt French, but even they would not normally in an English context pronounce the final r in Renoir); by contrast the more recently famous country '''[[Niger|Nigèr]]''' has a French-style pronunciation, *Nì-zhãir - in contrast to '''[[Nigeria|Nigêria]]''' (*Nîjêria) and the river '''Nîger'''. | ||
But many more French words and phrases are less assimilated than those above, and they are often written, like other foreign words, in italics. They can retain their written French accents in (especially British) English. None of these accents should be regarded as compulsory in English, but they are often used (as are also the cedilla in '''curaçao''', probably from Portuguese, and the umlaut in the German '''doppelgänger'''). | But many more French words and phrases are less assimilated than those above, and they are often written, like other foreign words, in italics. They can retain their written French accents in (especially British) English. None of these accents should be regarded as compulsory in English, but they are often used (as are also the cedilla in '''curaçao''', probably from Portuguese, and the umlaut in the German '''doppelgänger'''). | ||
Revision as of 11:09, 17 November 2008
There have been French words in English since not long after the Norman Conquest. [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer] imported those that end in -sion or -tion (though he often also spelt them -cion or -cioun). More recent additions are ménû, machìne (-sh-), façàde (*fəssàd), crèpe and elìte (the accents, which are not the same as the ones used in French, show stress and pronunciation, see English phonemes for the IPA and English spellings for a table). English more-or-less French pronunciation is typified by the proper names *Cítron, *Përzho and *Rénno for Cítroen, Pëugeot and Rénault. Pronouncing French words too Frenchly sounds pretentious in an English context. Why say 'Stephàne Grapellỳ' when it is so much easier to say *Stéfən Grəpélly? Boulŏgne (*Bə-lŏin, as opposed to French 'Bû-lónyə') and Páris (with s sounded) have anglicised pronunciations, as do the painters Dègàs (*Dâygà for 'Dəgá' - the name was originally de Gas) and Rénoir (*Rénwà instead of *Rənwàr - the anglicised pronunciations are generally spurned by those anglophones who have learnt French, but even they would not normally in an English context pronounce the final r in Renoir); by contrast the more recently famous country Nigèr has a French-style pronunciation, *Nì-zhãir - in contrast to Nigêria (*Nîjêria) and the river Nîger.
But many more French words and phrases are less assimilated than those above, and they are often written, like other foreign words, in italics. They can retain their written French accents in (especially British) English. None of these accents should be regarded as compulsory in English, but they are often used (as are also the cedilla in curaçao, probably from Portuguese, and the umlaut in the German doppelgänger).