French words in English: Difference between revisions
imported>Ro Thorpe No edit summary |
imported>Ro Thorpe No edit summary |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
<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 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 | 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).<ref>The latter is not used nowadays, while '''cion''' occurs only in a few words, such as '''suspícion'''</ref> 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''' (* before a word indicates a spelling error). 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'''. Being a [[syllable-timed language]], French has no [[tonic accent]], so when a new French word appears in the news, it may receive several pronunciations, as with [[Alassane Ouattara]]'s name at the beginning of 2011, in which it seems equally acceptable, and perhaps equally unsatisfactory, to stress any one of the three A's (or indeed any two of the six, though the first name usually receives a light stress on the final A, typical of French speech). | ||
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 18:18, 17 May 2011
There have been French words in English since not long after the Norman Conquest. Chaucer imported those that end in -sion or -tion (though he often also spelt them -cion or -cioun).[1] 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 (* before a word indicates a spelling error). 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. Being a syllable-timed language, French has no tonic accent, so when a new French word appears in the news, it may receive several pronunciations, as with Alassane Ouattara's name at the beginning of 2011, in which it seems equally acceptable, and perhaps equally unsatisfactory, to stress any one of the three A's (or indeed any two of the six, though the first name usually receives a light stress on the final A, typical of French speech).
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).
Index
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
- ↑ The latter is not used nowadays, while cion occurs only in a few words, such as suspícion