Imagine that this article begins with the following sentence: “There are dozen formed on the cheese.” Two interpretations would then be possible. The first, not completely improbable: “The author has again abused Jurançon and Madiran with his Béarnais friends.” The second, in this case the good one (the honor is safe): “It could be excellent French.” Eh yes !
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The explanation goes back to the end of the Middle Ages. At that time, a hesitation arose concerning the pronunciation of certain syllables. Should I say [o]as advocated by scholars, or follow the usage of less cultivated circles which imposed the sound [ou] ? Should we prefer to say “arr[ou]ser” or arr[o]be? “VS[ou]leuvre” or “c[o]leuvre” ? “Rep[ou]ser” or “rep[o]be”?
The battle continued until the 17th century and took on such vigor that it ended up being nicknamed the “quarrel of the ouïsts and the non-ouïs”. In each camp, we argue, we quibble, we refute and… we decide in a completely random way. If “twelve” wins over “doze”, “fromage” wins over “froumage” and “ant” over “formi”. For what ? Because ! From time to time, the coin toss even gives way to anything. As the linguist Gaston Zink points out, words belonging to the same family give opposite results: “fourbu” and “forfait”, “passageway” and “privateer”, “wanting” and “will”…
This is no longer infatuation, it is fanaticism!
This quarrel is all the more lively as France experienced a real craze for Italy under the Renaissance, which influenced pronunciation, but also vocabulary. From “belvedere” to “caprice”, via “courtesan”, “credit”, “escapade” or “porcelain”, nearly 8,000 terms from beyond the Alps were then introduced into the French language. 8,000! A considerable number, if we compare it to the 17,000 definitions of the first dictionary of the French Academy, published in 1694. It is true that the vogue then affected all areas, or almost. Out of admiration for Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, we borrow “picturesque” (derived from “picturesque”, “painter”), but also “watercolor”, “color”, “miniature” and “profile”. St. Peter’s Basilica soars into the sky of Rome? Here are “apartment”, “balcony”, “marquee”, “corridor”, “cupola”, “gallery”, “parapet” and “rotunda”. The Italian wars are raging? Officers and soldiers import “arsenal”, “bomb”, “cannon”, “corporal”, “carnage”, “cartridge”, “citadel”, “colonel”, “infantry”, “fortin” or “sentinel”. A movement allegro perennial which also concerns music (“flat”, “crescendo”, “fugue”, “piano”, “music theory”, “violin”); security (“brigand”, “bandit”, “jacket”, “rabble”) and fashion (“underpants”, “costume”, “umbrella”, “wig”). Even supposedly French specialties such as the table (“banquet”, “biscotte”, “gamelle”, “radish”, “saucisson”, “sorbet”, “vermicelli”) and love (“bagatelle”, “courting”, “caress”, “disgrace”) do not escape this transalpine influence. Mamma mia!!!
To put it plainly: it is no longer infatuation, it is fanaticism. To the point that some are sounding the alarm – another word of Italian origin, by the way, transcription of“all weapon” (literally, “to arms”) – against these “Italic corruptions” (Barthélemy Aneau). Why “unexpectedly” when French has “unprepared”? Why “baster” instead of “suffice”? Why “the first volte” instead of “the first time”? thus rebels the humanist Henri Estienne in a work where he gets carried away against this “Italianized and otherwise desguized Frenchman”.
You will have noticed: many words imported at that time have remained with us – sometimes in a Frenchified form. But not all of them, far from it: 90% of them have indeed been abandoned since then. Forgotten “long” (“speech too long”), “stret” (“throwing pains”), “imbrat” (“to defile”). missing “spurts” (“dirt”) “discoste” (“distant”) and “stage” (“Street”). Nevertheless: by bequeathing us around 800 words on a lasting basis, Italian remained for a long time the language from which French borrowed the most – before being dethroned by English, from the 19th century.
A way to stand out
No need to look long for the reason for this exceptional enthusiasm. In this matter, the rule is eternal and has nothing to do with the supposed intrinsic virtues of such and such an idiom: it is always the dominant commercial and artistic power of the moment which imposes its language on the dominated powers. However, in the 16th century, the Renaissance was Italian, and Paris was inspired by it all the more because the court of France was teeming with Transalpines, notably because of the long and influential presence of Catherine de Medici. At that time, for many, Italianizing their vocabulary became a way of appearing refined and distinguishing themselves from the common.
The said rule will also turn to our advantage in the 18th century, when the European aristocracy finds the latest chic in speaking French. Just as it benefits English today, or more exactly Anglo-American. Because Rome and Florence have been replaced by Hollywood and Silicon Valley…
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Sources
Historical phonetics of French, by Gaston Zink (PUF).
Laval University website (Canada). Chapter “The Renaissance”.
Two dialogues of the new Italianized and otherwise desguized French language, mainly between the courtiers of that timeby Henri Estienne.
A thousand years of the French language, by Alain Rey, Frédéric Duval and Gilles Siouffi (Perrin).
Great historical grammar of French, by Christiane Marchello-Nizia, Bernard Combettes, Sophie Prévost and Tobias Scheer (ed. De Gruyter Mouton).
READ ELSEWHERE
Pelé becomes a common name in Brazil
“Something or someone out of the ordinary, something or someone whose quality, value or superiority cannot be compared to anything or anyone else, such as Pelé®, nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022), considered the greatest sportsman of all time.” This is the definition now found in dictionaries in Brazil, where “pelé” has become a common noun.
The United Nations rapporteur on minorities criticizes France
The prohibition of the Corsican language in the Assembly of Corsica by the administrative court of Bastia seems contrary to the law, according to Fernand de Varennes, the United Nations special rapporteur on questions relating to minorities. “Such a way of seeing and doing does not exist anywhere else, he underlines. There is no State today which so strictly interprets the status of official, national, or State language, as leading to the complete exclusion of the use of any other language for public purposes.”
Actor Michel Cordes had been the victim of his accent
Michel Cordes, who died on May 5, was nationally known thanks to his role in the soap opera More beautiful life. We know less that he was also the son of the Occitan writer Léon Cordes and that he was committed to linguistic diversity. In particular, he denounced the discrimination of people speaking with a regional accent. “France is so made that as soon as you hear a southern accent, fools laugh”, he had notably confided to Montpellier Gazette in 2017 before adding about his: “People think I’m exaggerating it, but it’s totally wrong: it’s just that I’m the only one who has it! I’m the producers’ excuse for that no other actor has…”
“Complosphere”, “artificialization”, “glottophobia”: the new words of the dictionaries
In its 2024 edition, Le Robert welcomes “complosphere”, “being in PLS” (feeling bad), “metavers” and “repairability”. For its part, Larousse accepts “artificialization”, “nutri-score”, “breaker” and “localism”. Also note the entry of “glottophobia”, a term coined by the sociolinguist Philippe Blanchet, with this definition: “Teasing, mocking or frankly contemptuous, even discriminatory attitude towards people who use a language considered inferior or whose way of speaking (accent, vocabulary, etc.) deviates from a presupposed norm.”
The Oser le français collective, which fights for the French language and takes legal action to ensure that the Toubon law on the subject is applied, has just launched a petition on the Internet. Its purpose: to appeal to the legislator, associations and all French speakers so that the law be strengthened and imposes itself on businesses and administrations alike.
Celebrate the French language in Charente-Maritime…
Several events are currently celebrating French. FrancoFiesta (formerly the Francophone Cultures Festival), from May 4 to June 3, in Marennes-Hiers-Brouage (Charente-Maritime), offers shows, comedy, guinguette, conferences, theatrical visits, concerts and exhibitions.
The Aux quatre coins du mot festival, organized in La Charité-sur-Loire (Nièvre) will speak from May 17 to 21 about Big Bang, particles, universes of possibilities, books, languages and stories.
History of the school in Brittany
Brittany was long renowned for its very low literacy rates. Today, she obtains academic results among the best in the country. Abundantly illustrated, this work retraces the history of schools in the region, from the typical day of pupils in the past to the role of private education, without forgetting the trauma caused by the banning of Breton.
History of the school in Brittany, by Maiwenn Raynaudon-Kerzerho (Ed. Magazine Bretons).
In Toulouse, the oldest literary academy in Europe celebrates its 700th anniversary
For seven centuries, the Academy of Floral Games of Toulouse, created by troubadours under the name “Consistori del gay saber”, has celebrated poetry and its poets each year, in the Langue d’Oc and in French. Now listed as a French intangible cultural heritage, it is the oldest learned society in Europe and has just unveiled its 2023 awards.
Sing and dance in Occitan to feel good
This will be the theme of the next quarterly videoconference organized by the Public Office of the Occitan Language (Oplo) on Tuesday, May 16. The guest will be Aurélie Joubert, teacher-researcher in sociolinguistics at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands.
TO WATCH
The A Filetta and Constantinople groups
According to some, the defenders of regional languages would be dreadful communitarians tempted by “withdrawal into oneself” and closed to universal ideas. To those – and to others, because this title is extraordinarily beautiful – I recommend watching this video where the Corsican group A Filetta sings with the musicians of the Constantinople ensemble, whose artistic director, Kiya Tabassian, has chosen the name in reference to this city which has always played a meeting role between East and West. A video recorded at the polyphonic meetings of Calvi.
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