Do you know why the word “happiness” takes on a h ? Easy, you’ll think, because that word originally meant “good time.” Well, not at all ! In reality, “happiness” derives from “bon eür”, where “eür” comes from the Latin “augurium” – “omen”, “omen”; no reason, therefore, for it to be written with a h. If not… there has been a confusion between the natural evolution of “augur”, “eür”, and “hour”, coming for its part from Latin “hora”. Gentle h which has nothing etymological, which was added inadvertently and which has never been removed since.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER? >> Click here
The case is far from being isolated, and this week I wanted to list some of the most beautiful blunders that punctuate our spelling. Hang on.
• Even h absurd in the adjective “high”, which comes from latin “high”. No doubt the mistake is the result of a crossing with Frankish “hah”, of the same meaning. Anyway, this blunder is not found in Catalan (“alt”), in Corsican (“altu”), no more than in Italian, Castilian or Portuguese (“alto”).
• The verb “dress” should also not be provided with a h. Indeed, it originally meant “to prepare a log” – “log” designating a trunk cut with a saw – and was logically written “abiller”. It is thanks to a connection with “skillful” (preparing a log supposes a certain skill, Raymond Devos could have said…) and “habit” (we prepare a tree in the form of a log like a person prepares with clothes) that the verb found itself endowed with a h and… that it took on a whole new meaning.
• THE d of “weight” also comes from a dumpling. The word was thought to come from “laid” (which, in effect, meant “weight”), hence the addition of a d. The catch is that “weight” actually comes from “pensum” – “what weighs”. This is why it was written “peis” or “pea” for a long time before the appearance of this d inconsistent.
• The adjective “lazy” has a has in the initial syllable, when it should take a e : “feigning” is indeed the present participle of the verb “feign”, which originally meant “to evade a task”. Only here it is: between “feigning” and “it’s nothingness”, there was only one step, and the change of vowel imposed itself…
• Another example with “forced”, which should be written with a s and not a vs, since this word goes back to “fors séné”, that is, “out of sense”.
• “Bequests”. Another nonsense with the word “legacy”. It was very tempting, it must be admitted, to equip it with a g to recall the influence of “legatum” – “donation by will”. Except that “legs”, actually, comes from another Latin word, “laxare”, which gave “leave”, which is why it was written “lay” for a long time… before scholars added this g which was going very well. The funny thing is that by dint of seeing it written, we ended up pronouncing it!
• “Put”. Let’s go to the table with the “meals” that we taste. For a long time, this word was written “my”, which was quite logical, given its etymology: Latin “missum”, or “what is on the table”, as André Thibault, professor at the Sorbonne, reminds us. It is also in this form that it passed into English to give “mess”. It was by mistake, again, that it was later added a you to attach it to the verb “to put”. Note however that, if this consonant has no etymological justification, it has the advantage of avoiding homonymy with the possessive adjective “my”.
• “Hostage” and “host”. Why does “host” take a h and a circumflex accent? In theory, because it descends from Latin “hoses” – “one who gives or receives hospitality”. All right, but then why doesn’t “hostage” take either, when that word is precisely a derivative of “host”? Surprising as it may seem, a “hostage” is indeed a person who is sheltered at home – even if, in this case, it is against their will. Anyway, we should write “host” and “hostage”, or else “ote” and “hostage”, but in no case “host” and “hostage”…
• “Navel”. I’ve alluded to this aberration in previous articles, but it’s too good not to mention it again here. THE not initial of “navel” is superfluous insofar as this term originates from the Latin “umbilicus” – we are indeed talking about an “umbilical” cord and not a “nombilical” cord. It is by dint of making the connection between the indefinite article and the noun – “un ombril” – that we ended up adding to the initial a not that we heard, but that we should never have written down.
• The opposite example also exists with “Orange”. The name of this fruit probably comes from Sanskrit “naranga”, who gave in Persian “narang”; in Arabic “naranj” ; in Venetiannaranza” and in Castilian “naranja”. If the not initial has disappeared from us is that it was confused with the not of the indefinite article “a”. And so it is that “a norange” has become “an orange”…
One more incongruity…
FIND VIDEOS DEDICATED TO FRENCH AND THE LANGUAGES OF FRANCE ON my youtube channel
READ ELSEWHERE
To be sure to receive this newsletter
Some of you have noticed: it is not enough to be a subscriber to L’Express to receive “Sur le bout des langues”. You must also register by clicking on this link (I failed to convince my colleagues to replace newsletters by “newsletters”…). Do not hesitate to communicate this manual around you because I absolutely need to gain readers.
Martinique demands that Creole become an official language
The president of the executive council of the territorial community of Martinique refuses to obey the prefect, who asks him to withdraw a deliberation devoting Creole as the official language of the island “in the same way as French”. Serge Letchimy, the head of the Martinican executive, knows that he is acting outside the legality, but he assumes it. According to him, “this refusal is an act of marooning, a declaration of dissidence in the contemporary, but historic, debate that we are opening between imprescriptible natural rights and the right to equality”.
Charter of regional languages: the minister seized
The Alsace Bilingual Federation has just sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Europe, Laurence Boone, asking her to relaunch the ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. This text, signed by France at the request of Lionel Jospin, had not been ratified following a maneuver by Jacques Chirac.
Who will replace Hélène Carrère d’Encausse at the head of the French Academy?
After the death of the academician, a new perpetual secretary of the institution must be elected by its members. Some of them want the French Academy to evolve, while others would prefer not to change course.
In rugby, English is not compulsory…
Talk about “candle” and not about“up and under”, of “open scrum” and not of “ruck”, of “pass after contact” and not ofoffload pass, it’s possible. On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, the general delegation for the French language and the languages of France publishes an appropriate guide containing 200 terms to be used to talk about this increasingly popular sport. Better still: because the oval ball flourishes particularly in Latin countries – especially in the south-west of France -, there are also equivalents in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and even in Occitan. , in Catalan, Galician and Basque.
This is what an astonishing book written by Philippe Spanghero, former player and consultant, and two linguists in love with this sport, Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus and Arnaud Richard, recalls in a way that is both pleasant and erudite. We discover both anecdotes, but also the origin of the words and expressions that are part of the charm of rugby (“entering with a helmet”, “framing overflow”, “raffut”, “bechigue”, “biscouette”…) , all written with as much humor as wit. To put in all hands.
In the heart of the oval, by Philippe Spanghero, Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus and Arnaud Richard (ed. Le Robert).
Stéphane Bern in Villers-Cotterêts for The favorite monument of the French
The program will be recorded at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne), which should be inaugurated in mid-October by Emmanuel Macron. The opportunity, we hope, to undermine the received idea according to which the ordinance signed in this castle by François Iᵉʳ in 1539 would have imposed French in administrative acts. According to the best specialists, this text would in fact have contented itself with driving out Latin from Justice and replacing it with the “language maternal Francoys”. And this at a time when more than 80% of the inhabitants of the kingdom spoke kindergarten a language other than French.
French language: reforming spelling, eternal quarrel
Do students have more and more difficulty with spelling? Not enough to threaten French, underline certain linguists interviewed by our colleagues from The Obs.
French-speaking Switzerland adopts the corrected spelling
The corrected spelling according to the recommendations of the Higher Council of the French language of 1990 makes its official entry in the Romandie schools. It coexists with the old spelling, teachers having been instructed to accept both spellings. From now on, it would therefore be possible to write, as desired, “piqueniquer” or “pique-niquer” and even “water lily” or “water lily”.
Spain wants Basque, Galician and Catalan to become official languages of the European Union
The measure is part of the requests that the formation of Carles Puigdemont has put forward to support the president of the government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, who hopes to keep his post.
TO WATCH
Gabriel Attal “very favorable” to the teaching of regional languages
The new Minister of National Education says he is very open on this subject. “Not only is it an extraordinary cultural heritage, but it can be a learning lever for our students,” he said during a trip to Réunion. Will he draw the consequences?