51
votes
Accepted
Where did French's silent ending consonants come from?
This is a huge question. If someone has the time to give a more thorough overview, I invite them to, but here's a quick set of points to consider.
Most of these end consonants are no mystery: they ...
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42
votes
What languages are perceived as classy or fancy to French speakers?
I'll add my two cents from a translation angle, even though I don't have a solid answer.
This is an excellent question from the point of view of a translator, because it gets at an issue translators ...
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35
votes
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What languages are perceived as classy or fancy to French speakers?
I really don't think there's an equivalent. French has a particular status for other countries, but I can't see a language that would be the same for French. Not at the same level at least.
Maybe ...
- 11.8k
21
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Where did French's silent ending consonants come from?
In addition to Luke's answer, here are some comments about each of your examples:
Temps was often written tems, tens or even tans in Old French. When French spelling was standardized, the variant ...
- 146k
20
votes
What languages are perceived as classy or fancy to French speakers?
Probably Latin.
Some examples of Latin words or phrases that a native French speaker could use to sound posh:
ab abrupto instead of abruptement
ad honores instead of pour l'honneur
ergo instead ...
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18
votes
What languages are perceived as classy or fancy to French speakers?
There is no such language in France.
I think we need to take a step back:
Why is French perceived as "fancy" or "classy"?
From the Wikipedia History of French: Modern French article:
From the ...
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18
votes
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Why do we say “un seul M” and not “une seule M” even though M is a “consonne”?
The gender of letters is masculine nowadays but that wasn't always the case for some consonants, including m.
TLFi
Rem. Les noms désignant les lettres f, h, l, m, n, r, s sont traditionnellement ...
- 146k
15
votes
Is there a foundational writer or body of writing to the French language?
We often call the French language "la langue de Molière".
Molière was a playwright and actor who lived in the 17th century, and he is well-known for his comedies such as "Tartuffe" or "L'Avare".
- 314
15
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Proper Middle French c. 1450 pronunciation for the "Le Roy Engloys" song
The most complete freely accessible source for the dating and chronology of sound changes in French is in my opinion the histolf site of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and especially its pages on ...
- 9,654
12
votes
Accepted
Prétéqueuseuteu
Ce n'est pas du patois, c'est vraiment comme dit le texte (« comme eût prononcé la cuisinière de mon grand-père ») un élément de prononciation.
Les enfants qui ne savent pas encore bien parler, et ...
- 60.2k
12
votes
Does the tu/vous distinction more accurately express politeness, or social distance?
Yes, I agree that tu or vous are not marks of politeness but marks of social distance / deference.
That's the reason why French people, regardless of whether they are polite or not, usually do not ...
- 146k
12
votes
Accepted
Alexander the Great quotation: "I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well."
Une traduction plus naturelle (hors contraintes académiques) ou plus poétique :
Je dois la vie à mon père, l’art de vivre à mon maitre.
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10
votes
Accepted
« un seul accent, horizontal, qu’on appelle couramment l’accent plat » ?
Les accents de guingois en travers des titres sont, je crois, simplement les accents habituels, qui sont obliques pour la plupart des gens, et de guingois pour ceux qui ne les aiment pas, le ...
- 11.3k
10
votes
Accepted
Origine de la différence de prononciation du "-ent"
You already know the synchronic side of things — the rule for how to use it today: the -ent on 3rd-person plural verbs is silent, and on most if not all other words it's pronounced. (Note that it's ...
- 19.2k
10
votes
Accepted
When was the word "ambigu" first used with the sense of "meal with all items served at the same time"?
I never heard "ambigu" used for a meal before. In France I think we only use it for the meaning "Qui est à plusieurs sens, et par conséquent d'un sens incertain".
But for the meal ...
- 883
10
votes
"Vicinité" : peut-on utiliser le mot couramment ?
“Vicinité” : peut-on utiliser le mot couramment ?
Non.
Je me demande pourquoi le mot vicinité n'est pas répertorié dans TLFi.
Parce que le TLF se définit comme Dictionnaire de la langue du XIXe ...
- 146k
10
votes
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"Vicinité" : peut-on utiliser le mot couramment ?
Le mot « vicinité » est employé en français de nos jours mais dans un sens plus spécialisé que l'anglais vicinity. Et pourtant les anglais nous ont emprunté le mot au XVIe siècle (1er emploi signalé ...
- 60.2k
9
votes
Accepted
Was "inclusive writing" historically considered grammatically correct?
The wider definition of the écriture inclusive includes several writing changes.
I believe the main one the Académie is warning against is the reintroduction of a ancient sign (the interpunct) to coin ...
- 146k
9
votes
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Why did letters in French start halfway down the page?
As iNyar commented, this space is intended to show the sender's deference to the recipient. The larger the gap, the more respect was shown.
Here is an excerpt from Modeles de Lettres Sur Differents ...
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8
votes
Est-ce qu'en français il existe des pronoms anciens ou spéciaux?
Icelle et ses dérivés sont assez sympathiques : l'ancêtre de celle-ci et ses acolytes peuvent être utilisés de nos jours et seront parfaitement entendus.
- 23.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is there a "le" before "requiert" here?
This text is a translation of a Middle Age version of Tristan et Iseult written originally in Norman language in the 12th century by Béroul. So you must expect to encounter lots of vocabulary issues ...
- 60.2k
8
votes
Multum in modern or an earlier French
Yes: moult (Trésor de la langue française, Dictionaire de l'Académie française (latest editions, previous editions didn't list this word), Littré). This word disappeared from common usage in the 16th ...
8
votes
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L'origine du c cédille
Je suis loin d'être spécialiste, mais je pense que les liens ci-dessous (questions sur FSE) peuvent donner des indications et constituent un bon point de départ (voir aussi les références mentionnées ...
- 27.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Voleur au moyen-âge
La lecture de textes en ancien et moyen français atteste de l'emploi du mot robeor qui signifie « voleur », lequel l'a peu à peu remplacé à partir du 16e siècle.
Li robeor, plein de malice,
s’...
- 60.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Étymologie de «Javetz», nom d'origine de «Javel» (comme «Eau de Javel»)
Un javel est un monceau, un îlot formé de sable et de limon.
L'histoire de Paris1 nous apprend que :
Au XVe siècle encore, [la Seine] non endigué[e] était plus large qu'aujourd'hui et ses rives ...
- 60.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Why do we use apostrophe in definite articles but not indefinite articles?
The apostrophe is commonly taught to come so that vowels don't come close to each other.
This is not stated precisely, and you might be misunderstanding. The apostrophe is a consequence of the ...
7
votes
L'expression "c'est bibi"
Le CNRTL indique que "bibi" était utilisé dès 1765 comme un terme d'affection. D'après le wiktionnaire son origine provient du radical "bib" signifiant "menue chose". Sa première utilisation dans la ...
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