Re: alas, those monkeys are not blue

En réponse à Anton Sherwood <bronto@...>:

> Elliott Lash wrote:
> > Old French had  'las' /las/ also I think it had 'hé' /he/
> > and then they were just fused together.
>
> American Heritage Dictionary says `ah' +
> <las> `wretched' from Latin <lassus> `weary'.
>
> OF <hé las> could mean `o wretched one'.
>
Strangely enough, that doesn't seem to be the case. The modern sense of
French 'hélas': unfortunately seems recent (well, at least it seems to date
from after the 17th century). With some evidence like theater plays it seemed
first to have had a positive meaning, some kind of interjection that expresses
great surprise and hapiness.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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