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Re: OT: Diacricital marks [Re: Question about "do"]

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Tuesday, July 29, 2003, 3:38
Mark J. Reed scripsit:

> Ah! I was not aware of these "old rules". I take it they were a > feature of Romance (or whatever you choose to call the last common vulgar > Latin) before it diverged?
Well, no. We're talking about writing here, and the Romance languages were already pretty differentiated before anybody thought to write them down. It's a matter of a pan-European vernacular writing convention; I can't assign a date offhand.
> And the circumflex is a later French innovation?
It indicates a former s that is no longer written, thus e^tre for estre. -- Dream projects long deferred John Cowan <jcowan@...> usually bite the wax tadpole. http://www.ccil.org/~cowan --James Lileks http://www.reutershealth.com

Replies

Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>