Souliers (was: Some new Brithenig words?...)

>  > Christophe Grandsire scripsit:
>
>>  > > sabat = OF savate, It ciabatta, Sp zapato (shoe)
>>  >
>>  > Savate still exists in Modern French. It's mainly used in fixed
>>  expressions, but
>  > > also to mean simply "shoe", always with some marked meaning though.
May we assume that "sabot" comes from this as well? What is it with
the French and shoes? ("sabots", of course, are slightly different
creatures) Back in the day when I was a high school student, we
learned that "shoe" was "soulier". That high school trip to France
when I pulled it on a similarly aged French kid, he informed me,
after a double-take and slight smirk (or was it a guffaw?), that
"soulier" was a perfectly acceptable word for "shoe".......if I were
80 years old. "Try `chaussure'", he said, "it'll work better for
you." Well, chaussure it's been for the past twenty-odd years, and
I've used it without incident with the natives (keeping "soulier" in
the memory banks for reading purposes). Now "savate" is in the mix?
Christophe, can you explain the "marked meaning" a little? I've never
encountered this word before.

Kou

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