Re: CHAT: French expressions in English (Re: OT CHAT:Asperger'ssyndrome)n

At 13:16 26/06/00 -0500, you wrote:
>On Sat, 24 Jun 2000, yJohn Cowan wrote:
>
>> And who knows why anglophones say "double entendre" instead of
>> "double entente".
>
>Hmm, it was my understanding that "double entente" was from false
>analogy to the word entente and that entendre was the "real" way.  In
>any event, my dictionary (the American Heritage) says it's "Obsolete
>French" for "double understanding."
>
In this sense, you're right. "Entendre" used to mean "to understand", like
Spanish "entender". In fact, it's still used a little in French with its
old meaning, as in expressions like "j'entends bien faire ainsi": "I'm
willing to do it this way", or "j'entends bien" to reply to someone that
you understood what this person meant.

                                                Christophe Grandsire
                                                |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.

"Reality is just another point of view."

homepage : http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
(ou : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepages/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html)