Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: French -ois (jara: YAC: Widse -- a conlang based on Ygyde)

From:Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
Date:Thursday, January 30, 2003, 21:12
Jan skrzypszy:

> --- Christophe skrzypszy: > > > became spelt "français" to follow the sound. In the same way, the imperfect >> endings in French used to be spelt "-ois, -oit, -oient" (now "-ais, -ait, - >> aient"). It's the reason why English has "conoisseur" for French >> "connaisseur". > > They borrowed it before the spelling reform ;))) .
While it bows to the Old French verb "conoistre" (one 'n') (now "connaître"), the OED gives the modern English spelling as "connoisseur" (two 'n's). The consonants are fairly straightforward, but if this word doesn't leave unexposed young English readers scratching their heads, nothing will (well, maybe "syzygy" (which *kinda* looks like "skrzypszy")). Kou

Reply

John Cowan <jcowan@...>