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"Autumn" was never replaced with "fall". "Fall" (referring to leaves falling down) and "spring" (referring to leaves springing up) both come from Middle English
by RoyalHenOil 2y ago
"Autumn" was never replaced with "fall". "Fall" (referring to leaves falling down) and "spring" (referring to leaves springing up) both come from Middle English. The United States was colonized by English speakers who still used both terms.
Meanwhile, "autumn" is a loan word from French. "Autumn" and "fall" were both used in Britain, but "autumn" eventually won out (after the colonization of North America).
- netdevnet 2y agoIt did in the states. Autumn is no longer a loan word (a loan word has little or no changes). The French word is quite different: automne. As You can see, it is missing 2 letters and the pronounciation is quite different.
- RoyalHenOil 2y agoNo, there was not a point in history where Americans all said "autumn" and then switched over to using "fall". "Fall" (along with its counterpart "spring") was commonly used in Britain when America was colonized. The British later stopped using "fall" (although they did keep "spring") and switched completely over to "autumn". But Americans never made that switch and continue to use both terms just as their British ancestors did. "Fall" never replaced "autumn". It replaced "harvest" (just as "spring" replaced "lent"). "Autumn" was borrowed from French, and then "fall" and "autumn" existed side by side for hundreds of years in Britain, up until very recently when "autumn" replaced "fall".