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>Ê with the circumflex accent marks an “e” after which originally some other letter was written (usually an S), but this letter is no longer present in its mode
by Amorymeltzer 7mo ago
>Ê with the circumflex accent marks an “e” after which originally some other letter was written (usually an S), but this letter is no longer present in its modern spelling.
[snip]
>By imagining “es” instead of “ê”, we can often deduce the meaning of unknown words; for example, forêt = forest, fête = “feste” = fest(ival); intérêt = interest and many others. The circumflex accent is used in the very same sense also for other vowels, for example île = isle, hôte = “hoste” = host, hâte = haste.
I will always remember this, thanks to my high school French teacher who, knowing her audience, gave us a few examples like "hôpital," and then said "So you can probably guess was 'bâtard' means..."
- ghewgill 7mo agoI had that "a-ha" moment not at first by learning that "fenêtre" means "window", but later when I learned the German word is "Fenster".
- dismalaf 7mo agoOr defenestrate...
- cryptonector 7mo agoA uniquely... English word, that.
- throw0101a 7mo agoIt originated in Prague due to two incidents: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration#Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration#Origin * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
- ithkuil 7mo agoAlso used in Italian and presumably in many other languages. Like with any word, it's use in colloquial form may vary from generation to generation, from subculture to subculture etc
- QuercusMax 7mo agoNot at all. It's just the Latin prefix "de" (out of) plus "fenester" meaning window. Not an English word except by borrowing.
- cryptonector 7mo agoThe joke was that [to my then knowledge] it's not used in Romance languages, but it is used in English.
- QuercusMax 6mo agoI believe the term originates with this historical event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague And if you believe Wiki, it was used originally in Middle French.
- dismalaf 7mo agoIs it? I know of that word in at least 3 languages.
- edgyquant 7mo agoI love that the existence of this word implies being thrown out of a window was so common it required its own word
- UltraSane 7mo agoPeople used to empty chamber pots by throwing them out the window.
- embedding-shape 7mo ago> but later when I learned the German word is "Fenster". Swedish word for it is strikingly similar, but with a hint of being more "hip and trendy restaurant in gentrified neighborhood": Fönster.
- f1shy 7mo agoIn italian finestra
- _0xdd 7mo agoI know this because every Christmas Eve I hear Hans Gruber say "schiessen den fenster".
- ahartmetz 7mo agoIt comes from Latin fenestra. People are throwing around lots of languages in this subthread, but it needs to be said that the circonflex indicates an omitted s from the Latin original. Maybe there are cases where the original isn't Latin, but I've never noticed one, and French does not have many words of non-Latin origin. I'm not sure if English speakers commonly know that, but English is a rare case of thoroughly mixed origins.
- wunderlotus 7mo agoThis is freaking genius!