11 surprising anecdotes about the French language

[jrineakter]

If you're reading this, you probably understand French . But do you know all the fun facts about this language ? Did you know that French was the language of the English court for centuries ? Or that there is a book where the letter "e" does not appear?

Molière's language is also full of singularities: words that change gender, terms that have contradictory meanings, some "h"s are aspirated, others are not. Enough to make your head spin ...

If you want to know more about France and the French language, continue reading and discover in this article 11 surprising anecdotes about the French language !

1. There is a French book without the letter "e"
Have you ever tried to write a text in French without the vowel "a" or "i"? Difficult, right? Well, the writer George Perec took up the challenge in 1969 with his book La Disparition . His 300-page novel does not contain the letter "e"!

It's called a lipogram, which is a text in which a new zealand whatsapp number data letter is forbidden. I invite you to do this kind of fun exercise in French. It works your vocabulary and it's a lot of fun.

2. The origin of the French word “copique”
Unusual fact about French

Did you know that "buddy" and "companion" have the same Latin origin? They are composed of the prefix "cum" which means "with" and the Latin word "panis", which means "bread". In other words, a buddy is someone with whom you share bread.

"Friend" was previously written as compain or compaing. It is distinguished from friend, which comes from the Latin "amare" which means "to love". Today, a friend or girlfriend is the person with whom we play and share common interests, complicity or common experiences.

3. February 14, 842: date of the French birth certificate
The oldest official French document dates from February 14, 842. It is the Oaths of Strasbourg. This text marks the military alliance between Charles the Bald and Louis the German, against Lothair I.

These oaths were written in two languages: Romance and Teutonic. Transcribed by the chronicler Nithard, they thus constitute the oldest monuments of the French and German languages.

In the history of France, this is an important date, because it is the first official text that was not written in Latin, but in Romance. It constitutes the birth certificate of French.



4. The French language is the most Germanic of the Romance languages.
Like Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, French is part of the Romance languages, a linguistic group descended from Latin. However, it is distinguished from these languages ​​by the influence that the Germanic languages ​​have had on it throughout history.

As early as the 3rd century, Germanic-speaking peoples invaded Gaul. When the Merovingian Franks and their king Clovis came to power, they preferred to abandon their language. Why? Because it was easier to govern the country by adopting the local language. Very quickly, everyone spoke Vulgar Latin as their mother tongue.

Vocabulary
Today, traces of these Germanic influences remain in the French language. They are found in particular in the vocabulary of:

the kitchen: escalope, waffle, soup
war and construction: town, spy, arrow, war, hangar
the sea: grappling hook, swell, herring
Word order
The influence is seen both at the lexical and grammatical level. In French, the epithet adjective is generally placed after the noun. In Germanic languages, it is the opposite. We find this imprint in place names where the adjective is placed in front: Neufchâteau, Rougemont, Francheville…

The aspirated h
Finally, if today, there are aspirated "h"s and silent "h"s in French , it is because of the Germanic peoples! At the time of Cicero, the "h" was no longer pronounced in Latin. This is why we must make the liaison for the word "man", from the Latin homo .

On the other hand, for the "hamlet", of Germanic origin, the consonant "h" was heard in French. The same thing for "hutte", "haie", or "halle". This explains why we cannot make the liaison or the elision with these words.