Evgenia Medvedeva – Dreams on Ice 2016 in Aore Nagaoka
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Tag: OMG THAT’S COOL
Little fact about French because I just learned that
The accent circonflexe (^) exists in French words to replace the âsâ that no longer exists but used to be there in older French.
For example: fenĂȘtre used to be fenestre
It is still possible to see the âsâ at times in family words like âdĂ©fenestrerâ.
knowing this, « ĂȘtre » becomes much more regular :
- ĂȘtreâââ estreâ(es, est, sommes, ĂȘ[s]tes, sont ; ser-)
some French derivations become clearer :
- fenĂȘtre  â dĂ©fenestrerââ L. fenestra
- fĂȘte âââ festival
- hĂŽpitalââ hospitaliserâ(E. hospital, ise)
- intĂ©rĂȘt ââ intĂ©ressantâ(E. interest, -ing)
- ancĂȘtre â ancestralâ(E. ancestor, -ral)
- arrĂȘt â â arrestation
- Ă©pĂźtreâ â Ă©pistolaireâ(E. epistle)
some English cognates become more obvious :
- hĂŽtelâ â hostelâ(E. âhotelâ borrowed from French)
- forĂȘtâ â forestâ(tipp to remember ^ goes on the âčeâș)
- bĂȘteâ â beast
- cĂŽte ââ coast
- honnĂȘteââ honest
- pĂąte, pĂątĂ© â pasta, paste
- quĂȘteâ ââ quest
- enquĂȘteâ â inquest
- tempĂȘteâ â tempest
- vĂȘtements â vestments (ie. clothes)
- baptĂȘmeââ baptism
sometimes, the acute replaces the circumfex for phonetic reasons :
- ážcoleââ â escoleââ L. schola (E. school)
- ážtranger  â estrangierâ(E. stranger)
- ážtudier â â estudierâ(E. study)
- dážgoĂ»tant â desgoustantâ(E. disgusting)
- dážbarquer â desembarquerâ(E. disembark)
- rážpondre â respondreâ(E. respond)
- rážpublique â L. res publica
Also, where « c â ch » (eg. cantareâ chanter) :
- chĂąteau â castelâ(E. castle)
- pĂȘcher â L. piscare
and « w â gu » (eg. warâ guerre ; wardenâ guardian) :
- guĂȘpe â E. wasp !â(this is my n° 1 favourite cognate)
bonus etymologies :
- tĂȘte âââ L. testa
- fantĂŽme â L. phantasmaâ(E. âphantomâ borrowed from French)
- PĂąques â Gk. pĂĄsxa â Am. pĂ©saáž«â(E. Paschal)
Also just be aware that the circumflex has some other uses too, like distinguishing « sur â sĂ»r » or « dĂ» » and the vowel quality in « Ăąge »
Where was this post when I was doing A-Level French! This is actually a really interesting language change called âsyncopeâ (the loss of a medial segment within a word) and what makes it even more interesting to me is that not only was the -s- dropped post vocalically and largely before voiceless stops, but that the circumflex was (unnecessarily but coolly) adopted as an orthographic marker of the lost -s-. Even more interesting is that syncope usually occurs in vowels. I love this.