Pedro J. Chamizo Dominguez, Brigitte Nerlich
False friends come about through semantic change. A word can become specialized, so that its meaning becomes reserved for a smaller domain than the original loanword.
The word camel, when used literally is not a false friend; when used metaphorically, it can be a full false friend. The reasons for this are historical and geographic.
The histories of words such as bano and baigne are quite interesting: Turks used to imprison people in public bathhouses.
Euphemisms can replace earlier literal meanings of words, leading to false friends.
"One could argue that all semantic false friends are cases of (figurative) borrowing (say from Latin and Greek onwards)."-p. 1845
Generally, it seems like languages take words (loanwords) and use them for their specific purposes; as the ways these words are used is different from one language to another, false friends arise. It is similar to the evolutionary phenomenon by which separated animal populations evolve into distinct species over time.
French words chef, maitre, madame.
The study of false friends can illuminate the different ways in which speakers of languages "conceptualize reality."
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Stratford Atte Bowe Revisited
W. Rothwell
The Chaucer Review 36.2 (2001) p. 184-207
Rothwell studies the Prioress's tale, and Chaucer's description of her style of French. He locates her priory in a "fashionable" (now nondescript) part of London, Stratford atte Bowe, and discusses the role of French in England at the time.
Anglo-French of the year 1300 used French lexicon in a largely English grammatical base.The "batter" in fish and chips is from the French bature; the word "size" also comes from France. In some cases, Anglo-French speakers used a word used entirely literally in French and applied it metaphorically. These uses of French words would not have been understood in Paris.
He quotes Kristol, who says that it makes no sense to speak of "French" or "English," with complex multilingualism found in documents from medieval Britain.
The Chaucer Review 36.2 (2001) p. 184-207
Rothwell studies the Prioress's tale, and Chaucer's description of her style of French. He locates her priory in a "fashionable" (now nondescript) part of London, Stratford atte Bowe, and discusses the role of French in England at the time.
Anglo-French of the year 1300 used French lexicon in a largely English grammatical base.The "batter" in fish and chips is from the French bature; the word "size" also comes from France. In some cases, Anglo-French speakers used a word used entirely literally in French and applied it metaphorically. These uses of French words would not have been understood in Paris.
He quotes Kristol, who says that it makes no sense to speak of "French" or "English," with complex multilingualism found in documents from medieval Britain.
English faux amis for francophones learning english
robert sheen
http://www.volterre-fr.com/sheen.html
retrieved January 19, 2009
Volterre-Fr, English and French Language Resources
There are "tens of hundreds" of faux amis. Venn diagrams can be useful in teaching francophones about faux amis. Absolute faux amis are represented by two circles which do not overlap; partial faux amis can be represented by a smaller circle inside a larger one, or by overlapping circles.
http://www.volterre-fr.com/sheen.html
retrieved January 19, 2009
Volterre-Fr, English and French Language Resources
There are "tens of hundreds" of faux amis. Venn diagrams can be useful in teaching francophones about faux amis. Absolute faux amis are represented by two circles which do not overlap; partial faux amis can be represented by a smaller circle inside a larger one, or by overlapping circles.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Word-Studies in French and English
T. Atkinson Jenkins
Language, vol. 9, no. 4, dec. 1933, p.5-7+9-94
The origin of the word cuckold comes from the cuckoo. Besides laying her eggs in another bird's nest, the female cuckoo will mate with other males besides her primary mate; the male generally reacts passively. This is the reason for the folk derivation of the word cuckold.
Language, vol. 9, no. 4, dec. 1933, p.5-7+9-94
The origin of the word cuckold comes from the cuckoo. Besides laying her eggs in another bird's nest, the female cuckoo will mate with other males besides her primary mate; the male generally reacts passively. This is the reason for the folk derivation of the word cuckold.
Henry of Lancaster and Geoffrey Chaucer: Anglo-French and Middle English in Fourteenth-Century England
W. Rothwell
The Modern Language Review, vol. 99, no. 2 (Apr 2004), p.313-327
"French played a major role in the lives of both Lancaster and Chaucer, at once linking and separating them."
"In all the literate sections of the community French played a major role, being used right down to the level of personal communications among native English speakers."
From French Middle English received Bastard, bawd, bugger, coward, glutton, harlot, lecher, traitor, and vile.
The Modern Language Review, vol. 99, no. 2 (Apr 2004), p.313-327
"French played a major role in the lives of both Lancaster and Chaucer, at once linking and separating them."
"In all the literate sections of the community French played a major role, being used right down to the level of personal communications among native English speakers."
From French Middle English received Bastard, bawd, bugger, coward, glutton, harlot, lecher, traitor, and vile.
From Latin to Anglo-French and Middle English: The Role of the Multilingual Gloss
W. Rothwell
The Modern Language Review vol. 88 no 3 (July 1993) pp. 581-599
The original Latin words did not morph directly into French; each Latinate word changed meaning slightly as it entered the French lexicon. "This complicated semantic pattern is the result of social, not phonological factors . . . (583)".Medieval glosses might provide more accurate definitions than literary works, although glosses have been ignored by scholars.
Thirteenth century Anglo-French glosses attest that the English "enter" came from the French "entrer," but with the added meaning of to enter into a book.
French is not simply "the Latin spoken in Gaul."
The Modern Language Review vol. 88 no 3 (July 1993) pp. 581-599
The original Latin words did not morph directly into French; each Latinate word changed meaning slightly as it entered the French lexicon. "This complicated semantic pattern is the result of social, not phonological factors . . . (583)".Medieval glosses might provide more accurate definitions than literary works, although glosses have been ignored by scholars.
Thirteenth century Anglo-French glosses attest that the English "enter" came from the French "entrer," but with the added meaning of to enter into a book.
French is not simply "the Latin spoken in Gaul."
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