In this submission we offer parents a glimpse into the insights that help our students understand how, with attention to predictable phonetic shifts, Latin word roots enable decoding and using French vocabulary. As noted in last month’s article D’Evelyn students gain insight into the power of Latin roots when in jr. high English they study The WORD within the WORD. They learn, e.g, that the root alter means other, that vita means life, tempor– means time, ferro- means iron, and so on. All D’Evelyn Latin students thus acquire a store of meaningful building blocks for comprehension and expression in English, as well as in Latin or the Romance language which they study. One challenge for Foreign Language teachers is to guide students to see the subtle differentiations in spelling and sound that occur in Latin’s daughter languages. And in French those differentiations can be more or less subtle.
Smoothing Latin’s Hard Consonants
The mellifluous smoothness of spoken French is remarkable, and one reason is its rejection of some consonant sounds. As French developed, its speakers jettisoned some of Latin’s harsher consonant (h-, c-, b-, qu-) in favor of softer ones. The silent h- of French heure dropped the breath Roman h- of hora and influenced how we in English pronounce hour. The gentle ch- which we in English when we pronounce champagne bubbles into English from French champs which softens the –k- sound of Latin campus, field. Again, the mild -v- of French cheval (horse), source of our words chivalry and cavalier) drop the friction out of the -b-sound in Latin caballus, horse. Finally, consider the di=ual alterations to Latin qu-, which is pronounced as in English, but in French moves to a soft c- sound or to the unvoiced –k– sound represented by the-q- of cinq (from Latin quinque, five).
Where Did Those Syllables Go?
Astute readers will note that in all of the examples above, the French word dropped a syllable from the Latin root word, which again makes for a gentle sonorous flow. Beyond softening consonants, French has the tendency to drop them, substituting lengthened or blended vowel sounds. Consider these triads (French, Latin, Spanish) for water (eau, aqua, agua) and iron (fer, ferrum, hierro). As noted in last month’s column, Latin –f– has a strong tendency to lose its friction and develop into a breathy Spanish -h-. French’s unique path of development from Latin retains the original -f- sound, choosing instead to drop subsequent consonants and vowel sounds if the earlier syllable had a very strong accent. So from Latin áqua the -q- and second -a- dropped out of pronunciation. From Latin férrum the entire syllable -rum disappears from sight and hearing, leaving the monosyllabic fer in French. In other situations when Latin témpus, témporis, became simply temps in French, with the final -s written, but silent.
C’est la vie!
The number of phonetic changes that students can observe may seem daunting, but it is a fait accompli, and there is real beauty in this complexity. It would be a terrible faux pas (falsus passus) not to appreciate the nexus between Latin, French and English. Our shared tongue is richer and more graceful for it!
(Published in the December, 2014 Jaguar Tracks)
The PHurrowed Brow 