The Loom Of Language

246

The Loom of Language

The compound consonant ±t has made way for t* The preceding vowel
then carries a circumflex accent., as in the examples below The change
began in the eleventh century^ but a mute S before T persisted in
written French till the reforms of 1740

Another specifically Old French sound-change has also cropped up
in preceding tables The modern Fiench C is a hard (K) sound only
before a> 0, and u Otherwise it stands for s Where C preceded a in
Latin words it softened to the sh sound in shif>3 spelt CH in French
orthography (cf, ckamon, champagm\ as in the following.

POIUUGUKSK

cavalo
lisa
ra

cabc%a

cousa

In many English woids derived from French this initial CH conceals
correspondence with the Spanish or Italian equivalent It does $o, for
instance, in those below

LAI IN
I1ALIAN
SPANISH

caballo
cavallo
caballo

camibia
camicia
cai

capra capite caro
capra capo
cat cabc/a caio

causa
CO
sa

nuiNcn
I'NGLISII

CI1EVAL
hone

CHEMISE
ihirt

OHfeVRr
goal

CJIL**
head

cmR
dear

GHOSIJ
thing

LA UN
SPANISH
Jt'RFNCt!
ENGLISH

calefacerc
calentar
chaufler
chafe

cambio
cambio
change
change

campionc
campc6n
champion
champion

cancellario
canciller
chancclicr
chatuclloi

cantare
cantar
chanter
ehattr

capitulo
capitulo
chapitre
chapter

captiarc
caxax
cliasser
chaw

cantate
cantad
char it 6
chanty

* carta
carta
chattc
chart

casto
caste
chaste
chaste

Another characteristically French sound-shift recalls what happened
in Middle English and is still going on in Scandinavian dialects. Be-
tween two vowels g softened to y or z or disappeared* Hence we get
English old-new couplets such as royal-rega^ Iqyal-bgfa frail-fragile,
(The English pronunciation of royal and loyal is a survival of the Old
French stage*) Examples are in the following table*
* In a metaphorical sense The anatomical head *s la t(te.