![]() ![]() In Italian, you can still hear people make the gw- sound for that one, but not so in French and Spanish. The Latin v- changed to g- partly through influence from Germanic languages, where proto-Romance speakers borrowed words from Germanic languages but had trouble with w- as in initial consonant, so instead of Germanic werra (war), they would say guerra. Technically it came from vulpeculus/vulpecula, Latin for “little fox” or “fox kit,” hence the L at the end of the word. Old French did have a word related to vulpes, and that word was goupil. It’s not what you’d expect from the Latin, where the word for “fox” is variously spelled vulpes, vulpis, volpes, and provides the source of English vulpine, which means “related to foxes” and also “crafty, cunning.” ![]() RENARD, n. This is how you say “fox” in French. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |