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From: phoogenb@liberty.uc.wlu.edu (Peter Hoogenboom)
Subject: Re: English importation of words (was Re: Is '#' a "pound sign" or what?)
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Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 22:30:50 GMT
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chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu wrote:
: But, if you look at that Froggish word, you will see that there is a wee 
: circumflex accent over the first "e" which means that, since the French (
: for reasons known only to themselves) cannot pronounce words with "ost" or 
: "est" , and the like, they drop the "s" and put a ^ over the e

: therefore, the English "hostel" crosses the Channel (Manche) and becomes 
: "H^otel, then does a Ble'riot and sets up shop overlooking Hyde Park.

I think that "hostel" crossed the channel with the Normans, from France 
to England, before its continental cousin fell prey to the typographical 
tyranny of the circumflex.  Then, after the French had settled on 
"Ho^tel," that word joined the English language separately.

: I would imagine "fe^te" came from a German "Feste"
: A Fe^te worse than death, you might be tempted to say, but I've beaten you 
: to it.....

I would imagine that "fe^te" came from Latin, as did Spanish "fiesta," for 
example.  German has a long history of borrowing words from French.

Peter

--
Peter Hoogenboom                        phoogenb@wlu.edu
Department of Music, DuPont 208         hoogenboom.p@fs.sciences.wlu.edu
Washington and Lee University           phoogenboom@wesleyan.edu
Lexington, VA 24450                     (540) 463-8697
