From France to your dictionary

Hey, etymology lovers! Here are 10 words that traveled from the French

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Did you know that many of the words we use every day actually have their roots in French? English is part of the Germanic language family, while French is a Romance language. At first glance, one would think that they don't have much in common, right? But this is not the case; French has influenced our language in many ways, including our vocabulary. Today, we are going to discover 10 common English words that have origins in the language of love. Allons-y!

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While denim has been a part of our daily lives for many, many years now, the story of how this word came to us is quite interesting.

"Denim" originally came from the French term Serge de Nîmes. Nîmes is a city in southern France, and serge refers to a type of fabric with a twilled weave. Thus, the term Serge de Nîmes was originally used to describe this particular fabric made in the French city.

But how did we go from Serge de Nîmes to "denim"? Well, when the fabric gained popularity in other countries, English speakers had trouble pronouncing the whole term, so it was gradually simplified, first to something like "serge deNîm" and finally to just "denim."

By the 19th century, the English term we know today was fully integrated into our language.

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"Honesty," Billy Joel's beautiful song, might not be the same without the French contribution to our language.

"Honesty" comes from the Old French word honesté, which refers to something noble, virtuous, or respectable. In turn, the French word derives from the Latin honestus, which was used to describe something honorable.

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the Middle English took the term honesté from the French, retaining its meaning. However, by the 16th century, the English word had evolved into "honesty" and broadened its meaning. It came to represent not just honor and good morals but also truthfulness, sincerity, and genuine intentions.

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We have all given and received advice throughout our lives, but do you know where the word "advice" comes from?

The English word "advice" has quite a long history, originating from the Latin advisum, which meant "considered" or "deliberated." This term evolved into the Old French noun avis, meaning "opinion" or "point of view."

The Old French avis was borrowed into Middle English around the 13th century, and the expression at avis (meaning "in my opinion") emerged. Over time, it transformed into "advice." By the 16th century, its meaning had shifted, evolving from simply an opinion to a suggestion offered by someone else.

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Personal care and beauty have been an important issue for people since ancient times. A very clear example of this is the word "manicure."

What's interesting about this term is how little it has changed over time. The Latin words manus (hand) and cura (care) came together to give rise to manicura, which was later adapted into French as manucure.

Around the 17th century, the tradition of hand care became more refined in Europe, especially among the privileged classes, making the term more widely known. By the 19th century, "manicure" was already present in the English language, without changing its form and retaining its meaning to this day.

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Today, the word "table" has several meanings: it can refer to the piece of furniture we use for dining, the flat surface where we chop vegetables, or even more abstract concepts like organizing data into rows and columns.

But to get to all this, the word had a long journey, starting with Latin. The term tabula in Latin meant simply "a flat piece of wood," "board" or "plank."

Tabula passed into Old French as table, maintaining at first its original definition. By the 12th century, Middle English adopted the term "table," preserving its form while expanding its meaning.

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In ancient times, armies and soldiers were a central part of life, so it's no wonder that many of our military-related words have their origins there.

The Latin word arma meant "weapons," plural. It was this form of the word that passed into Old French as armé, an adjective meaning "armed," referring to a group of people armed for war. From armé, the noun armée arose, referring to the military force.

In the 13th century, armée passed into Middle English as armye, retaining its meaning. With the passage of time, the term evolved into "army."

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The exchange of goods and money has been part of human interactions for as long as history can remember, and this is evident in the evolution of the language.

Moneta was Latin for "coins." This term was adapted in different ways to the Romance languages. For example, Spanish hardly modified the form, resulting in the present Spanish word moneda. The case of Old French was a little different, but not by much.

Moneta evolved into Old French as moneie, which then transitioned into Middle English as moneye around the 13th century. By this time, the word had expanded its definition, referring not only to coins but also to currency in general. Eventually, modern English modified the pronunciation of moneye, which ended up with the current "money."

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Solidus was a Latin word that designated a specific type of gold coin used in the Empire. But what do coins have to do with soldiers?

As we already know, Latin evolved into Romance languages, and this word passed into Old French as soudee, which specifically designated a payment given to a soldier. Over time, the French word changed in both structure and definition. Soudee transitioned to soudier, which referred to a soldier who fought professionally in an army, meaning he was paid for his service.

Middle English took that term from French, and its spelling eventually changed to "soldier."

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The word "debut" appears in many contexts: sports, cinema, theater, television, literature, and more. While this might surprise many, it has a very ancient origin.

What's more interesting about this word is that its meaning has not changed much throughout history. In Latin, debutare already meant "to begin" or "to start."

The term evolved into Old French as début, where its connotation shifted to something closer to a first performance or the first time in a particular practice. By the 19th century, the word was already in English as we know it today.

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If you are a fan of meat (or etymology), you won't want to miss the journey that the word "beef" took to become part of our language.

Latin used the word bovem to refer to cattle. Over time, this term evolved and was adapted to Old French as boef, which varied in meaning to specifically denote the meat from cattle.

In the 12th century, Middle English took boef and adapted it as befe or beef, refining its definition to refer to cattle meat prepared for consumption. By the 14th century, the word was well-established in our language.

ONLINE CODEX

10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About The History Of Emojis

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Anyone who has ever engaged in an online conversation knows that there’s an important element missing that can easily lead to misunderstandings: nuance. When we are talking, we use tonality and facial expressions to convey an important part of the meaning of what we are communicating. Emojis come to save the day, adding color, emotion, and much-needed nuance to our text-based conversations.

But where did these tiny pictographs come from, and how did they evolve into the diverse set we use today? Let's take a journey through the history of emojis and uncover some fascinating facts along the way.

Image: Jezael Melgoza

Emojis originated in Japan in the late 1990s, a graphical evolution from their punctuation mark-based predecessors, the emoticons. Contrary to popular belief, their name does not stem from the word emotion (like emoticons) but from the combination of the Japanese words for "picture" (e) and "character" (moji). The first set of emojis - consisting of 90 icons - was created in 1997 by SoftBank, a Japanese mobile carrier.

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In 2010, emojis gained global recognition when they were standardized by the Unicode Consortium, allowing them to be used across different platforms and devices. This standardization ensured that emojis would display consistently, regardless of the operating system or application.

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While emojis initially began with simple smiley faces and expressions, they have evolved to encompass a wide range of symbols, objects, animals, and even flags representing different countries. Today, there are over 3,000 emojis available, offering users a diverse palette for expressing themselves.

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Emojis have transcended linguistic and cultural barriers, becoming a universal language of sorts. In recognition of their influence, in 2015 Oxford Dictionaries named the U+1F602 (😂) emoji, known as "face with tears of joy," the Word of the Year. From the United States to China, people around the world have incorporated emojis into their digital communication seamlessly, adding a layer of emotional context to their messages.

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In recent years, there has been a push for more inclusive emojis, leading to the introduction of gender-neutral options and diverse skin tones. In particular, skin tones in emojis are based on the Fitzpatrick scale for classifying human skin color, a scale designed to estimate the effects of UV light on different types of skin. When no modifier is selected, emojis are often set to the default, non-realistic, Simpson-esque yellow.

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Emojis don't just convey emotions; they reflect cultural trends and internet phenomena. Furthermore, linguists believe that as they continue to grow and develop, true emoji "dialects" will arise. And while many emoji have acquired almost standardized meanings, we could easily argue that it is already happening, as small groups of people tend to interpret and use emoji in quite different ways.

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July 17th is celebrated as World Emoji Day, commemorating the date originally displayed on Apple’s calendar emoji (📅). Although an unofficial holiday, the festivity remains a testament to the widespread popularity and cultural impact of emojis, with events and activities held around the world to mark the occasion.

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According to linguists, emoji do not necessarily carry their own fixed meaning but rather act as a paralanguage, adding meaning to text. This can lead to all sorts of communication problems as emojis are translated between different cultural settings or even between different platforms. Even a seemingly universal emoji like the smiling face can convey a meaning apparently opposite to its intended meaning.

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Emojis have even found their way into legal proceedings, with courts grappling with the interpretation and admissibility of emojis as evidence. In some cases, emojis have been used to clarify the intent behind messages or to establish a timeline of events. However, the meaning of emojis can be easily misconstrued, as their interpretation often varies from user to user. For example, in a 2004 case regarding alleged industrial espionage, an email that referred to a "spy" within one of the involved companies was dismissed as evidence of criminal intent due to the usage of a smiley face emoji, suggesting it was a playful comment rather than a serious message.

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Emojis have fundamentally changed the way we communicate in the digital age, even influencing the way we think. Psychologists have found that emojis can activate the same brain regions that are responsible for processing emotions. Also, they effectively change how messages are read and perceived, sometimes helping to soften or emphasize the information. In a highly visual world, emojis seem to be a highly successful addition to our written language, making communication faster and more efficient regardless of the medium.