French Où.

Presley.   Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:11 pm GMT
Does it have Germanic origins?
greg   Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:37 am GMT
Pesley : non, <où> {wo, wohin, worauf, worin} est d'origine latine —> La <ubi>.

Tout comme <ou> {oder} —> La <aut>
Presley.   Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:12 am GMT
Merci, Greg.
greg   Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:26 pm GMT
iDe nada!
Guest   Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:30 pm GMT
only about 500 french words have germanic origins, most of them are quite unusual and a lot of them unknown bu french themselves.
almost all basis vocabulary is latin, even if it look sometimes different to the Spanish version, it is as much.
Presley.   Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:34 am GMT
Greg,

Je pensais que vous ne parlez pas en langues autre que français. (...just kidding!)

Et aussi, excusez mon français. Je ne peux pas parler français bien.
greg   Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:27 pm GMT
Tu te débrouilles très bien, Presley !

Et tu peux me tutoyer = me dire "tu".

;)
fab   Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:55 pm GMT
Oui, c'est vrai, moult non-francophones ont tendance a vovoyer tout le monde quand ils parlent en Français... C'est un peu trop formel sur internet.
LAA   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:15 pm GMT
"Ou" is a lot like Spanish, "o". As someone said earlier, there are very few Germanic words in French. I'm not sure, but I think Spanish and Portuguse actually have more Germanic words than French. But, that is not confirmed by a more reliable source. I think a lot of people unfamliar with French make the mistake of thinking that French IS a Germanic language, or a Romance language heavily influenced by Germanic languages like old Frankish, because in spoken form, it sounds somewhat like a "northern European" language, with the uvular 'r', and less pronounced vowels and such. I know a lot of Germanic speakers (Danish, Dutch, German) who prefer French over other Latin languages because the phonology is a lot easier for them. I read and hear a lot of people say that the French are Germanic. This is because of the confusion over the name. They hear "French" or "Francophone" and immediately associate France and anything French with the Franks, while they do not do this with Italians or Spaniards or Portuguese. You would not believe how many times I have heard that the French are a Germanic people, and that French is a Germanic language, or a language heavily influenced by Germanic languages.
Tiffany   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:25 pm GMT
Your experience is your own LAA. I've never heard French described as a Germanic language, or a Germanic people.

I know many people who prefer to learn French to other Romance languages. I think this is simply due to the history of French, as not too long ago it was the language of government and diplomancy. Its prestige continues even to this day.

If it is chosen because of its phonology, I'm of the opinion that it is because many people find it beautiful, not easier.

Please stop stating things as though they are facts. I also highly doubt any great majority of English-speakers knows much about the Franks. Some may not have even heard of them.
LAA   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:37 pm GMT
Cruise around the internet boards Tiffany. It has been my experience that many people mistakenly believe that the French are Germanic! Or that French is the most Germanic-influenced language of the Romance family. Many people will tell you this on Yahoo Answers, or on other message boards like this.

And I have talked to several Germanic speakers, in person, who plainly stated that they did not like Italian, and hated, yes hated, Spanish, because it sounded so strange, and it was difficult to pronounce. But, they liked French because the sound of it was not as alien to them. This is their words, not mine. And most Germanic speakers I encounter, if they study a Romance language, usually take up French.
fab   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:39 pm GMT
" They hear "French" or "Francophone" and immediately associate France and anything French with the Franks"


As Tiffany said it, I think that most people don't even know who the Franks were. Even in France itself, most people have only a very vague idea of who they were, Some people doesn't even know that they were a germanic tribe.
I think it is more widely known in the US that French is a romance language that the former existance of the Franks.




" You would not believe how many times I have heard that the French are a Germanic people, and that French is a Germanic language "

When I was in the US, I had seen people who didn't know that the Italians were latin. And other that were thinking that English was a romance language. ignorance about other contients exists in every place.
In Europe, most people think that asians are all of Chinese culture. A lot of people thinks that Brazil is an Hispanic country and not portuguese-speaking. A lot of people think that all Canada is French-speaking, and so on...
fab   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:41 pm GMT
" Many people will tell you this on Yahoo Answers, or on other message boards like this. "

outside of yourself, not many did that.
fab   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:44 pm GMT
" And most Germanic speakers I encounter, if they study a Romance language, usually take up French. "


It is absolutly not what I saw when I was in the USA. Most people were learning Spanish, not French.
Tiffany   Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:54 pm GMT
LAA - I have no problems with your experiences and opinions. You are entitled to them.

The real problem I have with your posts is that you try to take these, your own experience, your own opinions, and make them the facts of life. They are valid, no doubt, but I dislike your high-handed manner of trying to push aside any differing experiences and opinions to your own as if it weren't based on experiences as valid as your own.

It's not as though I am saying something far-fetched or unbelievable. Be a little bit more open-minded.