Spelling of "embouchure"

phcook · Post by **phcook** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:17 am

Well, well, well

Embouchure is the right spelling. But the most interesting point would be about the pronunciation of that word by English-speaking people!

Someone noticed that the word "connoisseur" is slightly different from the French word "connaisseur"; that's because until 19th century, the French word was "connoisseur", but was pronounced "connaisseur", and the spelling was then corrected. But the word had already migrated to English language.

Thanks to all of you for being so much interested by our language!

Best wishes.

Matt_Paris · Post by **Matt_Paris** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:56 am

Just for fun I looked in my french-english Oxford dictionnary.

For example in french we have a word like "obéissance", in english: obedience, but the french word "obédience" means persuasion in english. And obeisance in english is translated by a completely different word in french ("hommage" or "révérence")...

Sometimes words come back to french:
"humeur" in french becomes "humour" in english with a completely english sense and comes back to France as "humour". Now we have two words in french: "humeur" and "humour"...

During the french occupation of England, a lot a of words came to english... And evolved. At that time, the french laguage was split in several dialectal forms. A person from the south could not understand another from the north.

The first french grammar books were written in England. This is a fact most french people forget, just like the battle of Azincourt

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:10 am

Matt_Paris wrote:The first french grammar books were written in England. This is a fact most french people forget, just like the battle of Azincourt

Gasp! Surely they remember Crécy though? And Poitiers? I mean, it was The Hundred Years war. Henry V and all that. Sigh. No sense of history, you lot. Nice cuisine though. And wine.

Matt_Paris · Post by **Matt_Paris** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:21 am

Several words are erased from our memory when we are young. Azincourt is one of them. Also Trafalgar, Waterloo...

But we have oenology lessons in nursery school.

bradhurley · Post by **bradhurley** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:45 am

When we were on a trip to Maine recently, we had fun looking at all the vanity plates (car license plates that spell a word or phrase...people have to pay extra for them. They're against the law in Québec except for ham radio operators, so we don't see them here). Anyway our favorite one was someone who was obviously named Casey and who played the piano. His license plate was:

PIANO KC

Which made us all laugh because in French that would be pronounced "piano cassé" or "broken piano," which is not quite the message he intended!

tommyk · Post by **tommyk** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:59 am

Ah, you say "embouchure", I say (or rather the "leader" currently in power in the United States says) "nucular".

Blackbeer · Post by **Blackbeer** » Fri May 06, 2005 3:05 pm

So "embosure" is right then, write?

Tom

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:34 pm

tommyk wrote:(or rather the "leader" currently in power in the United States says) "nucular".

I just can't understand why one of his advisors doesn't correct him on that. It is just ridiculous!!

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:32 pm

Cynth wrote:
tommyk wrote:(or rather the "leader" currently in power in the United States says) "nucular".
I just can't understand why one of his advisors doesn't correct him on that. It is just ridiculous!!

Why, that shows us he's just plain everyday folk. That's a good thing, right?

Ombashoor.

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:36 pm

It don't give me a whole lot a confidence.

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Fri May 06, 2005 5:37 pm

Blackbeer wrote:So "embosure" is right then, write?

Tom

Sertanly!

Chang He · Post by **Chang He** » Fri May 06, 2005 6:29 pm

susnfx wrote:
Blackbeer wrote:So "embosure" is right then, write?

Tom
Sertanly!

deaphenitlee

talasiga · Post by **talasiga** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:59 pm

bradhurley wrote:.......
PIANO KC

Which made us all laugh because in French that would be pronounced "piano cassé" or "broken piano," which is not quite the message he intended!

And how would you know what was intended?
Maybe he was a soft hearted, heart broken Italian? Hmm?

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:17 am

Err, how does one pronounce it?

seisflutes · Post by **seisflutes** » Sat May 07, 2005 2:16 pm

Pronounce what, "embouchure"? Everyone I know says like "AHM-ba-shur," but then we are English-speaking people. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be pronounced or not.