Émigrés : French Words That Turned English

**The fascinating continuing history of French words that have entered the English language—and that reveal the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world** English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases—such as __à la mode__, __ennui__, __naïveté__, and __caprice__—lend English a certain __je-ne-sais-quoi__ that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal of the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world. __Émigrés__ demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, “turned” English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn’s complaint that English lacks “words that do so fully express” the French __ennui__ and __naïveté__, to George W. Bush’s purported claim that “the French don’t have a word for entrepreneur,” this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional __mot juste__. They have established themselves as “creolizing keywords” that both connect English speakers to—and separate them from—French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete. At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, __Émigrés__ invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe French and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst. "This is a study of French words and phrases which, untranslated, have entered the English lexicon. Historians calculate that English, since 1500, has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. While it has naturalized many of these words, some have visibly retained their foreign roots, leading varied lives in the English-speaking world while eluding translation and resisting integration. Carrying traces of their French roots in the challenges of spelling and pronunciation they pose to native users of English, often set in italic type to distinguish them from the English surrounding them, they are, so to speak, émigrés: French foreigners in our midst. It was primarily in the 1660s that a cluster of phrases and terms with French roots - à- la-mode, ennui, naïveté, caprice -came to prominence in English as Restoration England was Frenchified by Charles II and his court. More often than not these foreign words have been enthusiastically adopted by English users, as if they lent the language a certain je-ne- sais-quoi that would otherwise elude English expression and leave it tantalisingly incomplete, though occasionally the adoption of these words has met with fear and hostility, in a reflection of the ambivalent reception that has so often awaited the foreigners who count these words as part of their native language. Richard Scholar asks several interesting questions: What uses do French foreign words serve in English? To what extent have these uses changed the meanings of the words in French language and culture? And what does the study of these words reveal of the broader relations between neighbouring languages, cultures, and societies? In addressing these questions the author explores what meanings and associations these words have brought with them from the French tradition, and he places their emergence in English within the wider context of early modern social and cultural attitudes towards foreign cultures, their mediators, and the fashion for all things French"-- Provided by publisher The fascinating continuing history of French words that have entered the English language—and that reveal the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases—such as à la mode , ennui , naïveté , and caprice —lend English a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal of the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world. Émigrés demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, “turned” English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn’s complaint that English lacks “words that do so fully express” the French ennui and naïveté , to George W. Bush’s purported claim that “the French don’t have a word for entrepreneur,” this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional mot juste . They have established themselves as “creolizing keywords” that both connect English speakers to—and separate them from—French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete. At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, Émigrés invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe French and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst. The fascinating history of French words that have entered the English language and the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases—such as à la mode , ennui , naïveté and caprice —lend English a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal about the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world. Émigrés demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, "turned" English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn's complaint that English lacks "words that do so fully express" the French ennui and naïveté , to George W. Bush's purported claim that "the French don't have a word for entrepreneur," this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional mot juste . They have established themselves as "creolizing keywords" that both connect English speakers to—and separate them from—French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete. At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, Émigrés invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe the French language and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst. The fascinating history of French words that have entered the English language and the fertile but fraught relationship between English- and French-speaking cultures across the world.0English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases-such as a la mode, ennui, naivete and caprice-lend English a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal about the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world.0'Émigrés' demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, "turned" English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn's complaint that English lacks "words that do so fully express" the French ennui and naivete, to George W. Bush's purported claim that "the French don't have a word for entrepreneur," this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional mot juste. They have established themselves as "creolizing keywords" that both connect English speakers to-and separate them from-French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete.0At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, 'Émigrés' invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe the French language and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst