Histoire du vocabulaire français: origines, emprunts et création lexicale par Olivier Bertrand

Abstract

quartier, comme en écho reconnaissant, récitent les vers répétés autrefois après lui: “J’entends ta voix dans la voix des enfants” (175). Avec Parabole du failli, Trouillot compose un hymne éloquent au pouvoir des mots, à la survivance des poètes et à la capacité de l’artiste tombé à se relever comme “l’oiseau noir toucouleur [...] au bord de la fenêtre” (176). Pourtant, cette fois-ci, “tu ne tombes pas. Tu planes. [...] Tu n’arrêtes pas de planer” (176). Une belle parabole pour Haïti aussi. Earlham College (IN) Annie Bandy Linguistics edited by Stacey Katz Bourns Bertrand, Olivier. Histoire du vocabulaire français: origines, emprunts et création lexicale. Palaiseau: École Polytechnique, 2011. ISBN 978-2-7302-1581-7. Pp. 227. 17,80 a. This concise volume will delight any Francophile curious about etymology. With lucid, lively, sometimes witty prose, the author introduces the reader to the captivating history of many common (and some less common) words that have entered French via the language’s many and varied contacts with other languages, as well as words created in-house through derivation and other means. Most chapters begin with an overview, historical synopsis, or presentation and illustration of relevant linguistic terms and processes, before discussing representative lexical examples. The organization is roughly chronological, beginning with the Latin heritage to which French owes some 87% of its vocabulary, the few lexical vestiges of Gaulish (for example, chêne, mouton), and early Germanic influences (‘h aspiré’ words, guerre, blanc, bleu). The chapter on the languages of medieval France gives a solid summary of Occitan but, oddly, little discussion of how Occitan lexically influenced its neighbor to the north; here one could mention abeille or the pronunciation of amour. Particularly fascinating is the chapter on early borrowings from Arabic (chiffre, alcool, chimie, sirop, artichaut, even jupe).Chapters on emerging political vocabulary reflect the author’s more specialized interests; as French progressively replaced Latin in the legal sphere, its vocabulary swelled with appropriate terms (often Latinate) needed to fulfill the language’s expanding functions. The seventeenth century witnessed the beginnings of linguistic purism and codification, and the eighteenth saw further advances in science (units of measurement like litre and mètre) and changes in political thought (for example, anarchiste, from the long-attested anarchie). The chapter on modern borrowings centers entirely on English and a host of recent language planning efforts, such as the Loi Toubon of 1994, designed to stem this perceived incursion and bolster the use of French. Bertrand is careful to avoid angst and alarmism, affirming rather that active borrowing is a sign 282 FRENCH REVIEW 88.1 Reviews 283 of a healthy, living language (French) and that it occurs naturally when languages are in contact. Then follows a potpourri of borrowings from languages whose lexical contributions to French are relatively modest,including Spanish (for example,intégrisme, chocolat),Portuguese (mangue), Dutch (démarrer),Russian (bistrot), Polish (meringue), Persian (pyjama),Chinese (soja),and modern German (aspirine,vampire).Unfortunately, subsequent discussion of the regional languages within France is limited to Breton. Bertrand shows how French innovates from within, for example through derivation (prefixation,suffixation),indicating that many productive affixes (aéro-,ciné-,-gramme, -logie) are of Greek origin.A few captivating cases of disputed or mysterious etymologies (including rat and cochon) are the icing on the cake. The author never pretends to exhaustivity, and annotated references appear in each chapter for readers interested in greater detail or more complete accounts. Graduate students and researchers will want to dig deeper,but selections from this book could work well in a range of undergraduate courses: two possibilities include History of the Language and Introduction to French Linguistics. Overall, this introductory work offers a highly enjoyable, accessible survey of the French lexicon that contains considerable expertise and careful scholarship. University of California, Santa Cruz Bryan Donaldson Cerquiglini, Bernard. Petites chroniques du français comme on l’aime! Paris: Larousse, 2013. ISBN 978-2-03-588587-6. Pp. 351. 20,90 a. La couverture annonce déjà qu’il s’agit là d’un vrai régal: l’auteur accueille le lectorat avec un petit sourire malin auquel s’ajoute un...