sale (avec accent) ou sale (sans accent)

Subject: sale (avec accent) ou sale (sans accent)
From: "ralph (r.f.) calistro" <calistro -at- BNR -dot- CA>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 1994 09:29:00 -0400

On Wednesday, 27 July 94, Sally Marquigny made
the following comment:

<Really???? As you many know, the French word for "dirty" is "sale",
<accent acute on the e, (which I am constantly reminded of by my French
<husband because that's what my first name sounds like!). What is the
<actual origin of "dirty"? "d'something"?

I would like to point out that the word Sally is talking about
is sale without an accent over the "e", which is silent.

The definition from Petit Robert:

<dont la nettete, la purete est alteree par une matiere etrangere,
au point d'inspirer la repugnance ...>

The word sale with the "accent aigu" (the acute accent)
over the "e", which is emphasized, means something else.

The definition from Petit Robert:

<qui contient naturellement du sel ...; piquant ...>

The English equivalents for the latter are found in
the Collins-Robert dictionary:

<salty; savoury; spicy; ...>


Ralph F. Calistro, Ph.D.
Northern Telecom
Ottawa, Canada
calistro -at- bnr -dot- ca


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