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French etymolgoy of English word "file" in Chengdu park
Apr 9, 2010 22:27
  • PIKADIREN
  • Points: 104
  • Join Date: Jun 18, 2009
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When doing French-Chinese language exchange with Chinese people who already kmow English I often made the link with the French origin of numerous English words.

For instance if the word is "book" I will say it comes from the French "bouc" (A he-goat) whose skin was used to cover the books in old times.

Now I will prevent anyone saying there are nowadays, in this computer time, less books and more "files" by saying the word "file" also comes from the French "fil" (a thread) that was used to link some leaves together.

For me it was pure theory from the past, at least middle-age.

But I had the surprise to see it in front of my very eyes in Chengdu park.

I saw a "matchmaking site" in Renmim gongyuan (People square) were parents put their children leaf description "on line" on a "fil" (Thread). So the etymology is a more alive description to me now






Last edited by PIKADIREN: Apr 9, 2010 22:30
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