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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
