The War Diary: Why "leftenant"?

my profile | register | search | faq | forum home

»	The War Diary » General Discussions » General » Why "leftenant"?

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: Why "leftenant"?

help needed
FNG
Member # 287

posted 29 April 2021 15:24

Can someone pls help me and explain why "lieutenant" is pronounced "leftenant"?

Posts: 1 | From: | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged

Bloggins
FNG
Member # 12

Rate Member

posted 30 April 2021 10:41

Snipped from the online version of the OED (http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/oed/oed.html):

"Lieutenant: Fr. lieutenant, f. lieu place + tenant holding (see tenant); cf. locum tenens. The origin of the <beta>type of forms (which survives in the usual British pronunciation, though the spelling represents the <alpha>type) is difficult to explain; The hypothesis of a mere misinterpretation of the graphic form (u read as v), at first sight plausible, does not accord with the facts. In view of the rare OFr. form luef for lieu (with which cf. esp. the 15th c. Sc. forms luf-, lufftenand above) it seems likely that the labial glide at the end of OFr. lieu as the first element of a compound was sometimes apprehended by Englishmen as a v or f. Possibly some of the forms may be due to association with leave sb.1 or lief a."

There's a lot more in the listing itself if you want greater depth.

Posts: 9 | From: Toronto, ON | Registered: Jan 2001 | IP: Logged

ender
Veteran Member
Member # 189

Member Rated:

posted 30 April 2021 12:53

Here's the story I heard, don't know wheither it's true or not. There was some English prince with a speech impediment who kept pronoucing it leftenent, and so everybody followed him to be polite. This could be American propaganda though.

Posts: 101 | From: toronto | Registered: Feb 2001 | IP: Logged

RCA
Veteran Member
Member # 74

Member Rated:

posted 05 May 2021 14:24

Naw, its just beacuse there is no such thing as a "right"enent.

By the way whats the difference beween a recruit and a second leftenent: A recruit is dumb and knows it

--------------------

Ubique

Posts: 140 | From: Army of the West | Registered: Aug 2000 | IP: Logged

Mud Crawler
Veteran Member
Member # 68

Member Rated:

posted 12 May 2021 12:46

probably because of teh difference between general accent and pronounciation in english and french.Let me remind you that 2 thirds of the english dictionnaries originate from french, from when England was invaded by France.

--------------------

Posts: 145 | From: St-Hilaire, Qc, Ca | Registered: Sep 2000 | IP: Logged

All times are ET