One thing to know about French language, is that whenever there is a grammar rule, it only covers at best 50% of cases and the rest are exceptions to the rule.
For instance:
cigar -> cigarette
trompe -> trompette
(Cool, looks like we have a rule here)
baguette, must be a small bague, right ? WRONG ! It's a small bâton.
Baguette has many senses in French. One of them is a small or thin stick, a regular stick is a bâton. I don't know the etymological details, but as for sense these words today, it remains true that baguette is a kind of small bâton.
Baguette is genuinely a diminutive, but the French is a loanword from Italian bacchetta "little stick," from bacchio "stick."
Funnily enough, "bacteria" also means "little stick" due to the shape of the first ones seen under a microscope, and the word shares the same etymological root (reconstructed as *bak- in proto-Indo-European), but in Greek -- bakterion is a little staff, baktron is a staff or stick without the diminutive.
32 replies
One thing to know about French language, is that whenever there is a grammar rule, it only covers at best 50% of cases and the rest are exceptions to the rule.
For instance:
Strikingly similar to English
blame the Normans
That doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems to be imported from Italian and doesn’t have a form of the base word
Baguette has many senses in French. One of them is a small or thin stick, a regular stick is a bâton. I don't know the etymological details, but as for sense these words today, it remains true that baguette is a kind of small bâton.
This is why I hate French but as a native English speaker I can't really complain without hypocrisy.
Baguette is genuinely a diminutive, but the French is a loanword from Italian bacchetta "little stick," from bacchio "stick."
Funnily enough, "bacteria" also means "little stick" due to the shape of the first ones seen under a microscope, and the word shares the same etymological root (reconstructed as *bak- in proto-Indo-European), but in Greek -- bakterion is a little staff, baktron is a staff or stick without the diminutive.
"Yeah, I got a staff infection."
So Bacteria indeed implies the existence of Baktron
There is also the french word bague but that means ring, as in wedding ring type ring not a bell ringing.
What is a Bagu and where do I get it?
How dare you hide this filth deep in the comments. This is fp worthy.
Dunno, but a Bague is like a Hague for food criminals.
Baggu is a brand of reusable bags…
All bags are reusable if you don't discard them
It’s like Pokemon. Baguette, Bagetto, BAG.
Egg, Baconegg, Fullenglish.
Mosquito implies the existence of a far larger Mosqo.
a mosquito is just a smaller mosque
Mosca is Spanish for fly. One of the cooks at a place I worked called me that because he didn't like me
baguette, bagel, bagest
My fav pokemon species
People in this thread: Hey, I'll do etymology in the wrong language, it's all the same anyway.
Eichhörnchen implies the existence of a German mega-Squirrel.
Eichhörner and Trägenbögen
Kanin (mega-rabbit) too.
By the way, Czech králík is also a diminutive: of král, meaning "king".
That reminds me of a lame oneliner I came up with years ago:
… but no cigar sir! Not even cigarette, don’t even mention cigarillo!
I would be so pissed if my bus ticket from Newark to Paris was rendered worthless because I couldn't buy cigars by the bague.
This has lead to me learning that bimbette and himbette are both words.
Le maximum du baguette, c’est la blague.