Following the new branch of the Point of View, Point of Language section, I thought it would be relevant to set the record straight with regard to the etymology of words, the trigger for my reflection coming from Mireille Elchacar’s article entitled “ What if we went beyond preconceived ideas about spelling?
For centuries, many projects for the reform of French spelling have been proposed, in particular with the aim of simplifying the spelling of words. However, notwithstanding the laudable intention of these spelling reforms, we seem to forget that the vast majority of French words have their origin, and therefore their root, in Latin.
Judging by the spelling of certain words, which many describe as unnecessarily complicated, a tendency towards simplification directly conflicts with etymology. This is the case with the number “seven”, which in French retains the “p” coming from Latin. ” septem “, and the adjectives “innumerable” and “inopportun”, one of which redoubling the “n” under the effect of the Latin proposition ” in- » and the first letter of the root, and the other retaining the « in- » followed by the root beginning with a vowel.
According to Larousseetymology is the “science which has as its object the research of the origin of the words of a given language, and the reconstruction of the ancestry of these words”. Consequently, etymology goes beyond the origin of words, it reconstructs the ancestry of words, hence the need to faithfully reproduce the Latin spelling, failing which the French word will be literally uprooted.
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that a period of etymology per cycle should be integrated into the French course in the first cycle of secondary school in order to make students aware of the orthographic phenomena affecting French words and, as a result, to lead them to demystify what some specialists wrongly describe as “capricious” spelling.