Mark Taylor Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Can someone please tell me what the French word “etoffe” means when talking about organ pipes? I know what “bois” means and (I think) I know what “etain“ means (tin alloy?); but what does “etoffe” mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwhodges Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Can someone please tell me what the French word “etoffe” means when talking about organ pipes? I know what “bois” means and (I think) I know what “etain“ means (tin alloy?); but what does “etoffe” mean? My memory immediately popped up and said: "étoffe" = "stuff" = "plain metal". But I don't know where that came from, and I can find no verification* of it! Maybe it's pure fantasy... Paul * <edit> Pierre's reply seems to agree, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Lauwers Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 "Etoffe" means an alloy which is poor in tin, also mainly lead, like often called simply "metal" in english. Pierre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geoff McMahon Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 "Etoffe" means an alloy which is poor in tin, also mainly lead,like often called simply "metal" in english. Pierre This is correct. It is plain metal as opposed to a mix with a high tin content. Interestingly, some old documents in England refer to plain metal as "Stuff" as well, clearly a common root here. John Pike Mander Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Taylor Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 Thank you everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DouglasCorr Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 My memory immediately popped up and said: "etoffe" = "stuff" = "plain metal". I'm sure that that is because you remembered that a number of French words beginning with "e (accute) t" turn up with English counterparts beginning with "st" etoil star etude study etranger stranger etc - one of the few things I remember too about French.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
french amateur Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 The old french way to write étude was something like estude, étranger : estranger. And indeed some people with very thick south of France accent (as my grandmother) would still pronounce "estranger", including the S pronouciation. It's a very old love story between french and english languages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Lauwers Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Not only in southern France is it the case; in the waloon from the Namur area "étranger"= "estrindjî", "Maître"= "Mestre", and so on. Pierre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonadkins Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 The old french way to write étude was something like estude, étranger : estranger.And indeed some people with very thick south of France accent (as my grandmother) would still pronounce "estranger", including the S pronouciation. It's a very old love story between french and english languages. Yes, guess how I pronounced "Balbastre" the other day, and what is more I can't pretend I'm from the South of France! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now