Ancestors

Toot

Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-27 at 18:29

A popular meme says the word 'queue' is just a Q with a bunch of silent letters waiting in line.

Well, 'queue' comes from Old French, and in that language, its spelling actually made a lot of sense:

• (1) QU denoted a /k/ sound before an E;

• (2) EU was a diphthong;

• (3) E, a feminine ending, was still pronounced.

'Queue' came from Latin 'cōda' ("tail").

Click the video to hear how 'cōda' became 'queue' in French and English, step by step.

=> View attached media

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Descendants

Written by Barbarast on 2025-01-27 at 19:22

@yvanspijk leerzaam en leuk om de uitspraak er echt gesproken bij te hebben!

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Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-27 at 19:23

@Barbarast Leuk om te horen!

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Written by tyx on 2025-01-28 at 00:25

@yvanspijk

And now everyone says Latin words using English rules. At least I'm happy that it's not the French ones.

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Written by David Haskiya on 2025-01-28 at 10:13

@yvanspijk In Swedish we simplified it to kö. 😊

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Written by Candela-Fotografie 📷 on 2025-01-29 at 21:12

@yvanspijk Heerlijk! Fijn om zulke dingen te horen en te weten.

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Written by mirabilos on 2025-01-29 at 21:15

@yvanspijk oh so it’s not pronounced kwejü’e?

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Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-29 at 22:13

@mirabilos In English? :D

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Written by mirabilos on 2025-01-29 at 22:50

@yvanspijk … in “language”, I don’t know French, and I learnt most of English by reading/writing, but the word also appears in tech German, so…

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Written by Yoïn van Spijk on 2025-01-29 at 22:54

@mirabilos In French and English it's pronounced as in the video, and in German as 'Köh', if I'm not mistaken. If someone would say 'Kwejüe', that could only be a spelling pronunciation.

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