attaché case...

[ieasy]

Hi,

Is the word attaché case French? Is it correct to say that any word accompanied by an accent ´ or ` has French origines?

[BobK]

Originally Posted by ieasy

Hi,
Is the word attaché case French?

The word attaché was, originally. But when English borrowed it, it was to refer to an official who was attached to someone or something. A lot of the vocabulary of diplomacy comes from French: attaché, chargé d'affaires, aide (all of them kinds of official). A diplomatic car in the UK (maybe elsewhere too) has CD plates - corps diplomatique.

Originally Posted by ieasy

Hi,

Is it correct to say that any word accompanied by an accent ´ or ` has French origines?

It's not that easy I'm afraid - English has borrowed from dozens of languages, and sometimes (though not always) gets the accents right; sometimes, whether or not to include the accent is in a state of flux: when English first borrowed rôle for example, it was always italicized (to signify that it was foreign) and always had the circumflex. Today it rarely has both markers, and sometimes neither.

I'd guess though that by far the majority of words with accents that you find in English will be of French origin [no e].

b