Gallicisms

Gallicisms

Fowler (1926) used this term to describe what he called ‘borrowings of various kinds from French in which the borrower stops short of using French words without disguise’. That is to say, they are words that have been assimilated in various ways, or in some cases translated, into English. While acknowledging their established contribution to English vocabulary, he gave a warning not to use them as a kind of affectation derived from their foreignness. There are three principal types of Gallicisms; Fowler was thinking especially of the third:

1. French words which have been adapted to suit the ordinary conventions of English by dropping accents or substituting English endings, e.g. actuality (from French actualité) and redaction (from French rédaction). See also French words and phrases used in English.

2. Mismatches, i.e. words that do not mean in English what they mean in French; for example, papier mâché is literally ‘chewed paper’ and does not exist in this meaning in French (the equivalent is carton-pâte), duvet in English means ‘a continental quilt’ but in French means ‘a sleeping-bag’, and cagoule, which in English means ‘a windproof outdoor garment with a hood’, in French means a monk's hood or ‘a child's balaclava’. Some food terms have different meanings in the two languages: fromage frais, which is now widely seen in British supermarkets, is what in French is called fromage blanc, fromage frais being a fresh unmatured type of cheese.

3. Loan translations, i.e. expressions adopted from French in a more or less literally translated form, e.g. gilded youth (from French jeunesse dorée), jump (or leap) to the eyes (French sauter aux yeux), marriage of convenience (French mariage de convenance), and that goes without saying (French cela va sans dire).