Philip Taylor wrote:
> No no ! The OED says "< French m'aidez or m'aider ‘help me!’". > "French", in OED-speak, is Modern French; "OF" is how it denotes > Old French. Well, I might be wrong. The 2001 revision lists the following French-related languages : > French > > Walloon > Picard > Norman > Canadian French > Law French > > Occitan > Franco-Provençal The 1989 entry read : > Also Mayday, mayday. [Phonetic repr. of F. m'aider imper. inf. ‘help me!’, or > shortening of venez m'aider.] My 1933 printed edition (13 vol) has no entry but the gloss at the front gives "OF, OFr" for "Old French", even in the supplement. Surely it is not possible that in the current (2001) edition, the distinction between Old French and French has been lost in the etymologies ????? ** Phil. -------------------------------------------------- Subscriptions, Archive, and List information, etc.: http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/xetex
