{"id":27460,"date":"2017-07-24T22:53:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T20:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=27460"},"modified":"2017-11-06T14:52:35","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T13:52:35","slug":"almost-aout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/almost-aout\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Ao\u00fbt!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, as I was standing \u00e0\u00a0la caisse<\/em> (at the checkout\/cashier) to pay for my groceries, la cassi\u00e8re<\/em> (the cashier) mentioned that she couldn’t believe all the back-to-school ads she saw all over the place. “Summer isn’t over!” she opined. I agreed heartily with her…but then I realized that next week will already be August. How the summer flies!<\/p>\n

In French, the word for the month of August is\u00a0ao\u00fbt.\u00a0<\/em>This comes from the Latin word\u00a0augustus<\/em>, which evolved into the old French\u00a0aoust<\/em>. The\u00a0circonflexe\u00a0<\/em>in French typically signals that there was previously an “s” in an earlier version of the word (for more about accents, including the\u00a0circonflexe<\/em>, click here<\/a>). Of course, the original root of the word dates back to the Roman Empire, when the emperor Augustus decided to rename the Roman month sextilis<\/em>\u00a0after himself! (Of course, changing the names of months or switching up calendars is not rare; check out Tim’s post about the origin of the French revolutionary calendar here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

August is known as\u00a0le mois de la moisson.\u00a0<\/em>What is\u00a0la moisson<\/em>? Moisson<\/em> means “harvest,” and refers to the reaping of crops toward the end of the summer. Take a look at this verse by the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren in his poem\u00a0Les Villes tenaculaires\u00a0<\/em>(1895):<\/p>\n

“Dites! L’ancien labeur pacifique, dans l’ao\u00fbt<\/em>\u00a0Des seigles m\u00fbrs et des avoines rousses,\u00a0<\/i>Avec les bras au clair, le front debout Dans\u00a0l’or des bl\u00e9s\u00a0qui se retrousse Vers l’horizon torride o\u00f9 le silence bout.”<\/p>\n

(See below for vocabulary words to help you decipher these verses)<\/p>\n

But, in French, as in English, there are many derivations of the word\u00a0ao\u00fbt.\u00a0<\/em>And typically these derivations are associated with August’s familiar activities\u2014including harvesting produce and taking vacation. For example,\u00a0l’ao\u00fbtat\u00a0<\/em>is a kind of harvest mite that eats mature crops (and, thus, appears in August). And the word\u00a0ao\u00fbtien\u00a0<\/em>literally means “someone who goes on vacation in August.” Can you think of any derivations of the English word “August” (or for any other months)?<\/p>\n

Happy (early) August to all. Don’t worry, the summer isn’t winding down just yet.<\/p>\n

Vocabulary List<\/p>\n

pacifique<\/em>\u2014peaceful<\/p>\n

des seigles\u2014<\/em>rye<\/p>\n

m\u00fbrs\u2014<\/em>mature or ripe<\/p>\n

des avoines\u2014<\/em>oat<\/p>\n

des bl\u00e9s\u2014<\/em>wheat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today, as I was standing \u00e0\u00a0la caisse (at the checkout\/cashier) to pay for my groceries, la cassi\u00e8re (the cashier) mentioned that she couldn’t believe all the back-to-school ads she saw all over the place. “Summer isn’t over!” she opined. I agreed heartily with her…but then I realized that next week will already be August. How…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":27461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[501888,4247,284,501889,432],"class_list":["post-27460","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-aout","tag-august","tag-free-french-lessons","tag-french-entymology","tag-french-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t