XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: HenHanna@devnull.tb   
      
   On 7/12/2024 6:08 AM, guido wugi wrote:   
   > Op 12/07/2024 om 12:06 schreef HenHanna:   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> On 1/14/2024 1:16 PM, Christian Weisgerber wrote:   
   >>> On 2024-01-12, Athel Cornish-Bowden  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Not the same question, I know, but I've always found the word order for   
   >>>> "feu" ("late") in French to be odd. Where I would say "your late   
   >>>> father" they say "feu votre père".   
   >>>   
   >>> That is indeed very odd.   
   >>> (I wasn't even aware of this until now.)   
   >>>   
   >>> The English use of "late" in this context is highly idiomatic, too.   
   >>>   
   >>>> Does the equivalent of feu/late in other languages behave like that?   
   >>>   
   >>> Not in German, where we use unremarkable past participles as   
   >>> adjectives for this purpose:   
   >>>   
   >>>    Ihr verstorbener Vater   
   >>>    also: verblichener, verschiedener, von uns gegangener   
   >>>   
   >>>> To go to your actual question, I think the usual expression in English   
   >>>> would be "the soon-to-be ex-president" rather than "the soon   
   >>>> ex-president". Naked "soon" sounds odd to me.   
   >>>   
   >>> It's possible that naked "soon", to the degree that it is acceptable   
   >>> for some speakers, is a clipping of "soon-to-be".   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>  feu in "feu votre père"   
   >>   
   >>          where else would the [feu]  go?   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> _____________________  Didn't HenryV say  "happy few" ?   
   >>   
   >> King Henry V does indeed say "we happy few" in his famous Saint   
   >> Crispin's Day speech  from William Shakespeare's play  "Henry V".   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> The word feu in the phrase "feu votre père" is an adjective that means   
   >> "late" or "deceased". It is used to refer to someone who has died.   
   >>   
   >>           The word feu is derived from the Latin word felix, which   
   >> means "happy" or "fortunate". This may seem like an odd connection,   
   >> but it is thought that the word felix was originally used to describe   
   >> someone who had died a good death, and that it later came to be used   
   >> more generally to refer to anyone who had died.   
   >   
      
      
   These days  i get lots of  false-factoids   from my AI-assistant   
   (Bard.Google.com).   
      
   in English, "the late"  is only used for ppl who passed recently   
   (not from  Bard.Google.com).   
      
      
      
   > Where did you get that from? Its origin is pop. Lat. *fatudus, "fated",   
   > fate-accomplished, from fatum, fate.   
   >   
   >> The use of feu before a noun to indicate that the person referred to   
   >> is deceased is a common feature of French. For example, you might say   
   >> "feu le président" to refer to the late president. This usage is   
   >> similar to the English use of the word "the late" before a name.   
   >>   
   >> Here are some examples of how the word feu is used in French:   
   >>   
   >> Le feu Président de la République (The late President of the Republic)   
   >> Ma feue grand-mère (My late grandmother)   
   >> Feu mon ami (My late friend)   
   >   
   > Feu la reine.   
   > La feue reine.   
   >   
   > In Dutch:   
   > "wijlen", from "een wijl", a while,   
   > an unchanging adj. preceding its noun and article/pronoun:   
   > Wijlen de koningin.   
   > Wijlen mijn moeder.   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)