[815] Bertrand du Guesclin (1320-1380) was constable of France under Charles V., whilst Olivier de Clisson (1332-1407) filled the same high office under Charles VI.; Gaston de Foix (1331-1391), surnamed “Phœbus,” was Viscount of Bearn, and Jean le Maingre de Boucicault (1364-1421) was Marshal of France. They all four distinguished themselves in the wars against the English during the fourteenth century.
[816] Our author now launches into a dissertation about the relative value of certain words which was far from unusual at the time he wrote, and is found in almost the same form in several contemporary writers. I also imagine the late Walter Savage Landor was influenced by La Bruyèreʼs dissertation when he wrote in his “Imaginary Conversations” the two “Dialogues” between Dr. Johnson and Horne Tooke.
[817] Mais, says La Bruyère in a note, but this word is not an anagram of ains, which comes from the Latin ante, whilst mais is the Latin magis.
[818] It is not yet settled whether maint is of Latin, Celtic, or Teutonic origin.
[819] Some purists wished to forbid the use of car, which was defended by Voiture. (See page [20], note 72.)
[820] A good many words which La Bruyère thought were going out of fashion are still in use at present.
[821] De moi and que cʼest que have been employed several times by Malherbe (see page [21], note 76) and other good authors, but these expressions are now quite obsolete.
[822] Oraison, phrase in the original; antiquated in this sense.
[823] The people formally changed the Latin syllables pro and fro into prou or pour and into frou or four; hence proufit, fourment, or froument, from the Latin proficere and fromentum. The scholars of the sixteenth century brought back these words to their etymological form.
[824] In French adjectives in il derived from Latin words with a long i, on which the accent rests, form their feminine by adding an e, whilst adjectives with the termination ile for the masculine and feminine are formed from Latin words with a short i, not accentuated.