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d'angelo
d'addrio
d'uccles
i see english language websites with the apostrophe in there and i think sometimes it's left out, is it proper italian to put them in?
Does it matter?
Do all words beginning with d' have the same general meaning on the first sylable and if so what is it.
I'm looking at Merriam Websters it shows
D' - in Dutch names
Function:
biographical name
So maybe it's dutch only.
If i write
duccles is that correct or only d'uccles
Thanks
Slim
Apostrophes are used in most European languages to denote missing letters/spaces. In some cases, the long form is still valid, in other cases it is not.
In English, the apostrophe can also be used to signify possession, e.g. Paul's watch stopped yesterday.
Usage
It's : It is
Its : Possessive (like his or hers).
You're : You are
Your : Possessive
There's : There is
They're : They are
Theirs : Possessive
Their : Possessive
e.g. My house is small, theirs is huge
e.g. My house is huge, their house is tiny.
Kaled.
And so i take it d'uccles means "from Uccles" and would be best kept with the apostrophe in there in all writings. I just like to know what I'm writing and why the use of the apostrophe.
Here in the USA the D'addrio family manufactures and sells guitar strings and they keep the apostrophe in their logo. D'angelos is a sub sandwich franchise and they also retain the apostrophe.
And it seems it's proper to capitalize the first and second letter as in D'Uccles, but i think that's done both ways too.
[edited by: SlimKim at 11:17 am (utc) on May 27, 2009]
d'uccles means "from Uccles"
Ukkel (in Dutch) or Uccle (in French) indeed is one of the 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium.
Don't try to understand the federal structure of Belgium unless you're ready to get a new hobby, even the locals don't understand it fully.
In French "d'Uccle" indeed means "from Uccle". (the "s" is plural)
Bottom line with these things is that they are language specific. AFAIK in French the "de" becomes "d'" when followed by something starting with a vowel or an h. (much like "le", "la" etc.). Moreover these things tend to change over time when rules are updated to catch up with what the public at large is doing.
It's actually funny to see that in English the French spelling is adopted (instead of the more similar Dutch version). (English and Dutch are quite similar sharing a common ancestor in Diets)
It's actually funny to see that in English the French spelling is adoptedEnglish spelling is closer to the French as the written language was in the hands of a largely French speaking elite for many centuries.
I probably should have written French variant as the Dutch name of the town is pronounced differently from the French name as well as written differently.
"French speaking elite": that's how those 19 Dutch speaking villages are now officially bilingual. The bilingual is only till you try to use Dutch. A chauvinist "Je ne comprends pas" (I don't understand for those not fluent in French) will be your answer in a vast majority of the cases.
At least the English got rid of the French speaking elite in the end.
At least the English got rid of the French speaking elite in the end.Not quite, they just learned English after they lost their lands across the Channel.
Nah, after the Black Death (circa 1350), the Norman aristocracy was as badly affected as the peasants. Intermarriage and the promotion to nobility of merchant families meant anglo-saxon Britishness gained ascendancy.
The Angevin empire came to an end circa 1215 (i.e the loss of French lands), but Normandic French persisted as the language of nobility for more than another centuary
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