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Question about the proper useage of apostrophe

as is used in words such as d'angelo ...

         

SlimKim

12:57 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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In the spirit of no question is too dumb if you don't know the answer ... please clue me in on the useage of apostrophes in the following words

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

Leosghost

1:13 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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Oh dear ..you just asked a predominantly US membership based forum about European languages and their grammatical variants..and apostrophes in particular ..

''waouh, Qu'est-ce qu'on va rigoler? ..( Oh ..this should be fun ) ..:)

jecasc

6:30 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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As far as I know in italian an apostrophe is used to prevent the meeting of two vowels at the end and beginning of two words.

So "d'angelo" is probably short for "de angelo" or "di angelo".

Which is probably a name, meaning "from angelo".

swa66

7:55 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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I'm looking at Merriam Websters it shows
D' - in Dutch names

I'm a native Dutch speaker, living in a Dutch speaking area. Can't say I get what they are referring to in that dictionary.

tangor

8:53 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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I come from a different perspective: proper names or specific words INCLUDING those with apostrophes should be preserved AS PRESENTED. Ours is not to reason why, but to be ACCURATE. More intrigued as to why ask the question in the first place? Is it sorting/storing in a database and not wanting to introduce a delimiter?

kaled

9:20 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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No doubt a linguist will correct me, however...

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.

SlimKim

11:12 am on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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The Belgian Bearded d'Uccle, or Barbu D'Uccle in French, is a breed of bantam chicken originating from the town of Uccle on the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium. The bird is frequently referred to as the Mille Fleur in the U.S. D'Uccles come in the following recognized colors: Mille Fleur, Porcelain, Black, White, Gold Neck, Mottled and Self Blue.

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]

weeks

12:38 pm on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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Tangor said:
...proper names or specific words INCLUDING those with apostrophes should be preserved AS PRESENTED. Ours is not to reason why, but to be ACCURATE.

Working for a newspaper, I learned that this is the way to go. Annoying as it can be sometimes.

swa66

2:46 pm on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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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)

piatkow

3:49 pm on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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It's actually funny to see that in English the French spelling is adopted

English spelling is closer to the French as the written language was in the hands of a largely French speaking elite for many centuries.

Syzygy

5:37 pm on May 27, 2009 (gmt 0)

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Can't believe I actually set about looking this up, but found that the spelling format used by the American Poultry Association, American Bantam Association, and the Belgian d'Uccle and Booted Bantam Club is...

...d'Uccle!

:-)

Syzygy

swa66

9:03 am on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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It's actually funny to see that in English the French spelling is adopted

English 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.

tangor

9:22 am on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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Can't believe that we're talking about chickens.

Also believe OP had a thought, perhaps strange, that merely needed an affirmative to maintain apostrophes. My, how do we wander hither and yon from time to time.

piatkow

10:07 am on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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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.

BeeDeeDubbleU

11:06 am on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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We are running around in this thread like headless bantams. ;)

Shaddows

1:00 pm on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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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
</off topic>

Syzygy

1:25 pm on May 28, 2009 (gmt 0)

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C'est la vie!