Putnam County Herald

FRENCH USE ENGLISH WORD
Academy Which Keeps Language Correct Decides to Admit "Gentleman" to the Dictionary.

The French academy, which devotes long sittings to the task of keeping the French language absolutely correct, and which regards all foreign words introduced into the language with horror, has just made an exception in favor of an English word, which is henceforward to have a place in the official dictionary of France, says the London Telegraph. This is the word "gentleman," which is very frequently used in modern writing and conversation rather than the time-honored, gentilhomme, which ordinarily means nobleman, but which, in the new edition of the dictionary, is to be described as meaning "a man who without being noble by race, has lofty sentiments, elegant manners, and does noble acts." With regard to the word "gentleman," it is to be described in the dictionary as "an English word sometimes employed in French in the metaphorical and moral sense of the word gentilhomme."

This is undoubtedly not the last time the French academy will be called upon to give an official welcome to an English word which has become current in the French language; for example, the word "home" is becoming a great favorite, and the misuse of the words "smoking" and "dancing" for "smoking jacket" and "dance hall" has become so usual that the English origin of the words is quite forgotten.