reservoir.

[Peter A. McGraw]

And in any case, I'd dispute that "avoirdupois" is an example of the
preservation of the French pronunciation of the sequence -ois.  I first
learned it as the thoroughly "naturalized" [aev at rd@poiz], and to the best
of my recollection that's also how it was pronounced on the two or three
other occasions in my life that I've heard it.

Peter Mc.

--On Tuesday, April 17, 2001 5:03 PM -0400 Beverly Flanigan
<flanigan at OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> But all these words are "bookish," whereas 'reservoir' has been in common
> use for a long time.  Even our Minnesota farm had a reservoir for storing
> water (and the cookstove also had one for keeping water hot).  I'd guess
> most people had no idea the word had French roots, or even knew how to
> spell it.
>
> At 12:50 AM 4/17/01 -0500, you wrote:
>> Lots of us recognize syllable-end ~oir as requiring the 'wah', 'wahr'
>> pronunciation, not so much as faux French, but as a real English rule.
>> There are not too many words with this, but voir dire, boudoir, film
>> noir, savoir faire, memoir, and avoirdupois come to mind.
>>
>> For myself, I wobble between a Frencified form and reservore.
>> _________________________________________________________________
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>
>
> _____________________________________________
> Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
> Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
> Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
> http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu