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vis-à-vis (vee-zuh-VEE) - prep., as compared with, in relation to; concerning, about; face-to-face with. adv., face to face. n., a small horse-drawn carriage for two passengers sitting face to face; a companion or partner at a social event; a person one is face to face with, a face-to-face meeting; a counterpart of equal rank.
That's a lot of facing, and that is indeed the literal meaning of the French -- "face to face" (though in modern French, vis has been replaced by visage). In French, vis-à-vis has most of these extended senses, except it doesn't get used as a preposition -- but interestingly the first sense it was used for in English (starting around 1750) is the carriage
Thanks, WikiMedia!
followed soon after with an escort to a dance or ball. I don't have data, but my sense is that losing the diacritic on the à is more sticky than it is on the é of fiancé.
This was supposed to be the end of a theme week of diacritics that English has mostly kept, but apparently I miscounted when I pulled together my list as I've got one more to post. I'll do that Monday.
---L.
That's a lot of facing, and that is indeed the literal meaning of the French -- "face to face" (though in modern French, vis has been replaced by visage). In French, vis-à-vis has most of these extended senses, except it doesn't get used as a preposition -- but interestingly the first sense it was used for in English (starting around 1750) is the carriage
Thanks, WikiMedia!
followed soon after with an escort to a dance or ball. I don't have data, but my sense is that losing the diacritic on the à is more sticky than it is on the é of fiancé.
This was supposed to be the end of a theme week of diacritics that English has mostly kept, but apparently I miscounted when I pulled together my list as I've got one more to post. I'll do that Monday.
---L.
