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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

French word of the day: carillon

The letter C seems to be the most common in my ongoing list of French words used in English. About a fifth of the words start with the letter c.

To give just a few examples:
café, chateau, contretemps, carillon, cachet, contre jour

Today's word is carillon. After I looked up carillon for my research on my post on musical buildings I realised it was also a word to add to my list of French words.

A carillon is a group of bells playing a tune. Very interesting that you start with the lowest sound and rise up the scale to the highest as a warning of fire or other alert such as wartime emergency. The carillon was not an amusement for tourists but practical, the forerunner of the modern siren.

From the article on carillon I noticed another word, carillonneur, which you would not often need, unless you were one, or needed one. But if you are a conoisseur, you will be pleased to learn a new word.

A carillon nowadays often plays a tune, especially to mark special occasions such as a national day, festival or royal wedding or celebration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillon

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher and author, English and French teacher and tutor.
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