| 词组 | forte |
| 释义 | forte This word in the sense of "one's strong point" is derived from the French. In this sense, usage writers recommend that the word be pronounced like fort. It is also very often pronounced like the musical term forte, which represents the same Latin root meaning "strong" but which in this case is derived immediately from the Italian. The musical term is pronounced, with usage experts concurring, \\\\'for-,tā\\\\, or sometimes \\\\'fort-ē\\\\ (the last like forty). All three versions may be heard from well-educated speakers in reference to a strong point, but the last two have incurred vociferous disapproval. Those who object to the pronunciations in question point out that the word comes from the French, and \\\\'for-,tā\\\\ is not at all the way the French pronounce it. Against this objection several points may be made: • First, it is now an English word, which we may pronounce as we see fit. A comparable case is that of apostrophe in the sense of a punctuation mark. This comes probably from the French and would be pronounced by them without the long e, roughly \\\\,a-pos-'trof\\\\, yet we pronounce it \\\\a-'päs-trə-fē\\\\, just like the rhetorical term (meaning "addressing of an absent person") that comes to us via Latin from the ancient Greek. With both forte and apostrophe we have to do with a very old word that has reached us twice by different routes. Second, the spelling isn't French either—in French the word is le fort—so any quest for Gallic purism is doomed from the start. Third, the recommended pronunciation, rhyming with fort, also is not the French one, which rhymes rather with for. A more ticklish objection is that the pronunciation \\\\for-,tā\\\\ isn't exactly English either, but pseudo-foreign: we are here pronouncing the word as if it were Italian, or French with an acute-accented e, when in fact it is French with an unaccented e. In this view, the pronunciation is ridiculous because it represents a failed attempt at foreignness (see hyperforeignisms). Now, normally we would counsel against hyperforeignisms, since for these you have no one in your corner. The lofty look down on them, and the humble are annoyed. But in the present case even those who have heard the objections often persist in the pronunciation \\\\'for-,tā\\\\ as being more familiar to them or as being less likely to be mistaken for the much commoner word fort. Since there is, in fact, no etymologically respectable pronunciation available for this word, we might as well select one that feels natural and that aids communication. All three discussed here are standard. |
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