quinteau

quinteau

French

Etymology

Emigrants from Perche brought the term to New France, and hence into Canadian and Louisiana French. Its pronunciation was "normalized" (to drop the [i̯], to match the pronunciation of other words ending in -eau) either by the Perche speakers when when they spoke to non-Perche speakers, or by those other speakers after they borrowed the term.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛ̃.to/
• (Louisiana, Quebec) IPA^(key): [kɛ̃to][2][1]
• (Perche, modern) IPA^(key): [kɛ̃ti̯o], (Perche, 17th century) [kɛ̃ti̯ɔ(u̯)]

Noun

quinteau m (plural quinteaux)

1. (dated outside Perche, Louisiana, Quebec) a heap, pile, or stack, such as of sugar or hay
   • 1904, Recueil de la Commission des arts et monuments historiques de la Charente-Inferieure, page 263:

     Somme de poisson froys, 2 deniers; — Balle de mercerie, 4 deniers; — Tonneau de ballenne, 2 deniers; — Quinteau d'alemandes, 5 deniers; — Quinteau de sucre, 6 deniers; — Quinteau de canelle, 6 deniers;

References

1. Yves-Charles Morin, The Pronunciation of French in Quebec, in The Origins and Development of Emigrant Languages, edited by Hans Frede Nielsen, Lene Schøsler
2. Albert Valdman, Dictionary of Louisiana French (2009, →ISBN