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Pronunciation of /sans/
Posted by Mitchell Au in
20 Mar 2011 — 8:26am
20 Mar 2011 — 8:26am
There are a lot of sans-serif fonts out there, many of which put "Sans" in the typeface name such as Calluna Sans, Deja Vu Sans, Gill Sans, Scala Sans, etc. Being a Canadian, sometimes I'm torn between saying /sænz/ in English or /sɑ̃/ in French. Which one???
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20 Mar 2011 — 8:32am
I go with [sænz] in an English context, or, if I'm feeling particularly elegant, [sɑnz]. Of course, the French pronunciation is arguably more correct, as it is a French word. However, it's been accepted into English with an English pronunciation in other contexts as well.
Josh
20 Mar 2011 — 11:07am
Is it a French word? Usage of "sans" in English goes back to Shakespeare, at least.
20 Mar 2011 — 2:21pm
Is it a French word? Usage of "sans" in English goes back to Shakespeare, at least.
The language in which Shakespeare wrote owes a great deal to the influence of Norman French on Old English. And, the OED says the preferred pronunciation of insouciance, a pure borrow from French, is the Anglicized pronunciation, so go figger...
20 Mar 2011 — 2:46pm
The OED has an entry for "sans" where "sans pareil", "sans cérémonie" etc are mentioned, but there is a separate entry for sanserif, where there is no reference to French. Since I see "Calluna sans" as an abbreviation for "Calluna sanserif", I see no reason to make it sound French.
20 Mar 2011 — 2:46pm
I'm sure it varies by region, but here on the US West coast saying "saw sayreef" would brand you as eccentric or pretentious, unless you were trying to get a laugh. I can only recall one person, a client, trying it and it became a joke around the office.