Belgicism

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'Kot' is just one example of a common belgicisme.

The word belgicism (known in French and Dutch as a belgicisme) refers to a word, expression, or turn of phrase that is uniquely Belgian French, or (in the case of Dutch) Flemish. Even though the French spoken in Belgium is closer to the French spoken in France than the French spoken by Québécois, there are a considerable number of words and phrases that have disappeared from common usage in other Francophone nations that remain common in everyday Belgian speech.

Certain belgicisms are also found in Northern France and in Switzerland, for example chicon (endive) and septante (seventy, unlike the vingtagesimal soixante-dix, or sixty-ten, used in France.) In these cases, these words are not called belgicisms.

1 Origins of Belgicisms
2 Different types of belgicisms
3 Some examples
4 Dutch Belgicisms
5 See also

[edit] Origins of Belgicisms

Belgium has three national official languages, and consequently, the French spoken in the French part of Belgium is considerably under the influence of the languages of the other Belgian regions, and is also enriched by vocabulary from the languages of neighbouring countries, like Dutch, German, English and Luxembourgish.

Belgian French is also enriched by vocabulary from other regional Romance languages, such as Picard,Wallon, Lorrain and Champenois. Belgicisms directly influenced by Wallon are specifically called Wallonisms.

[edit] Different types of belgicisms

One can point to:

phonetic belgicisms, which are not differently written from standard French words, but are pronounced differently:
- Many Belgians pronounce /ɥi/ like /wi/, unlike French speakers of French. Most French individuals notice a difference between the two sounds, but many Belgians do not. Another difference in pronunciation stems from how loan words with the letter 'w' are pronounced. Belgian Francophones tend to always pronounce w as /w/ in words like wagon /wagɔ̃/ whereas in Standard French, this would be pronounced as /vagɔ̃/, since French Francophones generally pronounced (/w/ like (/v/.
- The distinction between the nasal vowels /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ is upheld, whereas in many regions of France, these two sounds have merged. Thus, although for many French people, brin (stalk) and brun (brown), are homophones, for Belgians they are not.
- Another unusual aspect of Belgian French is the clear difference between the pronunciation of 'ai' and 'ais' at the end of a word. Belgians pronounced the first like an /e/ and the second like an /ɛ/. As a consequence, Belgians rarely confuse the future tense and conditional when writing.
- Belgian speakers pronounce the final T in certain words that the French do not: for example, huit (eight) and vingt (twenty) are pronounced /wɪt/ and /vɛ̃t/ respectively.
Archaic belgicisms that come from the foreign rule over Belgium in the past. Belgium has been occupied by Dutch, English, Spanish, Austrian, French and German powers, and all of which have indubitably laid a footprint on Belgian French. Also worth mentioning is the use of 'septante' and 'nonante' for 70 and 90 respectively. Although these words are used in Switzerland and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the rest of the Francophone world, the ventigesimal 'soixante-dix' and 'quatre-vingt-dix' are used.

Belgicisms that were manufactured by the Belgian government. Like France and Québec, Belgium too has an administration in place to prescribe language use. Belgium undertook a series of measures to combat linguistic sexism by creating feminine versions of masculine gender occupations. For example, professeur and docteur had no feminine-gender equivalent words, even though many women had these occupations. In March 1989, the Belgian administration prescribed that all jobs would have a grammatically masculine and feminine form (le docteur could be la docteuse.) This feminisation of words has no official equivalent in metropolitan France.

Belgicisms of Germanic origin such as the word bourgmestre which comes from the Dutch Burgemeester and refers to the chief magistrate of a village.

Belgicisms with different meanings to other variants of French. Some words have a different meaning in Belgium than they do in other Francophone countries:
- La cassonade in Belgium is a light or dark brown sugar extracted from beets; in Québec, it is a brown cane sugar.
- outre-Quiévrain is used to refer to Belgium by the French, and to France by the Belgians, because there are two towns either side of the border with similar names.

[edit] Some examples

Belgicism	Metropolitan French	English
Aller à la toilette	Aller aux toilettes	To go to the toilets.
Astruquer	(No French equivalent)	To choke drinking something
À tantôt	À tout à l'heure	Presently, now
Au matin	Ce matin	This morning
Auto-scooter	Auto-tamponneuse	Bumper car
Boiler	Chauffe-eau	Boiler
Brosser un cours	Secher un cours	Skip class
Cailler	Avoir très froid	To be very cold
Canule	(No French equivalent)	A terrible football player
Carabistouilles	Bêtises	Folly, silly things.
Carrousel	Un manège forain	Carrousel
Chicon	Endive	Endive
Co-koter	Partager un logement (généralement pour étudiants)	Have a roommate
Couque	Brioche	Brioche
Dikkenek	Vantard	Boasting, boastful
Divan	Canapé	Sofa
Douf ('Il fait douf!')	Chaleur étouffante (il fait très chaud!')	Asphyxiating heat.
Drache	Une très grosse pluie	Heavy rain
Écolage	Apprentissage	Training
Fraiser	Frapper	To knock
Fréquenter avec quelqu'un	Flirter avec quelqu'un	Flirt with someone.
GSM	Téléphone portable	Mobile phone
Kot	Petit studio d'étudiant	Digs; student residence
Krolle (avoir des krolles)	Avoir les cheveux frisés	(to have) Curly hair.
Septante	Soixante-dix	Seventy
Nonante	Quatre-vingt-dix	Ninety
Spéce	Spécial	Special; unusual
Torchon	Une serpillière	Floorcloth
Volle gaz	Rapidement	Quickly (full steam ahead)