[tied] Re: Mercury and lead

--- In cybalist@..., Miguel Carrasquer Vidal <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Sat, 24 Mar 2001 10:13:54 -0000, tgpedersen@... wrote:
>
> >At that time, x was pronounced as sh, and j as zh (the voiced
> >equivalent). This is the same situation as in Portuguese today and

in

> >older French (I have no date for this), e.g. <chevaux>, pl. of
> ><cheval> would be pronounced cheváush (sort of portuguese-like
> >inflection, yes?).
>
> <chevaux> (< CABALLOS): the <ch-> was /c^/ (out of palatalized /k^/
> before front /a/ > /e/), now /s^/. /c^eval~s/ > /c^evaus/, but the
> former ending -ls was preserved in the manuscripts as a ligature -X,
> hence <chevaux>.
>

I am sure that this is the standard explanation, but given the then
pronounciation of the letter x as /s^/ in Spanish and Portuguese,
doesn't it make sense to assume the French pronounced it that way
too? I don't see anything phonetically preventing this assumption
either?
Cf. Portuguese <meus>.

Torsten