Re: Six, -ts- > -ks-

Actually, some northern and eastern dialects of Old French did develop
[s^] from [ks]. Anglo-French and Middle English appropriated some of
these forms--hence <cushion> in Mod. English as against French
<coussin>, <coissin>, from <*coxi:nus>, and doublets like <lease> and
<leash>. I think a few French manuscripts may have spelled [s^] with
<x>, but I'd have to check; it certainly wasn't the dominant spelling.
Some modern dialects have [x] (IPA) from [s^].

Jim Rader

>
> No of course not. -us was not pronounced -us^, either in France or
> Spain, and there were no endings in -us in Spain, unlike in France
> (-ls > -us), so the Spanish, not French, use of <x> to stand for /s^/
> can only be explained by the fact that Latin /ks/ developed to /js^/
> in Spain (coxa, cuixa), and not in France, where it developed to /js/
> (cuisse, cueissa).
>
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> mcv@...