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I never saw the former before. How is it different from the latter? merci d'avance
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"dixit" is Latin ,not French.
It means "he (or she) said" I imagine it may be used in French in the same way as it is in English -although I never actually came across it myself.
i've never heard/seen it in english. i'm sticking w "disait" but if i ever come across the former again, i'll know what it is. Tx
Well it would be a formal way of writing. I have never heard it in conversations.(hardly used at all actually)
"ipse dixit" means "he/she himself said " and is probably as common , if common is the word.
That is true. I am not saying they are at all interchangeable.
I would say that "dixit" should not be thought of as ordinary French at all- just that iot can be used in French sentences.
I thinks its use may be largely limited to legal documents or similar but I could be wrong.
On the contrary I would say "dixit" is an exemption....
It's true almost all of the Latin expression are used in legal/serious documents or speeches with a high level of vocabulary...
But I have personally only heard it in spoken language... I also use it myself when talking or writing to friends = bad level of French...
I'll give you an example :
- Alors cette réunion ? Ils ont aimé le projet ? / Who was the meeting ? Did they like the project ?
- C'est "nul, zéro, à refaire" dixit le grand patron ! / It's "crap, zero, to start again" said the big boss !
The use of "dixit" means you are repeating word for word something, therefore it's often used with a strong feeling (good or bad) and intonation. If you just want to repeat something to someone you just use "XXX said blabla" or "the boss didn't like it at all and wants us to restart from scratch." Saying "it's crap, dixit the boss" makes the phrase much more aggressive or sarcastic depending of your tone and the context...
The fact that you signal to the person you are speaking to that your are repeating something word by word give more importance to it, in a good or a bad way.... I personally think it's more often used for sarcasm ^^'
I hope I'm clear enough....
Well that is a surprise.I doubt that we use it like that in English at all. Maybe someone else can clarify that.
What about the pronunciation? dizi ?
What do you mean by "an exemption"? You didn't mean "an exception" ,did you?
About the closest we get in English (and this is how I chose to translate it in the site's dictionary) as the use of the obsolete form "quoth" in English (http://www.french-linguistics.co.uk/dictionary/dixit.html). It's not a perfect equivalence, though, of course...
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