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4CV
About the pronunciation of "quatre". Think for a moment of English, and the way the sound of a letter changes depending on the phonetic environment: the t in pot vs potion vs potter, for example, or the "cat" in cat vs cater vs altercation. Similarly, the Petit Robert entry for "quatre" shows many, many examples of combinations where the r is or can be dropped, (also variation as to whether or not the e is pronounced), and the Petit Robert is a far more authoritative source than Wiktionary. You do know, do you, that the 2500-page Petit Robert is THE authoritative reference for French?
Also, I am bilingual, as a student I owned a 4CV, I grew up to be a French professor, and I know what this car was called: quatre chevaux (CAT shu VOH), nicknamed quatre pattes (CAT ru PAT).
I would be interested to know what your level of French is that you feel entitled to keep reverting to an incorrect pronunciation. Awien (talk) 17:19, 3 September 2014 (UTC)
- 1RR says talk about it before reverting again. I hope this time you intend to observe that guideline. Awien (talk) 18:31, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
- As far back as 1715, grammarians were remarking that "on écrit quatre chevaux, & l'on prononce quat-chevaux",[1], while modern writers representing actual pronunciation represent the same phenomenon as quat'chevaux; here's a reference to the car as such: "s'tirant dans un quat'chevaux" in [2].
- Are you convinced yet? Can we please lay this to rest?
- Awien (talk) 12:15, 7 September 2014 (UTC)