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[www0935]

Could anyone help me with this question?

[b]Charles Barbier de la Serre [/b] was another quick-witted survivor of

the political turmoil that had engulfed France.

In the sentence, what does "de la" mean in the French name, Charles

Barbier de la Serre?

Thanks.

[nicewitch]

Hello

In this phrase "de la" means of.

It is a particle of the name and oftens means that the name belongs to the nobility.

So Charles Barbier de la Serre is the full name of this person.

In english the name would be Charles Barber of the Greenhouse.

Hope I helped you and don't hesitate to ask, I'm french and I also speak spanish


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[www0935]

Hi, nicewitch:

Thanks for your help. Would you please give me some more examples

of famous French names like "Charles Barbier de la Serre" or something

else? By the way, does "de" mean "of", and "la" mean "the" in English?

[nicewitch]

hello!

Yes, generally "de" in french means of. Exemple: I'm tired of you: Je suis fatigu�e de toi.

La is an article. La maison: The house.

Other exemples of composed names: Narcise Diaz de la Pe�a.
The princess Diane of France: Diane de France, also known as
Diane de Valois.
Another princess: Diane de Poitiers.
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.
Fran�ois De Troy
Denis De la Pateli�re.
Etienne De la Bo�tie
Jean Fran�ois Le Febvre de La Barre
Fran�ois Regis de La Bourdonnais.
Gui de La Brosse
Jean de La Bruy�re
Nicolas Louis de La Caille
jean de La Fontaine
Frederic de La Harpe

There are a lot of names like that, asociated to Houses or places that the kings gave to knights and them became a particle of the name.

The particle is not allways associated to aristocracy but it's just the name of the person lost in the origines of names. Someone who lived near � river become for instance Jean de la Rivi�re, by a forest: Jean de la For�t.
and so on.

But mostly it's associated to nobility, when citizens were annoblished by the kings.

if you nedd some more information don't hesitate.


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[CP]

Some Hispanic names use the same construction, but whether it is related to nobility, I don't know.

Oscar De La Hoya is a famous boxer. Mr. J. De Las Casas is a person I know.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[nicewitch]

Yes, spanish names follows the same rules as french. I suppose it's because of roman roots.
For instance, in Italy too they have a lot of names like that: Vittorio De Sica is an exemple.
I believe in Spain that has more to doo with the creation of the names in the past so you have a lot of names like Del Rio for people who lived near the river but some names are also associated to nobility but not as much as in France.
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