=favourite.= A certain number of words such as _honour_, _colour_,
_favour_, _ardour_, _fervour_ have come into English through the
French from the Latin. There is a constant tendency to-day in
modern English to leave out the letter "u" and spell _color_,
_favor_, etc. But this movement has not yet gained much ground in
England.
=wiseacres.= This form originally comes from the Dutch. The ending
"acres" is a corruption of the Dutch "seggen" which is the same as
the English to say. The word is equivalent to "wise-sayers."
=deign.= This is a word which comes through the French from the Latin
"dignus," meaning worthy. Compare _indignant_, _dignitary_,
_condign_, _indignity_.
=troupe.= An example of two words, with slightly different meanings,
coming from one and the same French word. The French word is
"troupe," meaning a company. This form is used in English for a
company of players or actors. But the form "troop" is used chiefly
of soldiers.
=automatically.= This is a modern English word from the Greek "autos,"
meaning self. Compare _autobiography_, _autonomy_, _autocracy_.
Modern English is drawing largely from the Greek language for its
new words.
=alliteration.= The Latin word for letter is "littera." From this we
get many English words, e.g. _letter_, _literate_, _literal_,
_literature_, _illiterate_, _obliterate_, _transliterate_, etc.
=mirage.= From the Latin "mirari," to wonder. Compare _mirror_,
_miracle_, _admire_. This is one of the words in English which
keeps the old French accent on the last syllable--mirAige. The
tendency in English is always to throw the accent back as far as
possible. Many words have changed their pronunciation in the
course of time. Obdurate, in Milton's time, was pronounced
obdAšrate, but to-day it is pronounced A cubedbdurate. Trafalgar was
pronounced TrafalgAir last century. Now we pronounce it TrafAilgar.