Where the heck is Arc?
So everybody knows Joan of Arc, right?
But have you ever thought about where Arc is? You would just assume it’s in France, since she was French.
Did you know that Arc is actually not a place, and it’s certainly not where Joan was from.
So how did she go down in history as a chick from a place that doesn’t exist?
According to my professor, she was known in France as Dark Joan, which when translated directly from French comes out as Joan Dark. Then somehow it got translated backwards to become d’Arc, which, of course in French when you have a d’ it means “from”, hence: Joan of Arc.
I thought it was really interesting. It’s a process called back formation that happens with language when it’s analyzed incorrectly and then changed based on the incorrect analysis. (I have heard another story of the name that’s a little different, but it also results from back formation.)
Anywho, there’s your linguistic lesson for the day.
You’re welcome :-D
