"Consonantal" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... the sound of a in father. er,, air. i,, ee. u,, oo. y is always consonantal except when it is the last letter of the word. g is ...
— Rudin • Ivan Turgenev
... was replaced by fille, which has acquired in its turn a meaning so offensive that it has now given way to jeune fille. Minx, earlier minkes, is probably the Low Ger. minsk, Ger. Mensch, lit. human, but used also in the sense of "wench." For the consonantal change cf. hunks, Dan. hundsk, stingy, lit. doggish. These examples show that the indignant "Who are you calling a woman?" is, philologically, in all likelihood a ...
— The Romance of Words (4th ed.) • Ernest Weekley |
