RE: Cineaste/Cinephile
I'm arriving late in this discussion, so if this has already been expressed,
apologies.
Problem is, folks, you're no longer defining a French word (or strictly a
French word). Cineaste (note the diacritic is optional) has been in English
for over 75 years. The OED -- the ne plus ultra for the etymology of English
words -- gives the roots as ciné + aste (as in enthousiaste) and gives the
earliest example in English as 1926. If anyone has Le Petit Robert on hand,
I'd like to know what it says there. I would imagine there are both
prescribed (a cinema devotee; filmmaker) and described usages in English,
and none are incorrect. The denotation of cinéaste may be more restrictive
in French (or other languages) than it is in English, but this doesn't IMO
in any way hobble the English from evolving along its own path. Insisting
that the English follow the French in its particulars is parochialism of the
worst sort.
Mike Presti
New Orleans, LA
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