Lecture Le Grand Hiver

Mardi, le 5 janvier, 1709 marque le jour du début de ce que les Français ont appelé le Grand Hiver. L’hiver le plus froid que l’Europe ait connu au cours des 500 dernières années, il a notamment provoqué une famine en France et a causé la mort de centaines de milliers* de personnes. Les raisons de ce “petit âge glaciaire” sont encore largement inexpliquées par les scientifiques.

(source: News in French par Max Lalanne, 05JAN2021)

*You don’t know these words but you can figure them out by looking at its morphemes (word parts). You know the word “dozen.” It comes from the French “douzaine.” Douze (12) + -aine, a morpheme that means “a numbered collection of.” A douze-aine (douzaine) is a collection of 12. A dixaine is a collection of… dix (10). Ergo, a centaine is a collection of 100. OK, next word… “milliers.” We see “mille” and start to think “million” but that’s a cognate in French-- million. Instead, think about “millimeter” and “milliliter.” There are 2 words for “thousand” in French. “Mille” is if you’re just counting… 999, 1000, 1001. Or saying a year. If you want to say, “A thousand,” sort of focusing on that group as opposed to just counting in a series, then “un millier” is an option. Soooo… what do you think “centaines de milliers” means?