Restaurateur / Restauranteur

 

Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse writers. I have found the following to be among them:

RESTAURATEUR / RESTAURANTEUR

Although you may now find both words, which refer to the proprietor of a restaurant, in the dictionary, restaurateur (without the n) is preferred.

It seems strange that the spelling from restaurant to restaurateur would change in this way, and I have never known why. But my guess is simply that it is easier to pronounce restaurateur/restauranteur without the n (try it both ways and see), and so somewhere along the language timeline the inconvenient n was dropped.

PREFERRED: Restaurateur Giovanni of Little Italy Restaurant is very supportive of community events.

 

© 2017 Ann Henry, all rights reserved.

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