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136-519: The Hôtel Albert Ciamberlani ( French : Hôtel Albert Ciamberlani ; Dutch : Huis Albert Ciamberlani ), occasionally also referred to as the Hôtel Veuve Ciamberlani (meaning House of Widow Ciamberlani ), is a historic town house in Brussels , Belgium. It was built in 1897 as the private residence of the symbolist painter Albert Ciamberlani and commissioned by his mother. The architect

272-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

408-519: A bear hug. Herodotus claims that Heracles stopped in Egypt , where King Busiris decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains. Heracles finally made his way to the garden of the Hesperides, where he encountered Atlas holding up the heavens on his shoulders. Heracles persuaded Atlas to get the three golden apples for him by offering to hold up the heavens in his place for

544-463: A beast so fast it could outpace an arrow. After a long search, Heracles awoke one night and laid eyes on the elusive hind, which was only visible due to the glint of moonlight on its antlers. He then chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece , Thrace , Istria , and the land of the Hyperboreans . How Heracles caught the hind differs depending on the telling; in most versions, he captured

680-500: A central bow window . The second draft split the façade in a broadly uniform, upper part and a lower part, which was divided around a central axis, but retained the dominance of glasswork. The final design was more complex, and dominated by the large sgraffito designed by Ciamberlani. The house was built in 1897. It was one of a succession of private houses in Brussels designed by Hankar, mostly for friends, between 1897 and 1900. In 1927,

816-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

952-514: A feast, inviting them to sit; they unknowingly sat in chairs of forgetfulness and were permanently ensnared. When Heracles had pulled Theseus first from his chair, some of his thigh stuck to it (this explains the supposedly lean thighs of Athenians), but the Earth shook at his attempt to liberate Pirithous, whose desire to have the goddess for himself was so insulting he was doomed to stay behind. Heracles found Hades and asked permission to bring Cerberus to

1088-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

1224-407: A juxtaposition of colours. In the central section, the façade becomes more monumental as it is dominated by the two large, horseshoe arch windows, and the geometric decoration of the rest of the façade expands into a richer, floral decoration. The top of the façade is dominated by the sgraffito decoration designed by Ciamberlani and executed by Adolphe Crespin  [ fr ] . It consists of

1360-575: A large, central composition and, just under the roof, a string of medallions. The central composition depicts in allegorical form the different stages of life, under the canopy of a large pear tree. The medallions have been proposed to depict either the Labours of Hercules or hunting scenes. Ciamberlani's decoration for the façade shows influence from the works of Walter Crane and similarities with works by Antoine Bourdelle . Art historian François Loyer  [ fr ] has described its façade as one of

1496-418: A layout found in many Belgian houses at the time, with the exception of the first floor, which was dominated by a wide room facing the street. For the rest, the right side of the building contained the drawing room, dining room and a veranda, while the left side of the building contained an office, the stairwell and a smaller dining room. The top floor contained four bedrooms, and two bedrooms were also located on

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1632-408: A lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within 30 days or if he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering. While searching for

1768-463: A little while. Atlas could get the apples because, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides. When Atlas returned, he decided that he did not want to take the heavens back and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him by agreeing to remain in place of Atlas on the condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily while Heracles adjusted his cloak. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away with

1904-471: A man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, yet fearing to oppose his father, Zeus. Eventually, Heracles placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal. Of the twelve labours performed by Heracles, six were located in the Peloponnese , culminating with the rededication of Olympia . Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, according to Ruck and Staples, "all previously strongholds of Hera or

2040-452: A many-headed snake which Hera had raised with the sole purpose of slaying Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna , where the hydra dwelt, Heracles attacked the hydra's several heads, but each time one of its heads was removed, a new head (or two) would grow back. Additionally, during the fight, a giant crab came to assist the Hydra by biting Heracles on the foot. Heracles was able to kill

2176-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on

2312-480: A private residence for his friend Henri Renkin in 1897. The large lot was almost opposite his own house on the Rue Defacqz / Defacqzstraat . Hankar also produced designs for the house of the brother of Albert, José Ciamberlani, in the vicinity. Hankar initially struggled with finding a solution for the unusually wide façade (12 metres (39 ft)). In his first draft, the façade was dominated by large windows, with

2448-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

2584-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

2720-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

2856-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

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2992-592: A single ship, while Herodotus states that there were three, and in a late account there were nine. Apollodorus relates that on the way to Themiscyra , where the Amazons lived, he and his crew stopped at the island of Paros , where several of the sons of Minos lived; when these sons killed two of Heracles' companions, he retaliated by murdering them. When he began threatening others, he was offered two of Minos' grandchildren, Alcaeus and Sthenelus , whom he took into his crew. Continuing on their voyage, they next arrived at

3128-478: A snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias , who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters. Heracles married Megara, eldest daughter of King Creon of Thebes . However, in a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles killed Megara and their children. According to Euripides 's play Herakles , however, it

3264-461: A stone and even tried using the stone itself. Finally, Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. Others say that Heracles' armor was, in fact, the hide of the Lion of Cithaeron . When he returned on the 30th day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him to ever again to enter

3400-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

3536-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

3672-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

3808-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

3944-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

4080-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

4216-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

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4352-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

4488-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

4624-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

4760-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

4896-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

5032-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

5168-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

5304-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

5440-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

5576-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

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5712-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

5848-519: The Black Sea . Sources vary on who came with him: Hellanicus states that he was accompanied by all of the Argonauts , while Pindar mentions that Peleus came on the voyage, Philochorus considered Theseus to have been his companion, and an early Corinthian vase shows Iolaus and another figure named Pasimelon by his side. The number of ships they leave in also varies: Apollodorus says they went in

5984-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

6120-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

6256-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

6392-477: The Hesperides and capturing Cerberus ), which Heracles also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve. In his labours, Heracles was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos ), according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus , his nephew. Several of the labours involved the offspring (by various accounts) of Typhon and his mate Echidna , all overcome by Heracles. The order of

6528-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

6664-551: The Mares of Diomedes from their owner . The mares' madness was attributed to their unnatural diet which consisted of the flesh of unsuspecting guests or strangers to the island. Some versions of the myth say that the mares also expelled fire when they breathed. The Mares, which were the terror of Thrace, were kept tethered by iron chains to a bronze manger in the now vanished city of Tirida and were named Podargos (the swift), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the yellow) and Deinos (or Deinus,

6800-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

6936-471: The Oracle of Delphi to atone, where he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for ten years. During this time, he was sent to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours. Heracles was the son born by the mortal woman Alcmene after her affair with Zeus , the king of the gods, who had disguised himself as her husband Amphitryon . Alcmene, fearing

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7072-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

7208-653: The 'Goddess' and were entrances to the Netherworld". In each case, the pattern was the same: Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant. A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia , which date to the 460s BC. Eurystheus originally ordered Heracles to perform ten labours. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two:

7344-502: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

7480-798: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

7616-514: The Amazons sowing seeds of distrust. She claimed the strangers were plotting to carry off the queen of the Amazons. Alarmed, the warrior women set off on horseback to confront Heracles. According to Diodorus Siculus , Aella was the first Amazon to charge Heracles. Her name, meaning "stormswift," signified her remarkable speed and agility, but even she could not withstand Heracles and was ultimately defeated. Believing that Hippolyta had betrayed him, Heracles, now convinced of treachery, killed her, took

7752-682: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

7888-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

8024-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

8160-416: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

8296-401: The Hydra's (here nine) heads—the middle one—was immortal, so when Heracles cut off this head, Heracles buried it and placed a great rock on top of it. Later, Heracles used one of his poisonous arrows to kill the centaur Nessus ; and Nessus's tainted blood was applied to the Tunic of Nessus , by which the centaur had his posthumous revenge. Both Strabo and Pausanias report that

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8432-416: The River Anthemus, but was slain by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows. Heracles shot so forcefully that the arrow pierced Geryon's forehead, "and Geryon bent his neck over to one side, like a poppy that spoils its delicate shapes, shedding its petals all at once." Heracles then had to herd the cattle back to Eurystheus. In Roman versions of the narrative, Heracles drove the cattle over the Aventine Hill on

8568-458: The Underworld, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries . He entered the Underworld with Hermes and Athena as his guides. While in the Underworld, Heracles met Theseus and Pirithous . The two companions had been imprisoned by Hades for attempting to kidnap his wife, Persephone . One tradition tells of snakes coiling around their legs, then turning into stone. Another says that Hades feigned hospitality and prepared

8704-402: The apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew Ladon , the dragon who guarded the apples, instead. Eurystheus was furious that Heracles had accomplished something that Eurystheus thought could not possibly be done. The twelfth and final labour was the capture of Cerberus , the multi-headed dog that was the guardian of the gates of the Underworld . To prepare for his descent into

8840-399: The belt, and returned to Eurystheus. The tenth labour was to obtain the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon . In Apollodorus' account, Heracles had to go to the island of Erytheia in the far west. On the way he became so frustrated at the heat that he aimed an arrow at the Sun . The sun-god Helios , impressed by his audacity, gave Heracles the golden cup that Helios used to sail across

8976-401: The centaur devoured his meat raw) and asked for wine. Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from Dionysus to all the centaurs on Mount Erymanthos. Heracles convinced him to open it, and the smell attracted the other centaurs. They did not understand that wine needs to be tempered with water, became drunk, and attacked Heracles. Heracles shot at them with his poisonous arrows, killing many, and

9112-429: The centaurs retreated all the way to Chiron 's cave. Pholus was curious why the arrows caused so much death. He picked one up but dropped it, and the arrow stabbed his hoof, poisoning him. One version states that a stray arrow hit Chiron as well. He was immortal, but he still felt the pain. Chiron's pain was so great that he volunteered to give up his immortality and take the place of Prometheus , who had been chained to

9248-404: The charge of his favored companion, Abderus , while he left to fight Diomedes. Upon his return, Heracles found that the boy was eaten. As revenge, Heracles fed Diomedes to his own horses and then founded Abdera next to the boy's tomb. In another version, Heracles, who was visiting the island, stayed awake so that he didn't have his throat cut by Diomedes in the night, and cut the chains binding

9384-404: The city; from then on he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus would then tell Heracles his tasks through a herald, not personally. Eurystheus even had a large bronze jar made for him in which to hide from Heracles if need be. Eurystheus then warned him that the tasks would become increasingly difficult. Heracles' second labour was to slay the Lernaean Hydra ,

9520-404: The condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. The King came forth, but the moment that Heracles let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress with unparalleled swiftness. Before taking his leave, Heracles commented that Eurystheus had not been quick enough, outraging the King. Eurystheus was disappointed that Heracles had overcome yet another creature and was humiliated by

9656-479: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Labours of Hercules The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem , now lost, written by Peisander (7th to 6th centuries BC). Having tried to kill Heracles ever since he was born, Hera induced a madness in him that made him kill his wife and children. Afterwards, Heracles went to

9792-578: The court had ruled. Heracles returned, slew Augeas, and gave his kingdom to Phyleus. The success of this labour was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables, and because Heracles was paid for doing the labour; Eurystheus determined that Heracles still had seven labours to perform. The sixth labour was to defeat the Stymphalian birds , man-eating birds with beaks made of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims. They were sacred to Ares ,

9928-520: The court of Lycus in Mysia ; in a battle between Lycus and King Mygdon of Bebryces , Heracles killed the rival king and gained land from the Bebryces , and gifted it to Lycus, who named it Heraclea. All would have gone well for Heracles had it not been for Hera. Hippolyta, impressed with Heracles and his exploits, agreed to give him the belt and would have done so had Hera not disguised herself and walked among

10064-472: The court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera. After Heracles completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra did not count (because Iolaus helped Heracles) and neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first additional labour was to steal three of the golden apples from

10200-440: The crab, but realizing that he could not defeat the hydra alone, he called on his nephew Iolaus (who had come with Heracles) for help. Working in tandem, once Heracles had removed a head (with his sword or club), Iolaus burned the stumps with a firebrand, preventing them from growing back. In such a way Heracles was able to kill the hydra, after which he dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. According to Apollodorus, one of

10336-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

10472-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

10608-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

10744-408: The filth. Before starting on the task, Heracles had asked Augeas for one-tenth of the cattle if he finished the task in one day, and Augeas agreed, but afterwards Augeas refused to honour the agreement on the grounds that Heracles had been ordered to carry out the task by Eurystheus anyway. Heracles claimed his reward in court and was supported by Augeas' son Phyleus . Augeas banished them both before

10880-472: The final design of the façade, Hankar came up with a complex solution where several different influences coexist. A motif of round openings, inspired by traditional Chinese moon gates , is superimposed over a façade divided horizontally in a way that is inspired by medieval architecture, conveyed via Hankar's contemporaries Antoni Gaudí and Richard Morris Hunt . It is dominated by two materials, white brick from Silesia and white stone from Euville , providing

11016-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of

11152-534: The first of the non- Peloponneisan labours, was to capture the Cretan Bull , father of the Minotaur . According to Apollodorus, Heracles sailed to Crete , asked King Minos for help, but Minos told Heracles to capture the bull himself, which he did. After showing the bull to Eurystheus, Heracles released the bull which ended up at Marathon . As the eighth of his labours Heracles was sent by King Eurystheus to steal

11288-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

11424-498: The future site of Rome . The giant Cacus , who lived there, stole some of the cattle as Heracles slept, making the cattle walk backwards so that they left no trail, a repetition of the trick of the young Hermes . According to some versions, Heracles drove his remaining cattle past the cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other. In other versions, Cacus' sister Caca told Heracles where he was. Heracles then killed Cacus and set up an altar on

11560-497: The garden of the Hesperides . Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea , the shapeshifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located. In some variations, Heracles, either at the start or at the end of this task, meets Antaeus , who was invincible as long as he touched his mother, Gaia , the Earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in

11696-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

11832-453: The god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia , where they bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Heracles could not go too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle which Hephaestus had made especially for

11968-451: The hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles' earnestness, Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus' plan. After bringing the hind to Eurystheus, Heracles was informed that it was to become part of the King's menagerie . Knowing that he must return the hind to the wild as he had promised Artemis, Heracles agreed to hand it over only on

12104-417: The hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trapping net. Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the hind in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of the sacred animal. As he was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, Heracles encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo . He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared

12240-415: The hind's escape, so he assigned Heracles another dangerous task. By some accounts, the fourth labour was to bring the fearsome Erymanthian Boar back to Eurystheus alive (there is no single definitive telling of the labours). On the way to Mount Erymanthos where the boar lived, Heracles visited Pholus ("caveman"), a kind and hospitable centaur and old friend. Heracles ate with Pholus in his cavern (though

12376-422: The horses once everyone was asleep. Having scared the horses onto the high ground of a knoll, Heracles quickly dug a trench through the peninsula, filling it with water and thus flooding the low-lying plain. When Diomedes and his men turned to flee, Heracles killed them with an axe (or a club ), and fed Diomedes' body to the horses to calm them. In yet another version, Heracles first captured Diomedes and fed him to

12512-533: The horses to Hera . In some versions, they were allowed to roam freely around Argos , having become permanently calm, but in others, Eurystheus ordered the horses taken to Olympus to be sacrificed to Zeus, but Zeus refused them, and sent wolves, lions, and bears to kill them. Roger Lancelyn Green states in his Tales of the Greek Heroes that the mares' descendants were used in the Trojan War , and survived even to

12648-464: The infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents. The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera, with Heracles meaning Hera's "pride" or "glory". He and his mortal twin, Iphicles , were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his twin brother grabbed

12784-505: The jealousy of Zeus's wife Hera , exposed her infant son, who was taken by either Zeus or his daughter Athena (the protectress of heroes) to Hera, who did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles sucked so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and when she pushed him away, her milk sprayed across the heavens, forming the Milky Way . But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural strength. Either Zeus or Athena brought

12920-469: The labours given by the mythographer Apollodorus is: Diodorus Siculus gives a similar sequence of the labours, though the orders of the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and eleventh and twelfth labours are swapped. Heracles wandered in the area until he came to the town of Cleonae . There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned within 30 days, the town would sacrifice

13056-450: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

13192-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

13328-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

13464-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

13600-411: The lion, Heracles fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable. When he found and shot the lion, firing at it with his bow, Heracles discovered the fur's protective property as the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered

13736-497: The lower part of the façade was heavily altered, and a garage added. The architect Albert Devez was responsible for these changes. The original furniture, also designed by Hankar, has been dispersed and is now kept in the collections of Design Museum Gent in Ghent , Belgium. The building has been listed since 1983. The façade was renovated in 2006. The Hôtel Ciamberlani is one of the most well-preserved buildings designed by Hankar. For

13872-753: The main floor. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are

14008-517: The mares before releasing them. Only after realizing that their King was dead did his men, the Bistonians , attack Heracles. Upon seeing the mares charging at them, led in a chariot by Abderus, the Bistonians turned and fled. In all versions the horses are calmed by eating human flesh, giving Heracles the opportunity to bind their mouths shut and easily take them back to King Eurystheus, who dedicated

14144-509: The most beautiful Art Nouveau façades in Belgium. The house is located at 48, rue Defacqz / Defacqzstraat in the municipality of Ixelles , a few steps from the Hankar House , another remarkable Art Nouveau building by Hankar. Paul Hankar received the commission to design the building from the mother of the symbolist painter Albert Ciamberlani , soon after having finished a project for

14280-427: The most beautiful Art Nouveau façades in Belgium. He notes that it lacks what he calls the " Gothic " element of Louis XV style , "which artists of the time abused, both in Brussels and Nancy ". In the official list of architectural heritage of Brussels it is described more succinctly as an "exceptional private house in the geometrical Art Nouveau style." Inside, the spatial layout was a more traditional variation of

14416-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by

14552-510: The occasion. Heracles shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. In some versions of this story instead of the Augean stables being discounted it was the Stymphalian Birds labour for getting the help of Athena. The Argonauts would later encounter them. The seventh labour, also categorised as

14688-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

14824-570: The other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

14960-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

15096-407: The other. In those dark and confined quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. During the fight the lion bit off one of his fingers. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the unarmored mouth. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with

15232-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

15368-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

15504-474: The sea from west to east each night. Heracles took the cup and rode it to Erytheia. When Heracles landed at Erytheia, he was confronted by the two-headed dog Orthrus . With one blow from his olive-wood club, Heracles killed Orthrus. Eurytion the herdsman came to assist Orthrus, but Heracles dealt with him the same way. On hearing the commotion, Geryon sprang into action, carrying three shields and three spears, and wearing three helmets. He attacked Heracles at

15640-517: The slaying of the Lernaean Hydra , as Heracles' nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him; and the cleansing of the Augean stables , because Heracles accepted payment for the labour (in other versions it was the Stymphalian Birds that were discounted instead of the Augean stables, for the help of Athena giving Heracles bronze rattles). Eurystheus thus set two more tasks (fetching the golden apples of

15776-402: The spot, later the site of Rome's Forum Boarium (the cattle market). To annoy Heracles, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them, and scatter them. Within a year, Heracles retrieved them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the level of a river so much that Heracles could not cross with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached

15912-556: The stench of the river Anigrus in Elis , making all the fish of the river inedible, was reputed to be due to the Hydra's venom, washed from the arrows Heracles used on the centaur. Angered by Heracles' success against the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra , Eurystheus (advised by Hera) devised an altogether different task for the hero, commanding Heracles to capture the Ceryneian Hind ,

16048-404: The task because his daughter Admete wanted to have the belt for herself. In earlier sources, however, the purpose of the labour was seemingly for Heracles to overcome the Amazons, with Eurystheus requiring the belt as evidence of his success. Accompanied by a group of companions, Heracles set sail for the land of Amazons, which was generally believed to be along the shore at the southern end of

16184-412: The terrible). Although very similar, there are slight variances in the exact details regarding the mares' capture. In one version, Heracles brought a number of volunteers to help him capture the giant horses. After overpowering Diomedes' men, Heracles broke the chains that tethered the horses and drove the mares down to sea. Unaware that the mares were man-eating and uncontrollable, Heracles left them in

16320-556: The time of Alexander the Great. After the incident, Eurystheus sent Heracles to bring back Hippolyta's Girdle . As his ninth labour, Heracles travelled to the land of the Amazons to bring back the Belt of Hippolyta , the queen of the Amazons . According to Apollodorus, the belt was gifted to Hippolyta by her father Ares , as an emblem of her position as queen. In his account, Eurystheus set Heracles

16456-441: The top of a mountain to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle . Prometheus' torturer, the eagle, continued its torture on Chiron, so Heracles shot it dead with an arrow. It is generally accepted that the tale was meant to show Heracles as being the recipient of Chiron's surrendered immortality. However, this tale contradicts the tradition that Chiron later taught Achilles . The tale of the centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of

16592-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

16728-428: The twelve labours, as does the freeing of Prometheus. Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this labour in mid-winter. Heracles caught the boar, bound it, and carried it back to Eurystheus, who was frightened of it and ducked down in his half-buried storage pithos , begging Heracles to get rid of the beast. The fifth labour

16864-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

17000-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

17136-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

17272-531: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

17408-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

17544-503: Was Paul Hankar , but Ciamberlani himself provided the designs for the large allegorical sgraffito decoration on the façade . The building, which was renovated in 2006, is one of the best-preserved buildings by Hankar. It is described in the official list of architectural heritage of Brussels as an "exceptional private house in Art Nouveau style" and art historian François Loyer  [ fr ] has described its façade as one of

17680-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

17816-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

17952-633: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

18088-699: Was not until after Heracles had completed his labours and on his return from the Underworld that he murdered Megara and his children. After recovering his sanity, Heracles deeply regretted his actions; he was purified by King Thespius , then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions. Pythia , the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, for twelve years, performing whatever labours Eurystheus might set him; in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. Heracles despaired at this, loathing to serve

18224-575: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

18360-554: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

18496-413: Was to clean the stables of King Augeas . This assignment was intended to be both humiliating and impossible, since these divine livestock were immortal, and had produced an enormous quantity of dung. The Augean ( / ɔː ˈ dʒ iː ə n / ) stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years, and over 1,000 cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out

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