Kudos! Not often that you see the word used, especially in its correct
spelling.
----- Original Message -----
From: "derf" <derf247@gmail.com>
> Al is a restaurateur.
The word restaurateur is sometimes spelled "restauranteur," but this is an
error. The word for the proprietor of a restaurant is correctly spelled
restaurateur. Both restaurant and restaurateur are borrowed from French. To
greatly simplify the explanation, restaurateur is formed from the French
equivalent of the English verb restore and the suffix -tor, which forms
personal nouns from verbs (two examples are actor and orator). Restaurateur
is an older word than restaurant. The word restaurant, on the other hand, is
formed from a present participle of the restore verb. One of the meanings
the present participle can have is 'something that performs (the activity of
the verb)', so deodorant, something that deodorizes, and restaurant, a place
that restores.
In other words, both restaurant and restaurateur are based on the same verb,
but they are not directly related; restaurateur is not formed from
restaurant with a suffix added. Since the word restaurant is so much more
common, its spelling tends to influence the spelling of restaurateur. The
spelling restauranteur is fairly common, but it should be regarded as an
error.
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980112
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