Jean de La Fontaine

1 8.6

French poet and writer who adapted Aesop's fables into short stories

proper noun

Literature

: Jean de La Fontaine

The famous French poet Jean de La Fontaine wrote many fables.

Examples

Many of Jean de La Fontaine's adaptations of Aesop's fables are still read today.
The moral lessons in Jean de La Fontaine's fables remain relevant across generations.
Students studied the works of Jean de La Fontaine in their French literature class.
Did you know that Jean de La Fontaine adapted Aesop's fables?
Many of Jean de La Fontaine's adaptations of Aesop's fables are still read today.
Students studied the works of Jean de La Fontaine in their French literature class.
The moral lessons in Jean de La Fontaine's fables remain relevant across generations.

Surface Forms

Jean de La Fontaine main

Morphology

Jean + de + La + Fontaine

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; knowing the constituent words ('Jean', 'de', 'La', 'Fontaine') might hint that it is a French name ('Jean of the fountain') but does not allow a learner to infer the biographical meaning (that he was a 17th‑century poet who collected Aesop's fables). Proper names are referential/arbitrary and their specific identities or professions are not derivable from their parts, so the expression is not transparent to learners.

Etymology

Jean de La Fontaine is a French writer from the 1600s who turned short animal stories into neat poems. He took old 'fables' and gave them a clear 'moral', so his name is linked to short stories that teach a lesson.