Finale originates from an Italian word which meant final, not all Latin words in English derive from French.

Italian: http://www.wordreference.com/enit/final

English etymology: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=finale&search...

Also, there is no such thing as "French characters". The grave and acute accent for example are used in multiple latin character based languages.

The accent on the final (hehe) e would be wrong in Italian. The Italian word is pronounced something like:

fee-NAH-lay, not fee-nah-LAY.

IIRC, it is much more common in French to place an accent on the final syllable than in Italian, where the second to last usually gets the emphasis.

In any case the point stands that the word looks wrong.

The accent isn't supposed to be on the last syllable in English. It isn't pronounced "fee-nah-LAY"; it's "fin-NALL-ee." In my experience, people sometimes correct the last sound to a long A rather than a long E, but I've never heard the accent on the last syllable. I think either you know some odd people or it's some regional variant.

Source for British English: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/finale?q=...

Source for American English: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/finale

> I think either you know some odd people or it's some regional variant.

I think you've read the thread a bit quickly and are a tad confused. I was talking about the Italian pronunciation. I know how it's pronounced in English as well, as that is my native language.

Oh, my apologies. I read "accent" as referring to the pronunciation (since you followed it with a contrast of "fee-NAH-lay" and "fee-nah-LAY"), but you meant the diacritic. Yeah, you're right, that's not the correct spelling of the word.

I'm not arguing that it isn't spelled wrong or incorrectly, just that it isn't of French origin. It wouldn't be the first time an English speaker misspelled a foreign origin word. Naive comes to mind as a classic example. Maybe nee as well.

I don't think the GP claimed it is a French word. Actually he explicitly said that it's not, and I don't see him claiming anything on its origins.

My point was mainly just in regards to a word spelled with a say grave or acute accent doesn't necessarily originate from French.

And the origin was to demonstrate that this word is both misspelled, and has no direct relation to French at all since it originates from Italian.

But "Finale" also exists in french.