oyez

interesting etymological discovery from my spanish studies: i'm learning about the imperative tense right now (i.e., commands), and i today i saw that the second-person informal singular imperative form of the verb oir ("to hear") is "oye". pronounced "OH-yay". as in "oyez! oyez!", said to call a court into session. which means "hear ye, hear ye". ("oyez" is some form of old french or bastardized "law" french, which made its way into english-language courts courtesy of the norman invasion.)

in other words -- it's the SAME WORD.

awesome.