I’ve come across l’ô in the context of a name:
L’ô à la bouche - restaurant
Ô Fil de L’Ô - B&B
Just wondered what it means?
Onomatopoeia?
2 Likes
It’s just to get the sound of ‘eau’ but spelt in a snazzy innovative memorable way.
L’eau à la bouche and au fil de l’eau are common expressions.
3 Likes
I wondered. Thank you. 
The meanings of, please Vero.
I have worked out that the ^ usually represents a ‘missing’ letter - ‘hôpital’ / ‘hôtel’ must have dropped the ‘s’ somewhere back-along. With the town St. Lô the original name looks to have been abbreviated considerably - the place name derives from that of a local saint, St. Laud of Coutances.
L’ô à la bouche is reasonably common restaurant name - as in makes you salivate/have water in your mouth. In this particular instant nothing to do with lost s, just pronuncation.
1 Like
A hairdresser here is called Ô K par K
Ah, ça met l’eau à la bouche is ooh that’s mouthwatering, au fil de l’eau is gently drifting on the current, or in the river with the current wafting things past you. It’s used for things progressing gently and naturally.
There’s a riverside restaurant called that in a village upriver from Bergerac, and I expect there are many more.
The wind in the willows might well, if written by a French person, have been called au fil de l’eau.
5 Likes