envaissent

Envaissent is a historical or nonstandard variant spelling of the French verb envahir, used in the third-person plural present subjunctive. In modern standard French, the typical form is envahissent. The distinction lies mainly in spelling rather than meaning; both derive from the same verb meaning to invade or to overtake.

Origin and usage: The form envaissent appears in older texts or in certain regional or historical spellings where orthographic conventions varied and the letter h in envahir could be omitted. Today, envaissent is generally considered archaic or nonstandard outside scholarly editing, linguistic discussions, or the study of early modern French manuscripts. In contemporary writing, the standard spelling envahissent is expected.

Conjugation and related forms: The modern present subjunctive conjugation of envahir includes que j'envahisse, que tu envahisses, qu'il envahisse, que nous envahissions, que vous envahissiez, qu'ils envahissent. The nonstandard variant envaissent would appear only as a historical spelling note or in dialectal/reprint contexts, not as the normative form.

Etymology: Envahir derives from Old French and ultimately from the Latin invadere, through linguistic developments in medieval France. The word carries the sense of overrun, overwhelm, or overtake, and is used in both literal and metaphorical senses in historical and contemporary French.