Word: eu
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Dates: during 1890-1899
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...things that strike the English speaking person of today most when studying French are the peculiar vowels, such as u, eu and mute e, and the nasal vowels an, en, in, on and un. These difficulties are not found to so great an extent in the French of the eleventh century. The u sound did exist then and seemed to offer certain difficulties to the Englishman of the day. But the eu, as in coleur, apparently did not exist. In its place, however, are found two other sounds, one something like o, and the other a dipthongal sound not unlike...
...apparent diphthongs in modern French, ai, ei, eu, ou and au, were pronounced separately in old Frence. Exception must be made in this case to au, for it does not appear in old writings, although it may have existed in speech. The sound oi, which seems so eminently English, is in reality of old French origin...