Etymology is a science in which vowels signify nothing at all, and consonants very little.

Jan Noordegraaf (1997) "Multatuli, Voltaire en de etymologie" in Voorlopig verleden. Taalkundige plaatsbepalingen 1797-1960 (Münster: Nodus Publikationen) pp. 212-214 (ISBN 3-89323-276-1). | John Considine (January 2009) "“Les voyelles ne font rien, et les consonnes fort peu de chose”: On the history of Voltaire’s supposed comment on etymology" Historiographia Linguistica Volume 36, Issue 1, pp. 181-189 | Garson O'Toole (25 March 2019) "In Etymology Vowels Count for Nothing and Consonants for Very Little" Quote Investigator | From these, the earliest version found is already attributed to Voltaire: August Wilhelm von Schlegel (Part 1) of "Review of 'Altdeutsche Wälder' vol.1 by the Grimm brothers (Cassel 1813)" (1815) Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Literatur no. 46 pp. 734-5 | Mit solchen Allgemeinsätzen kann man Alles erkünsteln, und macht am Ende die Etymologie zu einer Wissenschaft, wobei, wie Voltaire sagt, die Vokale für gar nichts, die Konsonanten für wenig gerechnet werden. | With such generalities one can artificialize everything, and in the end turn etymology into a science in which, as Voltaire says, the vowels are reckoned for nothing, the consonants for little. | The earliest French version has singular voyelle consonne: Anonymous (October 1833) "Art. VII.-Grimm's Deutche Grammatik. Gottingen. 1822-1831. 3 vols", The Quarterly Review (John Murray, London) volume 50 p. 169 | It is in works of this nature that Germany is pre-eminent among the European nations; and it is long since those who are interested in philological researches have made a more valuable acquisition, or one more fit to wipe out from their favourite study the reproach which has been somewhat speciously cast on it, that it is a science ‘où la voyelle ne fait rien, et la consonne fort peu de chose.’ | Friedrich Max Müller ascribes the same French to Voltaire in October 1851: "Review of Franz Bopp, Comparative Grammar of the Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German, and Sclav