Category: French (français)

Parched torrents

By Simon

Heavy rain and floods in North Wales - from the Daily Post

Quite a lot of rain has fallen over the past day or so in the UK, thanks to Storm Angus, so I thought I’d look at the origins of some rain-related words.

The word rain comes from the Old English rēn/reġn ‎(rain), from the Proto-Germanic *regnaz ‎(rain), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- ‎(to flow) or from *reg- (moist, wet).

When rain falls heavily it might be called torrential – it certainly was yesterday – a word which comes from torrent (rapid stream), from the Middle French torrent, from Latin torrentem from torrēns (rushing, roaring (of streams); a rushing stream), a word which originally meant “roaring, boiling, burning, parching, hot, inflamed”, and which is the present participle of torrere (to parch).

With heavy rain you get floods, a word which comes from the Old English flōd (a flowing of water, tide, an overflowing of land by water, a deluge, mass of water, river, sea, wave)”, from the Proto-Germanic *floduz (flowing water, deluge), from the Proto-Indo-European root *pleu- (to flow, float, swim), which is also the root of flow.

Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary, Wiktionary, Daily Post

Here’s a video of the sea being rather lively at Colwyn Bay (from the Daily Post).

It wasn’t just raining cats and dogs, but elephants and hippopotamuses too – that’s what it felt like anyway.

More idioms for heavy rain in various languages.

Do you know any interesting expressions for heavy rain?

A Piece of Theatre

By Simon

An photo from the Ballet Lorent production of Snow White, which I saw in Bangor last week

In French the word for play, as in a theatrical production, is pièce or pièce de théâtre.

Pièce also means:

– a room
– a part (of a mechanism or machine)
– a coin
– a patch (on clothes)
– a document
– a piece, as in a one-piece swimsuit or a twelve-piece dinner service.

The word pièce comes from the Old French piece (piece, bit, part), from the Vulgar Latin *pettia, from the Gaulish *pettyā, from the Proto-Celtic *kʷesdis ‎(piece, portion).

Over expressions featuring pièce include:

– pièce à conviction = exhibit
– pièce d’eau = ornamental lake, ornamental pond
– pièce de rechange = spare part
– pièce de résistance = pièce de résistance (main dish, masterpiece; outstanding event or item)
– pièce détachée = spare part, spare
– en pièces détachées = in kit form
– pièce d’identité = ID
– pièce montée = tiered cake

Source: Reverso, Wiktionary

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
s’installer to settle in ymgartrefu; ymsefydlu
se calmer to settle down bod yn llonydd; bod yn dawel
se contenter de to settle for bodloni ar
régler to settle up talu’ch dyledion
s’établier sur to settle (land) sefydlu mewn; cyfandeddu
se déposer to settle (dust) dawelu; gorweddi
rudimentaire rough and ready (accommodation, method) ffwrdd-â-hi
le décor (stage/TV) set set
le plateau (film) set set
la pièce (de théâtre) play drama
tenace tenacious diollwng; anollyngol; diymollwng; cadarn

Trumped

By Simon

For some reason I thought I’d look into the word trump today. It has a number of meanings:

1. trump (noun): the suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others; a playing card of that suit; something that gives one an advantage, especially one held in reserve.

Etymology
From triumph, from the French triomphe ‎(triumph), from the Latin triumphus (triumph, victory), via the Etruscan triumpus from the Ancient Greek θρίαμβος ‎(thríambos – a hymn to Dionysos).

2. trump (verb): to fabricate, devise.

Etymology
From trump (to deceive, cheat), from the Middle English trumpen, from the Old French tromper (to deceive). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from the practise of quacks and mountebanks using a trumpet or horn to attract the public, who were then cheated into buying things.

Related French expressions:
– tromper = to deceive, lead astray, mislead; to trick, dupe; to cheat on one’s significant other; to distract oneself from.
– se tromper = to make a mistake
– se tromper de = to mix up
– baillier la trompe = to blow the trumpet, act the fool

The expression trumped up (false, concocted) was first recorded 1728.

3. trump (noun): a trumpet; flatulence; the noise made by an elephant through its trunk.

Etymology
From the Middle English trompe ‎(trumpet), from the Old French trompe‎ (horn, trump, trumpet) from the Frankish *trumpa/*trumba ‎(trumpet).

Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary and Wiktionary

Romance and Horses

By Simon

Romantic horses

What does romance have to do with horses?

Well, the word romance has a number of meanings:

– A story relating to chivalry; a story involving knights, heroes, adventures, quests, etc.
– An intimate relationship between two people; a love affair.
– A strong obsession or attachment for something or someone.
– Idealized love which is pure or beautiful.
– A mysterious, exciting, or fascinating quality.
– A story or novel dealing with idealized love.
– An embellished account of something; an idealized lie.
– An adventure, or series of extraordinary events, resembling those narrated in romances.
– A dreamy, imaginative habit of mind; a disposition to ignore what is real.
– (music) A romanza, or sentimental ballad.

The first meaning provides the connection to chivalry, a word which comes from Middle English chivalrie (quality of being knight), from the Old French chevalerie (knighthood, chivalry, nobility, cavalry), from chevaler (knight, horseman), from the Medieval Latin caballarius ‎(horseman, knight), from the Vulgar Latin caballus ‎(horse), which meant ‘work horse, pack horse or nag’ in Classical Latin, possibly from the Gaulish caballos (horse), or from an Old East Iranian dialect.

The word romance comes from the Middle English romauns, roumance, from Anglo-Norman and Old French romanz, romans (the vernacular language of France, as opposed to Latin), from the Medieval Latin rōmānicē, from the Vulgar Latin rōmānicē ‎(in the Roman language), from the Latin rōmānicus ‎(roman) from rōmānus ‎(a Roman).

Sources: Wiktionary, Online Etymology Dictionary, Degruyter.com

Gorillas, monkeys and ponys

By Simon

One Pice Indian coin from 1953 with pony on it

With a title like that, you might be expecting a post about animals, but in fact it’s about slang terms for money – a gorilla is £1,000, a monkey is £500 and a pony is £25.

These names apparently come from old Indian banknotes and coins: the 25 Rupee coin had a pony on it, and the 500 Rupee note had a monkey on it, and British soldiers returning from India brought back such notes and slang terms with the to the UK. A gorilla possibly got its name because it’s two monkeys.

General slang terms for money in the UK include:

– cash – from Middle French caisse ‎(money box), from Old Provençal caissa, from Old Italian cassa, from Latin capsa ‎(box, case), from capio ‎(I take, seize, receive), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- ‎(to grasp)

– bread – from the rhyming slang bread & honey (money)

– dough – an extension from bread

– dosh – possibly a combination of dough and cash

– readies – from ‘ready money’

– spondulicks – unknown origin

– (filthy) lucre – from Latin lucrum ‎(profit)

– moola(h) – possibly from the Romani mol ‎(have value, be worth), or the French moulin ‎(mill)

– wonga – from Romani wangar ‎(coal), from Sanskrit अङ्गार ‎(áṅgāra, charcoal, coal), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hangāra-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ongʷl-.

Do you use any of these, or other slang words for money, and/or for specific amounts of money?

More on money slang:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money
http://www.aldertons.com/money.htm
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikisaurus:money

Clymau tafod

By Simon

Mi wnes i dyfeisio cwlwm tafod Cymraeg heddiw:

Llawr ar lawr y cawr enfawr mae llawer o lewod lliwiog yn llyfu llaw Gwawr nawr.

Ti’n gwybod unrhyw glymau tafod Cymraeg eraill?

This is a Welsh tongue twister I came up with today. It means “Down on the giant giant’s floor many colourful lions are licking Gwawr’s hand now.”

Do you know any other Welsh tongue twsiters?

The Salmon’s Daughter

By Simon

Language quiz image

On Tuesday I saw a play in Bangor called Merch yr Eog / Merc’h an Eog (Daughter of the Salmon) in four different languages: Welsh, Breton, French and Guadeloupean Creole.

It was a co-production between Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru (Welsh National Theatre) and Teatr Piba from Brittany, and featured actors from Wales and Brittany. The lead role was played by Lleuwen Steffan, a Welsh singer-song writer who lives in Brittany and speaks Welsh, Breton, French, and English, fluently.

For me it was interesting to hear all the different languages, especially the Breton. I understood most of the Welsh and French, though I couldn’t always hear what they were saying clearly, and understood, or at least recognised, bits of the Breton.

There’s some discussion in the play about similarities between Welsh and Breton words, though I doubt very much if any of the Welsh speakers in the audience understood much of the Breton, unless they’d studied it. The languages have many similar words, but sound very different.

When one of the actors started speaking in Guadeloupean Creole I thought it was French at first with an unfamiliar accent, but when I listened more closely I thought is was probably a French-based Creole.

Translation was provided via an app called Sibrwd (Whisper) and was available in English, Welsh, French and Breton. However it was mainly a summary of what the actors were saying rather than a word-for-word translation, and wasn’t in time with the speech. Sometimes it was behind, sometimes ahead, so it was like watching a badly dubbed film, and made it tricky to follow the story.

There’s a review of the Bangor performance in the Daily Post.

Barking up the wrong end of the stick

By Simon

Barking up the wrong tree

The phrase barking up the wrong tree means “making a mistake or a false assumption in something you are trying to achieve”. It comes from hunting dogs barking up trees where they thought their quarry was hiding, but wasn’t [source].

Apparently one French equivalent of this phrase is Frapper à la mauvaise porte (to knock at the wrong door). Does anybody know the origins of this expression?

Another French equivalent is se mettre le doigt dans l’œil (to put your finger in your eye).

To get the wrong end of the stick means to misunderstand something. I combined the two phrases in the title of this post because I like playing with words.

One equivalent in French is comprendre de travers (to understand in a crooked, askew or wrong way) [source], se tromper (to make a mistake) or faire fausse route (to go the wrong way; be on the wrong track), which can also mean ‘to bark up the wrong tree’ [source].

Are there equivalents of these phrases in other languages?

Image from: Idioms4you.com

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la pédale pedal pedal
pédaler; aller à velo to pedal (a bicycle) pedlo; padlo
le lotissement (de logements sociaux) (council) estate (y)stad (dai cyngor)
la cité housing estate (y)stad o dai
courageux; brave; vaillant brave dewr; gwrol; glew; eofn
droit straight syth; union
les groseilles noires black currant(s) cyransen ddu (cwrens duon)
la haie hedge gwrych; clawdd
le noyau (fruit) stone carreg; cnewyllyn; dincodyn
la graine seed (of plant) hedyn
le pépin seed / pip (of fruit) dincodyn; carreg; hedyn
étudiant de première année; jeune recrue first year student; fresher; freshman glasfyfyriwr