| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| partial | biased | rhagfarnllyd; unochrog, gwyrdueddol; pleidiol |
| apporter | to bring | dod â |
| la brise | breeze | awel |
| nuageux | cloudy | cymylog |
| la tyrolienne | zip wire | gwifren sip (?) |
| décoloré | faded (fabric, object) | pŵl; wedi pylu; wedi colli ei liw |
| jauni | faded (photograph) | pŵl; wedi pylu; wedi colli ei liw |
| bancal | wobbly | sigledig; siglog; woblog |
| branler | to wobble | siglo; woblo |
| mal famé | rough (area) | garw |
| désorienté | disorientated | dryslyd; ffwndrus |
Category: French (français)
Les mots de le semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| la jacinthe des bois; jacinthe sauvage |
bluebell (hyacinthoides non-scripta) | clychau’r gog; bwtias y gog; croeso haf, ayyb |
| le foyer socio-éducatif; le centre socioculturel |
community centre | canolfan cymdeithasol/cymuned(ol) |
| démarrer | to start (a car; engine; machine) | tanio; cychwyn |
| le contact | ignition (of car) | tanio |
| la clé de contact | ignition key | allwedd danio; agoriad tanio |
| un œuf à la coque | soft-boiled egg | ŵy wedi’i led-ferwi |
| un œuf dur | hard-boiled egg | ŵy caled; ŵy wedi ei ferwi yn galed |
| l’évier (m) | (kitchen) sink | sinc |
| il fait un temps maussade et frait | the weather is miserable | mae’r tywydd yn ddiflas |
| embué | steamy (window) | cynhyrflyd; cynhryfus |
| humide | steamy (room, heat, air) | agerog; agerddog; yn ager |
| torride | steamy (thriller, scene, affair) | angerddol; chwilboeth |
| l’arme secrète (f) | secret weapon | arf cyfrinachol |
Cuckoo bells
I discovered this week that in Welsh bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are known as Clychau’r Gog (“cuckoo bells”), which I really like the sound of. They are also known as Bwtias y Gog (“cuckoo’s boots”), Croeso Haf (“welcome summer”), Cennin y Brain (“crows’ leeks”), Clychau’r Eos (“nightingale’s bells”), Glas y Llwyn (“blue of the grove”), hosanau’r Gwcw (“cuckoo’s socks”).
In Breton bluebells are known as bokidi-koukou (“cuckoo flowers”) or pour-bran (“crows’ flowers/pears”).
In French they are known as jacinthe des bois (“wood hyacinths”) or jacinthe sauvage (“wild hyacinths”).
Other names for them in English include common bluebell, English bluebell, British bluebell, wild hyacinth, wood bell, fairy flower and bell bottle.
Do they have interesting names in other languages?
Knock Cnoc
The element Knock is quite common in place names in Ireland, e.g. Ballyknock, Castleknock, Gortknock, Kilknock and Knockaderry [source]. There’s also quite a few places called simply Knock, the best known of which is the Knock in County Mayo in the west of Ireland , which is known as An Cnoc (the hill) or Cnoc Mhuire (Hill of (the Virgin) Mary) in Irish.
The Irish word cnoc (hill), from which Knock comes, is pronounced [kn̪ˠɔk] in Munster, [knˠɔk] in Aran, and [kɾˠɔk] in Galway, Mayo and Ulster. It comes from the Old Irish cnocc (hill, lump, swelling), from the Proto-Celtic *knokko(s) (hill), which is also the root of:
– Scottish Gaelic cnoc [krɔ̃xg] = hill, hillock, knoll
– Manx cronk [krɒnk] = mount, tor, hill
– Welsh cnwc [knʊk] = hillock, bump, lump, butte
– Cornish knegh [knɛx] / knogh [knɔx] = hillock
A similar, though unrelated, English word is knoll [nəʊl], a hillock or mound, which comes from the Old English cnoll (hill-top, cop, summit, hillock), which is cognate with the Dutch knol (clod, ball, turnip); the German Knolle (bulb, tuber); and the Swedish knöl (lump; bump; hump) [source].
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| le conflit d’intérêt | conflict of interest | gwrthdaro buddiannau |
| bâfrer; siffler (drink) | to guzzle | llowcio; claddu; awffio; lleibio |
| minable; crade | grotty | sâl; gwael; salw; tila; da i ddim |
| le vote; le scrutin | ballot | pleidlais (ddirgel) |
| le bulletin de vote | ballot paper | papur pleidleisio |
| l’urne (f) | ballot box | cist pleidleisio |
| la fraude électorale | ballot rigging | pleidlais anonest / wedi’i rigio |
| faire qch par la voie des urnes | to do sth through the ballot box | gwneud rhywbeth trwy’r cist pleidleisio |
| asticoter; agiter | to wind up (annoy, provoke) | herian |
| remonter | to wind up (clock, car window) | weindio; ceirsio |
| fermer | to wind up (company) | dirwyn (cwmni) i ben |
| remuer | to stir | troi; rhoi tro |
| attiser; provoquer | to stir up (tension, trouble) | codi (helynt); cynhyrfu |
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| le rouget | red snapper | brathwr coch (?) |
| saler | to cure (by salting); to salt | halltu |
| fumer | to cure (by smoking); to smoke | cochi; sychu mewn mwg; sychu trwy fwg |
| sécher | to cure (by drying) | sychu |
| traiter | to cure (leather) | cyweirio; barcio; cwrio |
| guérir | to cure (illness, problem, habit) | gwella; iach’au; mendio |
| le terrain de football | football pitch | mas/cae pêl-droed; cae ffwtbol |
| l’invasion de terrain | pitch invasion | ymosodiad ar faes |
Curing, cleaning and caring
Yesterday I discovered that there are quite a few different French translations of the verb to cure, depending on what kind of cure you’re talking about.
If you’re curing food by salting, the French equivalent is saler (to salt); curing by smoking is fumer (to smoke), and curing by drying is sécher (to dry). Curing leather is traiter (to treat), and curing illnesses, problems or habits is guérir (to cure, heal, recover).
The equivalents of these words in Welsh are:
– halltu = to cure (by salting)
– cochi (“to redden”); sychu mewn mwg; sychu trwy fwg = to cure (by smoking)
– sychu = to cure (by drying)
– cyweirio; barcio; cwrio = to cure (leather)
– gwella; iach’au; mendio = to cure (illness, problem, habit)
Do other languages have separate words for these?
The English word cure comes from the French curer, which means ‘to clean out’ in Modern French, and meant ‘to take care of, to clean’ in Old French, and comes from the Latin cūrāre (to care for, take care of, cure), from cūra (care, concern, trouble), from the Old Latin coira-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷeis- (to heed).
Sources: Reverso, OED, Online Etymology Dictionary, Wiktionary
Producing oneself
I came across an interesting expression in a French newspaper article I read today – se produire – which means to produce, occur, take place, perform, appear, and appears in such phrases as:
– devoir se produire = to be bound to happen
– se produire sur scène = to appear on stage
– ce qui risque de se produire = what could well happen; what might happen
– laisser se produire = to allow to happen
– se produire en concert = to play in a concert
One literal translation of this expression is “to produce oneself”, and I like the idea that I produced myself (as if from a hat 🙂 at a gig last week.
Source: Reverso
Les mots de le semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| fin | thin (layer, cable, wire, fingers, paper) | tenau; main |
| maigre | thin (person, animal, smile) | tenau; main |
| mince | thin (face, argument, evidence) | main |
| léger | thin (fabric, coat) | tenau |
| peu épais | thin (soup, sauce) | tenau; dyfrllyd |
| clairsemé | thin (hair) | tenau; moel |
| désépaissir | to thin (hair) | teneuo; moeli |
| éclaircir | to thin (trees) | teneuo; mynd yn denau |
| délayer | to thin (sauce, paint) | teneuo |
| fluidifier | to thin (blood) | teneuo |
| susceptible | thin-skinned | croendenau |
| épais | thick | trwchus; tew |
| épaisser | thicken | tewhau; tewychu |
| insensible | thick-skinned | croendew |
| bête | thick (person) | twp; hurt; gwirion |
| au beau milieu de qch; en plain cœur de qch |
in the thick of sth | yng nghanol rhywbeth |
| être au cœur de l’action | to be in the thick of it | bod yn ei chanol hi |
| contre vents et marées | through thick and thin | drwy’r tew a’r tenau; doed a ddelo |
| la brochure (gen); le tract (pol) | pamphlet | llyfryn; pamffledyn; pamffled |
Grammatical gender matters
In languages with grammatical gender, like French, you can often get away with getting the genders wrong, although it’s best to try to learn them when you learn nouns. However there are some words that have different meanings in different genders.
An example in French is loup(e): le loup [lu:] (masculine) is a wolf, and la loupe [lu:p] (feminine) is a magnifying glass – the context will clarify what you mean if you get the genders mixed up, and the pronunciation helps as well.
The following French words have the same pronunciation but different meanings in different genders:
– le boum = bang, explosion / la boum = party
– le bout = tip, end / la boue = mud
– le cave = idiot, sucker / la cave = basement, cellar
– le chêne = oak tree/wood / la chaîne = chain, channel
– le col = collar, neck / la colle = glue
– le livre = book / la livre = pound (curreny/weight)
– le manche = handle / la manche = sleeve / la Manche = English Channel
– le mur = wall / la mûre = blackberry
– le rose = pink (colour) / la rose = rose (flower)
– le vase = vase / la vase = silt, mud
More words like this: http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/dualgender_2.htm
One way to avoid getting your genders in a muddle is to talk about everything in the plural.