| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| la (jeu de) boules | bowls | bowliau; bowls |
| jouer aux boules | to play (lawn) bowls | chwarae bowls/powls |
| le terrain de boules | bowling green | lawnt fowlio; grîn fowlio |
| le bowling | bowling | bowlio |
| le piste de bowling | bowling alley | ala/ale/ali fowlio |
| le boule | bowl | bowl; powl |
| la quille | skittle | sgitlen (sgitls) |
| la route de contournement | bypass (road) | ffordd osgoi |
| le pontage | bypass (operation) | dargyfeiriad |
| le domaine; la propriéte | estate | tir; meddiant; tirogaeth |
| le lotissement | housing estate | ystad o dai |
| la ferme | farm; farmhouse | ty fferm; ffarm; ffermdy |
| la fermette | small farmhouse | ty fferm bach |
Category: French (français)
Les mots de la semaine
Mountains and molehills
I discovered yesterday that the French word for mole is taupe /top/, and I wondered if this might be related to the English word taupe, which, according to the OED, means ‘A brownish shade of grey resembling the colour of moleskin’ or in others words, mole-coloured.
The English word taupe comes from the French, which comes from the Latin talpa (mole), which is of unknown origin, according to Wiktionnary.
Mole-related words and expressions in French include:
– taupinière = molehill
– taupier = mole catcher
– être myope comme une taupe = to be blind as a bat
– noir comme une taupe = pitch-black
The French equivalent of to make a mountain out of a molehill is se faire une montagne d’un rien or faire une montagne d’une taupinière. What is the equivalent of this phrase in other languages?
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| la taupinière | molehill | prid y wadd; priddwal; twmpath gwadd |
| le taupin | click beetle; maths student | chwilen clic (?); myfyriwr mathemateg |
| noir comme une taupe | pitch-black | pygddy; purddu |
| myopes comme une taupe | blind as a bat | yn ddall bost; mor ddall â’r nos/garreg/thwrch daear |
| le tableau (d’affichage) | scoreboard | bwrdd sgorio; bwrdd cadw sgôr |
| la cible (de jeu de fléchettes) | dartboard | bwrdd darts |
| le centre (de la cible) | bullseye | llygad (tarw); canol y nod; bwl |
| mettre dans le mille; faire mouche | to hit the bull’s-eye | ei tharo hi yn y canol; sgorio/cael bwl |
| faire un carton | to hit the mark | bwrw’r nod, taro’r nod |
Breadcrumbs & Scotch Eggs
Yesterday I discovered an interesting French word: paner, which means to coat with breadcrumbs or to bread.
So a Scotch Egg, which is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breaded and deep fried, can be described as a œuf dur enrobé de chair à saucisse et pané in French – it sounds better in French, although it’s not something you’d find in France or other French-speaking regions, as far as I know.
Restaurants in the UK often use French names and descriptions for dishes as they sound better and more sophisticated than their English equivalents. Do restaurants in other countries do this?
Would you rather have toad-in-the-hole or saucisses cuites au four dans de la pâte à crêpes?
Or how about pudding aux raisins instead of spotted dick?
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| l’anneau (m) | ring | modrwy |
| le rond de serviette | napkin ring | cylch napcyn; modrwy napcyn |
| la bague de fiançailles | engagement ring | modrwy ddyweddïo |
| une vague de froid (de courte durée) | cold snap | pwl/sbel o dywydd oer |
| le craquement | snap (sound of something breaking) | clec |
| céder | to snap (break) | torri (‘n glec/gratsh) |
| (sorte de jeu de) bataille | snap (game) | |
| la brume | mist | niwl; niwliach; tarth; tawch |
| la bruine | Scotish mist | smwc; smwcan; smwclaw; ffwgen |
| le brouillard; la brime | fog | niwl; twach; niwlen; tarth |
| des nappes de brouillard | patchy fog | niwl ysbeidiol/bylchog (?) |
| brouillard à couper au couteau | thick fog | niwl trwchus |
| la miette | crumb | briwsionyn |
| la miette/mie de pain | breadcrumb | briwsionyn bara |
| les chapelure (fpl) | (dried) breadcrumbs | briwsion bara |
| œuf dur enrobé de chair à saucisse et pané |
Scotch egg | ŵy selsig; ŵy mewn sosej |
| paner | to coat with breadcrumbs | taenu briwsion |
| pané | (coated) in breadcrumbs; breaded | wedi ei daenu briwsion |
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| encombrant | bulky; inconvenient; inhibiting; cumbersome | swmpus; trwchus; praff; trafferthus; anhwylus |
| sans encombre | without mishap/incident/hinderance | heb anffawd |
| encombrer | to block; obstruct | atal; rhwystro |
| s’encombrer | to burden oneself; weigh oneself down | llwytho/llethu eich hunain |
| tricher | to cheat | twyllo; cafflo |
| la feuille de référence; antisèche | cheat sheet | dalen dwyllo (?) |
| penser tout haut | to think aloud | lleisio’ch meddyliau; siarad â chi eich hun; meddwl yn uchel |
| dans un monde à part | in a world of one’s own | mewn byd ar wahân, yn ei fyd bach ei hun |
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| l’hémorragie (f) | haemorrhage | gwaedlif; gwaedlin |
| faire une hémorragie | to haemorrhage; to have a haemorrhage | cael gwaedlif; colli gwaed |
| le bouclier | (soldier’s) shield | tarian; bwcled |
| le bouclier antiémeute | riot shield | tarian rhag terfysg |
| la protection; l’écran (m) | shield (protection) | sgrîn; giard; gorchudd |
| l’écran de protection | heat shield | tarian wres |
| le protège-dents | gum shield | gorchudd dannedd; arbedwr |
| l’écu (m); l’écusson (m) | shield (heraldry) | tarian |
| l’héraldique (f) | heraldry | herodraeth |
| le blason | coat of arms; blazon | arfbais; pais; arfau |
| protéger | to shield | gwarchod |
| le piment (rouge) | chilli (spice) | chilli; tsili |
| le poudre de piment | chilli powder | powdr chilli |
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| l’avant-dernier | the last but one | yr olaf/diwethaf ond un | |
| la tuile | (roof) tile | teilsen; teilen; priddlech | teol |
| le carreau | (wall/floor) tile | teilsen (lorio/wal) | karrezenn |
| carreler | to tile (a floor) | llorio â theils; teilsio | |
| la dalle de moquette | carpet tile | teilsen garped | |
| faire la fête/la java | to have a night on the tiles | cael noson ar y criws / ar y sbri | ober bos/fest |
| l’âne (m); le cancre; l’imbécile; un(e) nullard(e) | dunce | dỳns; twpsyn; penbwl | azen; penn-karn; yann ar yod; paotr ar yod; loull |
| le bonnet d’âne | dunce’s cap | cap twpsyn/dỳns/papur; capan penbwl | |
| la loupe (grossissante) | magnifying glass | chwyddwydr | loupenn |
| à la loupe | in minute detail | mewn manylion lleiaf | |
| sous la loupe | under the microscope | dan y microsgop |
An owlfully badgered cup of tea
Yesterday I discovered that the Italian word for cup, tazza, is rather similar and possibly confusable with the word for badger, tasso, which can also mean a rate (of exchange) or a yew (tree).
It’s unlikely that if you mistakenly ask for un tasso di tè rather than una tazza di tè, you will be given a badger of tea, but it would be an easy mistake to make, especially if you know the French word for cup, tasse, or the Spanish taza, or the German Tasse, which comes from the French, which comes from the Arabic طاس (ṭās – die; bowl), from the Persian تاس (tās – die/dice).
I also discovered the wonderful word owlful, which means full of badgers, or possibly full of owls. How awful it must be to be owlful! It’s a word that should have appeared in the Harry Potter books, which are brimful of owls at points, and slightly, though not entirely, badgerless.