Category: French (français)

La gueule enfarinée

By Simon

I discovered an interesting French expression yesterday while ferreting around in the dictionary – la gueule enfarinée, which literally means ‘the floured mouth’, but actually refers to someone who is ‘wet behind the ears’, i.e. new, untrained, inexperienced, immature, innocent, callow or naive (synonyms from The Chambers Thesaurus).

The word gueule usually refers to the mouth of an animal, and is also a slang word for the human mouth, which is normally bouche. Equivalent words in English include gob, mug, snout, cakehole, kisser, trap, etc – do you have any others? It comes from the Old French gole, from the Latin gula (gullet, throat, gluttony, palate), which is also the root of the English word gullet.

Why having a floury mouth is a sign of being inexperienced is a mystery to me. Does anyone know the origins of this expression?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le campus; le cité universitaire campus campws kampus
les vents wind (flatulence) gwynt avel
le casse-croûte snack byrbryd; tamaid torr-naon; adlein
casser la croûte / la graine to have a bite/something to eat cael tamaid debriñ ur begad
grignoter to snack cael tamaid; cael pryd ysgafn krignat
l’amuse-gueule (m) appetizer; nibble mymryn; briwsionyn lipaj
le moucheron midge gwybedyn mân c’hwibu
gardien(ne); concierge caretaker gofalwr gourner; porzhier
la dialyse dialysis dialysis dializ
la gravité; le pesanteur gravity disgyrchiant graviter
en propriété libre freehold rhydd-ddaliadol; rhyddfreiniol
loué/donné à bail leasehold prydles
la douve moat ffos douvez; tuv
le cambriolage burglary lladrad laerezh en tiez
pratique handy (object) hwylus; hylaw boazmant; pleustr

Back in Bangor

By Simon

I’m now back in Bangor after a very enjoyable and interesting week at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. We learnt 15 songs during the week, so the course wasn’t as intensive as the one I did last year when we learnt twice as many songs, and we learnt about the background of the songs, and even saw some of the places about which they were written, or which are mentioned in them.

There wasn’t much Gaelic spoken in the class, which was mainly in English, but I spoke Gaelic with various other people and feel more confident about speaking it now. As well as Gaelic, I also got to speak some Japanese, French, German, Irish and Manx, which was fun. When I’m speaking Scottish Gaelic and I can’t think of words I often use Irish ones, which are usually very similar as the two languages are very close. I even had one conversation in a mixture of Irish and Scottish Gaelic with an Irish man who speaks both, which was a little confusing.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le bassin pond (small) pwll poull
l’étang (m) pond (larger) llyn stank; lenn; loc’h
la mare aux canards; la canardière duck pond pwll hwyaden poull houad
le nymphéa
le nénuphar		 water lily lili’r dwr; alaw loar-zour; skudell-zour
la grotte
la caverne		 cave ogof mougev; megin; kavarn
la peinture rupestre cave painting paentiad mewn ogof liverezh-reier
l’homme des cavernes
le troglodyte		 cave dweller preswylydd ogof tud ar mougevioù
la periode glaciaire the Ice Age Oes yr Iâ; Oes y Rhew marevezh ar Skorn-bras
le guerrier warrior gwron; rhyfelwr; milwr brezeler
enchanté; ravi delighted balch; llawen; wrth dy fodd plijet bras
en service on duty ar ddyletswydd; ar wasanaeth; ar alwad o vont
le grimace
le froncement de sourcils		 frown gwg; cuwch; cilwg ard; grim
froncer les sourcils to frown gwgu; cuchio; crychu talcen; cilygu ardaouiñ
le sous-traitant sub-contractor isgontractwr; isgytundebwr eilkevratour
sous-traiter to subcontract isgontractio; isgytundebu eilkevratiñ; eil tretañ; eil feuriañ

Water lilies, nymphs and blue lotuses

By Simon

A nymphaea / water lily

There was talk of ponds and water lilies last night at the French conversation group and I discovered that one French word for water lily is nymphéa [nɛ̃.fe.a], which comes from nymphaea the Latin name for this genus of plants. The Latin word comes from the Ancient Greek word νύμφη (nymphe), which means girl, and also refers to a low ranking female deity who haunts rivers, springs, forests and other places [source].

Nymphéa refers specifially to the white water lily, or nymphaea alba, which also known as the European White Waterlily, White Lotus, or Nenuphar, a name that is also found in French: nénuphar [ne.ny.faʁ], and which comes via the Persian نيلوفر (ninufar) or the Arabic نلوفر (nilufar), from the Sanskrit नीलोतपल (nīlotpala – blue lotus), from नील (nīla – blue-black) and उतपल (utpala – lotus) [source].

Many names for plants in French come directly from Latin, whereas in English many plants have common names and Latin names. In other languages do plants have both common and Latin-derived names, or just one or the other?

Petit chenapan!

By Simon

Last night at the French conversation group we were discussing how to say rascal in French, because one of the beers being served last night is called rascal. I found quite a few possible translations, each of which has slightly different meanings:

  • vaurien = good-for-nothing, scoundrel; (to child) petit vaurien ! = you little devil!
  • fripon = [n] rogue; [adj] mischievous, roguish; (to child) petit fripon ! = you little scamp/rogue!
  • polisson = [adj] mischievous, cheeky; saucy, naughty – une chanson polissonne = a racy saucy song; [n] little devil / rogue / scamp
  • gredin = rascal, rogue
  • maraud = rascal, rapscallion
  • chenapan = rascal, rogue, scoundrel (humourous)
  • bélître = rascal; dandy
  • canaille = [adj] roguish; coarse, vulgar; [n] scoundrel, crook – petite canaille ! = you little devil / rascal!

Sources: Larousse & Reverso.

The English word rascal, which I particularly like the sound of, comes from the Anglo-Norman word rascaile, from the Middle French rascaille (rabble, common people), possibly from the unattested verb *rasquer (to scrape).

Children are often the ones called rascals or little rascals in English. Is it the same in other languages, if they have similar words?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
coquin; fripon; polisson; vaurien rascal; scamp dyn drwg; cnaf; cenau; dihiryn lañfre; lachefre
petit chenapan! little rascal! y gwalch bach! y mawrddrwg! yr ellyll bach!
déchiffrer; décrypter decipher datrys; dehongli disifrañ
toutes les deux semaines every other week bob yn ail wythnos
un(e) … sur deux every other … bob yn ail …
la date/heure limite; le délai deadline dyddiad cau; adeg cau; pen set deiziad/eurioù diwezhañ; termen
le numéro d’immatriculation registration number rhif cofrestru niverenn-varilh
la plaque d’immatriculation number plate plât rhif plakenn-varilh
piloter (un avion) to fly (a plane) hedfan (awyren) pilotañ
voler to fly (planes, birds) hedfan nijal
aller en avion to fly (by plane) hedfan mont da karr-nij (?)
le tableau de bord dashboard borden flaen; panel deialau
la cachette hideout cuddfan; cuddfa kuzhiadell; kuzh; toull-kuzh

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le tonnerre et la foudre thunder and lightning mellt a tharanau kurun e luc’hed
l’éclair (m) a flash of lightning mellten; llucheden luc’hed, foeltr
l’éclair en zigzag forked lightening mellt fforchog
l’éclair en nappe(s) sheet lightening dreugiau
être foudroyé to be struck by lightning wedi ei daro gan mellt
le paratonnerre lightning conductor rhoden fellt/luched diskuruner; par(a)gurun
la cannaberge cranberry llugaeronen; cryglusen
le projet plan (intention) bwriad raktres
la maison jumelée semi-detached house ty pâr
le fer à cheval horseshoe pedol (y march) houarn-marc’h
le serment oath (formal promise) llw le
la brouette wheelbarrow berfa; whilber chirigot
entraînant catchy cofiadwy; bachog joudoul

Gleann Cholm Cille

By Simon

This week I’m in Gleann Cholm Cille in Donegal in the north west of Ireland taking part in the summer school in Irish language and culture at Oideas Gael. There are about 100 people here for the summer school and we have Irish language classes in the mornings and can choose from a variety of activities in the afternoons including singing, dancing, hill walking, drama and cooking. I’m doing the sean-nós singing in the afternoons and am really enjoying it.

In the evenings there are concerts, talks and other events. Last night, for example, there was a concert featuring songs and stories in Irish, hip hop in English (with a strong Dublin accent), and songs in Choctaw, as well as sean-nós dancing. It was a very unusual combination, but worked very well.

My Irish has definitely improved since I was here last year. My focus on Irish this month has helped a lot – I’m still writing something every day on my other Multilingual Musings blog while I’m here.

As well as hearing and speaking a lot of Irish, I’ve also had opportunities to speak German, French, Scottish Gaelic, Czech and Portuguese. People come here from all over the world and speak, and have studied / are studying, a variety of languages, so it’s a kind of paradise for polyglots.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le grand-bi (vélo) penny-farthing (bicycle) beic peni-ffardding; ceffyl haearn
rebondir to bounce rhybedio; trybowndio; sboncio adlammat
le gros titre headline pennawd
la course race (competition) ras redadeg
l’interprète performer (musician) perfformiwr; chwaraewr kaner; c’hoarier
performe(u)r performer (athlete) perfformiwr
originaire/natif (d’un pays) native (of a country) brodor genidik
indigène native (original inhabitant) brodor henvroat
le pays natal native country mamwlad; gwlad enedigol mammvro
la langue natale native language mamiaith; iaith frodorol yezh vamm; yezh e gavell
locateur natif native speaker siaradwr brodorol komzer orin
c’est un français de souche he’s a native Frenchman brodor Ffrainc ydy o
endémique native (plant) brodorol brosezat
la (voiture) décapotable convertible (car) car codi; car to clwt karr to-disto
terrifié terrified dychrynedig; mewn ofn
l’épouvantail (m) scarecrow bwgan brain spontailh
la forêt tropicale humide; la forêt pluviale rain forest fforest law forest lav
le defaut d’élocution speech impediment nam ar leferydd
le jour de congé; la journée libre day off diwrnod rhydd; diwrnod i’r brenin
le briquet (cigarette) lighter taniwr (sigaréts) direnn
le short shorts siorts bragoù berr