| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| un salon (canapé et deux fauteuils) | three-piece suite | set dridarn; swît dridarn | |
| sous les auspices de | under the umbrella of | dan nawdd/gysgod/adain | |
| arnaque; escroquerie | rip off | twyll; hoced | c’hwepat; c’hwipañ |
| arnaquer; arracher | to rip off | twyllo; rogio | c’hwepat; diframmañ |
| la tartelette de Noël (aux fruits secs) | mince pie | tarten Nadolig; teisen/cacen friwdda; mins-pei | tartezennig nedeleg (?) |
| muet | mute | mud | mud |
| le chèque-cadeau; le bon-cadeau | gift token/voucher | tocyn anrheg | chekenn prof |
| la coccinelle | ladybird | buwch goch gota | buoc’han |
| il fait nuit/noir | it’s dark | mae’n dywyll | ez eo teñval |
| commencer à faire nuit | to get dark | tywyllu | krog da zuañ |
| l’oie (f) /wa/ | goose | gwydd | gwaz |
Category: Words and phrases
Bosky bosses
I discovered today that bos is a Dutch word for forest or wood, and this immediately made me think of the wonderful English word bosky, which is defined by the OED as “Consisting of or covered with bushes or underwood; full of thickets, bushy”.
The OED says that bosky comes from bosk, a Middle English version of bush, which like the Dutch words bos and bosje (bush), comes from the late Latin boscum / boscus (wood).
A similar-sounding English word, boss, is not related to bosky, but does come from Dutch – from baas (boss, owner), from the Middle Dutch baes, which originally meant uncle, and was first used to mean master in America during the 17th century [source].
Fudge and flapdoodle!
Another interesting word I came across this week is flapdoodle /flæpˈduːd(ə)l/, which the OED defines as ‘the stuff they feed fools on’, which comes from the following quote:
‘The gentleman has eaten no small quantity of flapdoodle in his lifetime.’ ‘What’s that, O’Brien?’ replied I… ‘Why, Peter,’ rejoined he, ‘it’s the stuff they feed fools on.’
Another example of use of this word is the exclamation ‘Fudge and flapdoodle!’, which I think sounds wonderfully silly, and is possible alternative to stronger exclamations.
Flapdoodle is also ‘nonsense, bosh and humbug; a trifling thing or gewgaw’, and has been used as a verb meaning ‘to talk nonsense’.
The etymology given in the OED is that it is ‘an arbitrary formation’, similar to fadoodle (something foolish or ridiculous; nonsense).
There is also a tiny, folding sailing dinghy called the flapdoodle dinghy (pictured top right).
Do you know any similarly silly words with a similar meaning?
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| se marrer (bien) | to have a good laugh | cael hen hwyl / cael hwyl a hanner | |
| se marrer comme un bossu | to laugh out loud | chwerthin lond bol/yn foliog/yn braf | dic’hargadennoù |
| on s’est bien marrés | we had a good laugh | mi gawson ni hen hwyl | |
| en avoir marre de | to be tired of / fed up with | wedi hen flino | bout skuizh -faezh |
| j’en ai marre | I’m fed up | dw i wedi hen flino | Me ‘zo skuizh |
| c’est marre ! | that’s it! enough already! | dyna ddigon! | trawalc’h ! |
| la malaria; le paludisme | malaria | malariam; y crydm | malaria; kleñved ar paludoù |
| chalereux | warm (greeting; applause; person) | brwd; twym; twymgalon; cynnes | taer; tomm; hegarat |
| charrier qn | to have sb on; to be kidding | twyllo | ober an hegig g’ ub; monet (mont) er maez eus ar park |
| railler; taquiner | to make fun of sb | gwneud hwyl/sbort am ben rhywun; chwerthin am ben rhywun | godisal; nodal; tatinat; ober an hegig; risignat |
| le bouc | billygoat | bwch gafr | bo(u)c’h |
| le chien de soleil; l’œil de bouc | sun dog | hwyl ffug; ci hwyl (?) |
Sun dogs, billygoat’s eyes and halos
The other day I discovered the wonderful word sun dog, which refers to coloured patches of light that appear beside the sun at certain times, particularly when the sun is low in the sky. The scientific name for this phenomenon is a parhelion, from the παρήλιον (parēlion – beside the sun); from παρά (para – beside), and ἥλιος (helios – sun) [source].
In French sun dogs are known as parhélie, faux soleil (“fake sun”), soleil double (“double sun”), œil de bouc (“billygoat’s eye) or chien du soleil (“sun dog). In other languages their names are mainly based on the Greek, or some variation on fake sun.
There are also such things as moon dogs, mock moons or paraselenes, which are patches of light that appear beside the moon, though they are rarer than sun dogs, difficult to see, and only appear when the moon is very bright and full or nearly full. [source].
The friend who told me about sun dogs was using it to describe a halo around the moon or lunar halo, which, like sun and moon dogs, is a result of the refraction of light through ice crystal in cirrostratus clouds high in the upper troposphere [source]. On the night when we were talking about sun dogs the moon was only half full, so I don’t think there were any moon dogs about, but there definitely was a halo around the moon.
Snails and corner shops
I have been learning Dutch for just over a week now and am enjoying it and finding it interesting. I can guess the meanings of many of the words I encounter as they are similar to German and/or English, but some are completely different. For example, I just learnt that shop is (de) winkel /ˈʋɪŋkəl/, and that shopping is (het) winkelen, which have no similarities to shop or shopping in English, or to their equivalents in German – Geschäft/Laden and einkaufen.
According to Wiktionary, winkel meant corner in Middle Dutch and Old Dutch, and comes from the Proto-Germanic word *winkilaz (corner, nook), from the Proto-Indo-European *weng- (to bend, bow, arch, curve) [source].
Winkel is apparently cognate with German Winkel (corner), and the Old English wincel (nook, corner), which is found in the word periwinkle (a type of sea snail). The use of winkel for shop is apparently derived from the meaning “corner in which merchandise is stalled”.
Related words include:
- ijzerwinkel, ijzerwarenwinkel = hardware store (“iron (wares) shop”)
- platenwinkel = record shop/store
- webwinkel = online shop/store
- winkelen = to shop; to go shopping – also boodschappen; het boodschappen doen
- winkelcentrum = shopping centre / mall
- winkelwagen = shopping trolley / cart
- winkeltas = shopping bag
- winkelassistent = shop assistant, personal shopper, sales clerk
- winkelier = shopkeeper, storekeeper, retailer
– winkelhaak = try square; carpenter’s square
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| le tableau noir | blackboard | bwrdd du | taolenn zu |
| le panneau d’affichage | noticeboard | hysbysfwrdd; arwyddfwrdd; bwrdd arwyddion | planell afichañ |
| le marron (d’inde) | conker / horse chestnut | concyr; cneuen gobl(i)o; coblyn | kistin |
| le marronier (d’inde) | horse chestnut tree | castanwydden y meirch; marchgastanwydden | gwez kistin |
| la châtaigne | (sweet) chestnut | castan; cneuen gastan; pibgneuen | kistin |
| la tombola | raffle | raffl; lotri | c’hoari sac’h |
| le billet de tombola | raffle ticket | ticed/tocyn raffl/lotri | bilhed c’hoari sac’h |
| S.O.S. Amitié | The Samaritans | Y Samariaid | |
| être d’astreinte; être de garde; être en disponibilité; être de permanence | to be on-call | bod ar alw (?) | |
| démodé | old fashioned (things) | hen ffasiwn; henaidd | maez a c’hiz; giz kozh |
| vieux jeu | old fashioned (people) | hen ffasiwn; henaidd | mod kozh |
| le faîte | ridge | trum; crib; cefn | hedell |
Quixotic
The word quixotic (/kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/) has come up a number of times in books I’ve been reading recently, and though I sort know what it means, I wasn’t sure, so I thought I’d find out.
According to the QED, quixotic means:
– Of an action, attribute, idea, etc.: characteristic of or appropriate to Don Quixote; demonstrating or motivated by exaggerated notions of chivalry and romanticism; naively idealistic; unrealistic, impracticable; (also) unpredictable, capricious, whimsical.
– Of a person: resembling Don Quixote; visionary; enthusiastically chivalrous or romantic; naively idealistic; impractical, capricious.
It comes from Don Quixote (Don Quijote in Spanish), the hero of Cervantes’ story by the same name, which was published in 1605 and 1615. The word quijote comes from name of a piece of armour, the quixote or cuisse, which protects the thighs.
Is this word used in other languages?
If not, are there any words with a similar meaning?
As flat as …
This week in the French conversation group one of the things that came up was the expression “as flat as a pancake” or the slightly ruder version, “as flat as a witch’s tit”. This was being used to describe the flatness of beer. The only equivalent we could find in French was “completement plat” (completely flat), though I’ve since found a couple of others: “plat comme une limande” (‘flat like a dab*’) [source], and “plat comme une lamelle” (‘flat like a sliver/thin slice’) [source].
Other variations of the English phrases I’ve found include “as flat as a board”, “as flat as an ironing board” and “as flat as a trencher”.
What other flat things might appear in this expression?
Are there interesting equivalents of this phrase in other languages?
*Dab = a species of small flat-fish, Pleuronectes limanda, similar to a flounder [source]
Les mots de la semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| les chaussures (f) de marche | walking boots | esgidiau cerdded; esgidiau cryfion | boteier kerzh |
| passer à côté de la question | to miss the point | camddeall; methu’r pwynt/ergyd | |
| rater/louper | to miss (train/bus/target) | colli | c’hwitañ |
| completement plat | flat as a pancake | mor wastad â thalcen iâr; mor llyfn â charreg y drws; llyfn fel bwrdd | |
| éventée | flat (beer) | fflat; diflas; merfaidd; marw | avelet |
| bémol | flat (note) | meddalnod | bouc’h |
| dièse | sharp (note) | llonnod | lemm |
| en moyen | on average | ar gyfartaledd |