Category: French (français)

Rochester and the Huguenots

By Simon

This weekend I visited Rochester in Kent for first time, and had a nice day exploring the town. Among its historic buildings, which include an impressive Norman castle, there is the French Hospital. This was founded in 1718 to provide accommodation for Hugenots (French protestants), fleeing religious persecution in France. It now provides sheltered accommodation for elderly descendents of those Hugenots.

Rochester Castle

I also visited the nearby Hugenot Museum, which is very interesting.

One question that is apparently often asked, is where does the name Hugenot come from?

There are various answers to this, but nobody knows which is correct.

The Hugenots in fact referred to themselves, at least early on, as members of L’Église Réformée (the Reformed Church).

The most credible theories are:

– It is derived from the Flemish Huisgenooten (House fellows), and/or the Swiss German Eidgenosen (confederate), and also possibly from the name of Hugues Besançon, a leader of the Genevan partisans.

– They are named after King Hugo’s Gate in Tours, which was reputedly haunted by Le Roy Huget.

– They are named after Hugh Capet (941-996), the first King of the Franks of the House of Capet.

Apparently my surname, Ager, is a Huguenot name, though there is no Huguenot connections in the family history, as far as I’m aware.

Sources: Hugenot Museum, Online Etymology Dictionary

Rochester Cathedral

Filibustering freebooters!

By Simon

What’s the connecting between the words filibuster and freebooter?

The answer is, they both come from the same Dutch word vrijbuiter [ˈvrɛi̯bœy̯tər] (plunderer, robber), from vrij (free), buit (booty) and‎ -er (agent suffix).

A freebooter as originally “an adventurer who pillages, plunders or wages ad-hoc war on other nations”, and apparently also means “one who rehosts online media without authorization”. It is a calque translation from Dutch, and was first recorded in English in the 1560s [source].

A filibuster originally meant “a mercenary soldier; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force”. Over time it also came to mean, “A tactic (such as giving long, often irrelevant speeches) employed to delay the proceedings of, or the making of a decision by, a legislative body, particularly the United States Senate”.

Filibuster was first recorded in English in the 1580s as flibutor. It was borrowed from the Spanish filibustero (pirate), from French flibustier (pirate), from the Dutch vrijbuiter.

I discovered this from Bill Bryson’s Made In America: An Informal History of American English, which I’m reading at the moment.

Filibustering freebooters! sounds like the kind of curse Captain Haddock uses in the Tintin stories. He does in fact say Filibuster(s)! and Fancy-dress freebooter!, but not Filibustering freebooters!, as far as I can discover.

C’est inouï !

By Simon

inOUi logo

The French exclamation C’est inouï ! means “It’s incredible!”.

The word inouï [inwi] means unprecedented, incredible, unheard-of, extraordinary, amazing. It is a combination of the negative prefix in- and ouï, which comes from ouïr (to hear, to listen), from the Old French oir (to hear, listen), from Latin audiō (I hear, listen, pay attention), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-is-d-, a compound of *h₂ewis (clearly, manifestly) and *dʰh₁-ye/o- (to render) [source].

A friend told me last week that the TGV (le train à grande vitesse), France’s high-speed rail service, is being rebranded the inOui. In fact, inOui is the new name, introduced in 2017, for certain premium services on the TGV. All premium services will be known as inOUi by 2020. The name Ouigo was introduced for discount TGV services in 2013 [source].

The name inOui has been mocked and criticised by many.

Ouigo works in English as well (We go), but I’m sure English speakers will be joking about inOui, if they aren’t already.

Les noms collectifs

By Simon

Last night at the French conversation group one of the things we talked about was collective nouns or les noms collectifs.

There are plenty of these in English, like a flamboyance of flamingoes, a charm of goldfinches, a kindle of kittens, a cartload of monkeys, and so on.

We couldn’t think of many in French, so I thought I’d investigate. Here’s what I found:

– un amas de bois = a heap of wood
– un banc de poissons = a shoal of fish
– un banc de baleines = a school/pod of whales
– une bande de copains = a group of friends
– une bande d’idiots = a bunch of idiots
– une brassée de roses = an armful of roses
– un ensemble de dents = a set of teeth
– un essaim d’abeilles = a swarm of bees
– un essaim de beautés = a bevy of beauties
– une horde de lions = a pride of lions
– une horde de barbares = a horde of barbarians
– une meute de chiens = a pack of dogs
– une troupe/horde de babouins = a troop of baboons
– un troupeau de vaches = a herd of cows
– un troupeau de mouton = a flock of sheep
– une volée d’oiseaux = a flock of birds

I’m sure there are more. What about in other languages?

By the way, are there collective nouns for linguists and polyglots? Maybe babble or Babel.

Sources: Grammaire AIDENET, Reverso, Wiktionary

Les mots de le semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
Les couennes de porc frite pork scratchings
la couenne rind crofen; crawen; crafen
la peau hide (skin) croen
le cuir hide (leather) lledr; croen
seul à seul; face à face one-to-one un i un
gazouiller; grisoller; roucouler to warble telori; trydar
fauvette warbler telor
pour l’amour de Dieu for heaven’s sake neno’r nefoedd; er mwyn y nefoedd
l’inhalateur (m) inhaler ymanadlwr; pwmp
inouï unprecedented; incredible; tremendous diesiampl; digyffelyb; anhygoel; anghredadwy
c’est inouï that’s unheard of mae hynny’n anhygoel

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

By Simon

I made it to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig last night. It started to rain very heavily as the ferry arrived in Armadale. Fortunately there was a bus to the college, but I got rather damp just walking from the ferry to the bus, and from the bus into the college.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

So far on this journey I’ve heard quite a few different languages, including German, Lithuanian, Mandarin, French, Spanish and Dutch. I’ve had conversations in English, Scottish Gaelic and Irish, and spoken odd bits of Manx, Swedish, Russian and German.

My Scottish Gaelic is a bit rusty, but it’s coming back, and I fill in any gaps with Irish. On the way hear I listened to an audio book and some songs in Gaelic to tune my ears into the language.

Turrys foddey / Turas fada / A Long Journey

By Simon

Last night I arrived safely in Glencolmcille in Donegal in the northwest of Ireland. I left Peel at 8am, went by bus to Ronaldsway airport, flew to Dublin, then took buses all the way to Glencolmcille, arriving just before 8pm, so it took nearly 12 hours.

Sunset in Gleann Cholm Cille

I met people I know from previous visits to Ireland along the way – at Dublin airport, in Donegal town, and in Killybegs – so the journey didn’t seem quite so long as I had people to talk to. As they say in Irish, bíonn siúlach scéalach (travellers have tales to tell), and giorraíonn beirt bóthar (two people shorten a road).

On the road and after I arrived in Glencolmcille I had conversations in English, Irish, German, Welsh, and spoke odd bits of Russian, French, Romanian, Swedish and Manx.

Today the courses start – there are courses in Irish language, translation, flute and whistle player, and harp playing (that’s the one I’m doing), and also a group going hill walking every day.

There are people here from many countries, including Ireland, the UK, the USA, Australia, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Belarus, Brazil and Slovakia. So I will have plenty of opportunities to practise my languages.

An Clachán, Gleann Cholm Cille

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la station métérorologique = weather station gorsaf dywydd
la station balnéaire seaside resort tref lan môr
la station de ski ski resort cyrchfan sgi
la station thermale spa tref ffynhonnau, sba, ffynhonfa
la station de lavage car wash golchfa geir, lle golchi ceir
l’accord (m) deal (agreement) bargen, cynnig
hors de portée beyond/out of reach allan o gyrraedd, y tu hwnt i’ch cyrraedd
à portée (de qn) within reach (of sb) o fewn cyrraedd (i rywun)
se remettre (de); se rétablir (de) to recover (from illness) gwella
vertical vertical unionsyth, fertigol
le kitesurfing kitesurfing barcudfyrddio
l’élan (m) elk (European) elc, cawrgarw
l’orignal (m) moose (Canadian) elc
crise des cinquante midlife crisis argyfwng canol oed
l’examen (medical) check up archwiliad
la caisse crate (for bottles, china) cawell, bocs rhwyllog, crât, crêt
le cageot crate (for fruit, veg) cawell, bocs rhwyllog, crât, crêt
la vis screw sgriw, hoelen

Harmony-loving chorus

By Simon

Last night I went to an excellent concert at the Pontio Arts Centre featuring the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the brilliant harpsichordist, Mahan Esfahani.

As well as enjoying the concert, I started thinking about the word philharmonic – what it means, where it comes from, and why it features in the names of many orchestras.

According to Wiktionary, philharmonic means “appreciative of music, but especially to its performance” or “A full-size symphony orchestra”. It comes from the French, philharmonique, from the Italian filarmonico (loving harmony), from the Greek φίλος (phílos – dear, beloved) + αρμονικός (armonikós – harmonic, harmonious) [source].

The name philharmonic was adopted by the Royal Philharmonic Society, which was established in London on 6th February 1813 by a group of thirty professional musicians. Its aims were to promote performances of instrumental music, and to build an orchestra, which initially played at the Argyll Rooms on Regent Street. Before then there were no permanent orchestras in London. After the Society was formed, other orchestras started to the word philharmonic to their names.

The word orchestra comes from the Greek ὀρχήστρα (orchistra), which was the area in front of the stage in an ancient Greek theatre reserved for the chorus, and comes from the word ὀρχοῦμαι (orkhoûmai – to dance).

The word symphony (an extended piece of music of sophisticated structure, usually for orchestra) comes from the Old French simphonie (musical harmony; stringed instrument), from Latin symphonia (harmony, symphony; a kind of musical instrument), from Ancient Greek συμφωνία (sumphōnía – symphony; a concert of vocal or instrumental music; music; band, orchestra; type of musical instrument), from σῠν- (sun – with, together) +‎ φωνή (phōnḗ – sound) [source].

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
sauter, sautiller, houblonner to hop hopian
la musaraigne shrew chwistlen, chwistl, llygoden goch
le rendez-vous appointment trefniad
le plâtre plaster cast cast plastr
l’accessoire feature (of product, computer, etc) nodwedd
la saillie (mountain) ledge sil, silff, ysgafell
la balançoire (playground) swing siglen
le toboggan (playground) slide sleid, sglefren, sglefr, llithren
le toboggan, la luge toboggan, sledge sled, tobogan
le toboggan de piscine water slide sleid ddŵr
euthanasier, (faire) piquer, faire abattre to put down (an animal) rhoi i gysgu, difa, lladd
le fusilier marin marine (soldier) môr-filwr
le marines the Marines y môr-filwyr
la rédaction (school/college) essay traethawd
mettre au lit, coucher to put to bed rhoi/dodi yn ei wely
tordre, tortiller to twist cyfrodeddu, cordeddu, crychu, plethu
se tordre le cheville / le poignet to twist one’s ankle/wrist troi’ch ffêr/arddwrn
la sueur sweat chwys
suer to sweat chwysu
le chewing-gun chewing gum gwm cnoi