Category: French (français)

Breadcrumbs & Scotch Eggs

By Simon

Scotch Egg / œuf dur enrobé de chair à saucisse et pané

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

By Simon
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

By Simon
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

By Simon
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

By Simon
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

By Simon

badger and cup

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.

Sumpf

By Simon

I discovered the wonderful German word Sumpf /zʊmpf/ today while putting together les mots de la semaine for this week from the French conversation group. One of the things that came in conversation was the word marsh, which is le marais or le marécage in French, and Sumpf in German, which I noticed because there’s something about the combination of mpf in a word that just appeals to me. Are there particular letter combinations that appeal to you?

Sumpf means marsh, morass, mud, bog, quagmire, mire, sump, and can also be used figuratively to refer to corruption, e.g. der Sumpf der Politik = the murky waters of politics.

Related expressions include:

– Sumpfland = marshland; swampland
– sumpfig = marshy; swampland
– Sumpfboden = marshy ground
– sumpfen = to live it up
– Sumpfdotterblume = marsh marigold
– Sumpfpflanze = marsh plant
– Sumpfgas = marsh gas
– Salzsumpf = salt marsh

The word marsh comes from the Germanic base of mere (sea, lake), which is cognate with the Latin mare, and related words in many European languages; plus the suffix -ish (of or belonging to a person or thing, of the nature or character of).

Sources: Wiktionary, Reverso, OED, bab.la dictionary

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
vaciller; danser to flicker (light) fflachio; neidio trabellat; horellat
le vacillement flicker (flames) naid; dychlamiad horelladenn
la lueur flicker (light) llygedyn skleur
la coupure de courant power cut toriad trydan troc’h tredan
le véhicule haut high-sided vehicle cerbyd ochrau uchel karbed uhel (?)
se retourner to overturn troi drosodd treiñ
marécageux marshy corslyd, corsiog, siglennog geunieg; gwazheg
le marais; le marécage marsh cors gwern; gwazh
le marais salant; le salin salt marsh morfa heli palud-holen; holenek

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
se multiplier comme des lapins to breed like rabbits magu fel cwningod
un raccourci; un moyen rapide short cut llwybr llygad/tarw berradenn
prendre un raccourci to take a short cut mynd y ffordd gyntaf;
dilyn llwybr llygad/tarw		 hent miliner
une borne bollard postyn; clymbost matezh
faire la une;
faire la première page		 to be front-page news bod yn brif newyddion;
bod ar y dudalen flaen		 bezañ a bajenn gentañ (?)
un demi-tour (lit);
un revirement,
une volte-face (fig)		 U-turn tro pedol hanterdro; distroenn;
faire volte-face to do a U-turn (fig) gwneud tro pedol ober hanterdro (?)

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le gel; la gelée frost rhew; llwydrew; barrug rev
le givre hoarfrost barrug; glasrew; llwydrew kler
faire tourner to spin troi; troelli reiñ tro
jouer à pile ou face to spin a coin taflu ceiniog
inspecteur de police principal chief inspector Prif Arolygydd (yr Heddlu) pennenseller polis
le tollé outcry protest; banllefo brotest; gwrthgri hulch’o
un tollé général a public outcry protest cyhoeddus
la benne skip sgip benn
mécanique clockwork perfedd; clocwaith; peirianwaith mekanek
marcher comme sur des roulettes to go like clockwork mynd fel cloc; troi fel deiol
thé (de cinq heures);
thé de l’après-midi		 afternoon tea te prynhawn/pnawn; prynhawnbryd te goude kreistez (?)