Category: French (français)

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

Le Grand-Bi

By Simon

Penny-farthing bicycle / Le Grand-Bi

I discovered today the French term for a penny-farthing bicycle (pictured right) is le grand-bi. It is also known as a bicycle, and that was what they were usually called in English when they were popular in the 1880s. The name penny-farthing only came to be used in around 1891.

The penny-farthing, which is also known as a high wheel or high wheeler, was developed by James Starley in England and Eugene Meyer in France in about 1870. They were based on the French boneshaker or vélocipède, a term from Latin meaning “fast feet” and coined by Nicéphore Niépce in 1818. The large front wheel enabled higher speeds as with each turn of the pedals you could go further, however sudden stops would often send a rider flying over the handle bars, so penny-farthings lost out to safety bicycles, which were introduced in the 1890s, and were the ancestors of modern bicycles.

I think the French name is short for le grand bicycle, and the name penny-farthing comes from the fact that front wheel was a lot larger than the back one, like an old penny coin and a farthing (1/4 of a penny).

In Welsh such bicycles are known as beic peni-ffardding or ceffyl haearn (“iron horse”).

Do you have other names from them? Are or were such bikes used in your country? Have you ever ridden one?

I once rode a small, modern version of a penny-farthing at a bike show in Taipei. It was interesting, and I soon learnt that you have get off by stepping down to the rear as trying to dismount like on a normal bicycle doesn’t work and can leave you sprawling on the floor.

One of the guys at the circus on Wednesday night was riding a penny-farthing, which is why it came up in conversation.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le dioxyde de carbone carbon dioxide carbon deuocsid / deuocsid carbon dioksidenn garbon
l’onduleur; l’inverseur (electrical) inverter gwrthröydd gwagenner; ginader
l’échafaudage (m) scaffolding sgaffaldiau; sgaffaldwaith chafotaj
le compteur [kɔ̃tœʀ] (d’électricité) (electricity) meter mesurydd (trydan) konter (tredan)
le parcmètre parking meter cloc/mesurydd parcio parkmetr
la coupure [kupyʀ] de courant power cut toriad trydan troc’h tredan
passer to flow (electrical current) llifo flistrañ
l’essaim (m) [esɛ̃] swarm haid barr; hedd; taol; tokad
se regrouper en masse; essaimer to swarm (bees) heidio adtaoleiñ; adtaoler; barrañ; flac’hediñ; hediñ; taoler hed
les tong (fpl) flip-flops fflip-fflops soledennoù; solennoù
alcootest®; éthylotest; éthylomètre breathalyzer® alkotest; etilotest; etilometr
le tonneau; le fût cask casgen; baril; hogsied tonell; fust
la taupe mole gwadd; twrch daear goz
tapeur; crocheteur scrounger chwiwleidr; crafangwr suner; klocheder
l’assignation (f) à comparaître (court) summons gwŷs
recevoir une assignation à comparaître to be served a summons derbyn gwŷs
la déposition (legal) statement mynegiad; datganiad testeni

It’s very sticky

By Simon

Major Walter Clopton Wingfield

I discovered (via Inky Fool) an alternative word for tennis today – sphairistike [sfɛəˈrɪstɪkɪ], which sounds a bit like the phrase ‘it’s very sticky’. This was the name coined by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield (pictured right), who invented (lawn) tennis in 1873, and it comes from the Greek σϕαιριστική (sfairistiké), or ‘(skill) in playing at ball’ or ‘sphere-tech’.

Before then the word tennis, which comes from the French word tenez (hold), referred to a game played in an enclosed court – a game now known as Real Tennis.

Strangely the word sphairistike never really caught on, and everyone began referring to the game a tennis or lawn tennis.

A related word is sphairistic (adj) = tennis playing.

Do you know of any other obscure or obsolete terms for popular sports?

Dialing a telephone

By Simon

Rotary dial phone

An email arrived today from Phil S, who has been wondering about the quirkiness of the phrase “to dial a telephone”, which is ubiquitous and exclusive in its meaning and yet has, of course, become totally divorced from the original physicality of the phrase. He would like to know:

– What idioms do other languages use, and what’s their literal meaning? Do they similarly refer to rotary telephones even though those are no longer in use? French and Italian use words with the root meaning of “compose”, whereas the German word, anwählen, seems like a form of “to choose”.

– In cultures where widespread adoption of the telephone has happened only recently (if at all), and mobile phones are the norm, I’d imagine that some local languages reflect that, i.e. their telephone-related words have no trace of a relationship to rotary dials, land lines, etc.

– Also, per the OED the verb “dial” apparently dates to 1921 in its phone-related usage, but is much older when used as a word for “to survey with the aid of a dial” (1653) or “to measure as with a dial” (1821). Unfortunately the OED doesn’t discuss the expression “dial in” or “dialed in”, which is sometimes used in sports among other places.

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I’d be interested to know how many of you have used a rotary dial phone, and do you remember when you last used one?

I remember using such phones in Taiwan in the early 90s, and I think we were still using them in the UK at that time.