CHAPITRE PREMIER
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1, 11 Elle mê f renaît les pieds, The French generally use the defimte article instead of the possesssiye adjectiye with any part of the body, as: elle s*est cassé la jambe, she broke her leg ; fat mal à la tête, my head aches.
14 Mémoire, Note the dilTerence between mémoire (fem.K Latin memoria, memory, and mémoire (masc), also deriyed from the Latin memoria, bnt with a change of gender and signifying "memoir,*' smmnary, tradesman's bill ; mémoire d* apothicaire (famil.), an oyercharge.
16 Brandes, heath, heather, from a Low Latin word branda,
16 Et que fêtais surpris. In French, whateyer may be the
conjonction by which the first of seyeral danses îa introdnced, ail subséquent clauses are introdnced by que, and it is to be translated by whateyer word was nsed in the first clause, as : si vous allez à Londres demain, et que vous y voyiez mon frère, etc., if you go to London to morrow, and if you see my brother there, &g. Note that if aue takes the place of si it is generally followed by tne subjunctiye mood.
17 Au-devant de moi, to meet me ; prendre le devant, to go
on before ; aller au-devant des désirs de quelqu*un, to forestall anyone's wishes. Etym., de and avant ; Lat., ab-ante, 22 De bonnes paroles, When the adjectiye précèdes the substantiye, de is nsed instead of the ordinary partitiye article, which otherwise agrées in gender and number with the substantiye.
S, 1 Bien d^ autres choses. Bien, if not followed by an adjectiye, requires the definite article after it, as : bien du pain, bien des choses, t Dont, Many French grammars eall dont the genitîye of the relatiye pronoun, and it certainly does take the place of it, as : la maison dont vous voyez le toit, the house of which you see the roof, &c., but it is really ihe Latin de unde, from whence. The form d'end is lound in ** Clément Marot."
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a, 5 Voici. Voici is used to call attention toBomething about to be Baid, whereas voilà allades to something thai bas been said or done. See same page, Une 26. 8 D* homme. After a negatiye the partitive article is alwayi de, for words of ail genders and nmnbers.
18 Age, from Low Latin ataticum, a form deriyed from œtatem. AU masculine French words in âge can be traced back to the Low Latin affix of aticum ; cf. fromage, from fromaticum, voyage, from viaticum, wherer s the féminine words in âge are deriyed directly from Latin femimne words, as image from imagot rage from rabies, &o.
14 // envoyait de ses nouvelles, he nsed to send news of himself.
17 Vouvrage marche fort, work is prospering.
20 Vouvrage donnait^ work was plentifoL
22 De ce que, from the fact that.
26 Voilà tout. Compare with note on voici, line 5, same
page.
27 PrU is always followed by de, whereas prêt is alwayi
followed by à.
S, 1 Casser une bourrée, to break np wood for a faggot; bourrée is deriyed from bourre, stuffing made of the hair of animais. Littré says that the bourrée dif ers from the fagot in that the latter generally has one or two pièces of wood of larger size than the others, whereas the bourrée is made up of small pièces of wood of eqnal size.
1 Pousser la barrière, pnshing open the gâte.
8 Que demeurait, etc. Observe the position of the nominative case after the verb, because it is a relative danse.
8 Qui cria dans sa hart, which creaked on its hinges, the hinge beîng a pièce of twisted withy, snch as is used for binding faggots, which is the trae meaziing of hart. Hart also means a halter to hang a criminal. La hart au cou, with a rope round the neck.
10 Saches, féminine from see. The tendency in Frenéh
words, derived from Latin words in which the lettex c occnrs, is to soften the c into ch. Cf. Campus, champ ; caballus, cheval ; canis, chien, &q., &q.
11 Depuis longtemps, etc., he had been walking for a long
time.
17 Plrs d'une fois. Plus, exeept as a sign of comparison, ia
always followed by de ; in comparison it is followed
by que, as : je suis plus grand que vous.
17 Estropié, maîmed, trom the Itahan stroppio, obstadl«i
hmdrance.
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Au pays^ home, i.t. to the district in whioh thej botii uved.
Qui voulait, etc., who wished for farther détails.
Tout en mangeant, whilst eating.
Échafaudage, scaffolding, fromLow Latin scafatdus, The accented é at the beginning of a French word often indicates the suppression of the letter s in the original word, which s is generally retained in Englîsh. Cf. épice, Lat. species (t. e. aromatic species), English spioe. French étranger, Lat. extraneus, Engl. stranger. French éponge, Lat. spongea, Engl. sponge, «frc, &o. 9 Pas de chance, no Inck.
10 Des malins, élever sharp fellows.
11 Se faire faire des rentes, to get a pension paid them. 14 Enduit, coating.
16 7/ se fût fait estropier, he would hâve got himself maîmed. The imperfect sabjunctîves of être and avoir are often nsed for the conditional of thèse verbs.
20 Cela coûte gros, that costs a lot of money.
22 C était une terrible affaire qu*un voyage, etc., snch a long and costly joumey was a terrible business. This inverted order of the subject and predicate is very common in French. An easy way of rendering such a sentence into English is to omit the ce and que altogether, and transpose the French order of the subject and predicate, as : c'était un grand homme que César, Cœsar was a great man. It may also be translatedby retaîning the French order, and substituting the English auxiliary verb for the French que, as : he was a great man, was Cœsar.
85 Le curé, the parish priest, not " the cnrate." It is curions how the English word curate has lost its original meaning of the priest having charge of soûls (cure), la the English Frayer book we find it vrith its proper meaning in the Frayer for Bishops and Curâtes.
S7 L'af<mdi»'^,almoner, the priest oharged with the spiritual direction, of any establishment,, such as a régiment, collège, hospital. Its original meaning is dispenser of alms, from the Gre^ iXeii^mw^, pity, charity, alms. Observe the transition from the Greek X to the Fren<^ u, and the onùssion of the s marked by the circumflex accent.
9 Le mardi gras, Shrove Tuesday, being the last'day befor« Lent on which méat was aUowed to be eaten, le gras meaning méat diet, as opposed to U maigre, vegetablt diet
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Pagt Lia« S» 10 Un régal, a treat. The etymology of ihîa word is donUfui. M. Littré dismissea snmmarîly the old idea of regalis, royal; and soggestes re- and galer, whioh haa the signification of to amuse. Cf. the expressions gala and galant, 12 Tout heureuse. Observe that the adverb tout, comîng before a féminine adjective beginning with a mute {i. «• ( not aspirated) h, does not assume the féminine form.
14 Délayer, to dilute, from Latin dilatare, because in dilai-
ing jou extend, increase the quantity.
15 La poêle, the frying pan. Note the différence between
poêle, f em., a frymg pan, from Latin patella, and poêlé masc, a pall, from Latin pallium ; poêle, masc, also means a stoye, its etymology with this meaning ia doubtful.
16 Plus de vache, plus de lait, etc., no more cow 1 no mon
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20 A Vune de nos voisines, from one of our neighbonrs.
23 Poêlon, formerly meant a small frying pan, it now means an earthenware frying pan or saucepan.
97 Comme elle fleure bon, how nice it smells; fleurer ia another form of flairer ; now the former has a neuter, the latter an active sensé. Note the gender of bon, although referring to farine, which is fem., it is an adjective used adverbially, and consequently does not vary its gender. Such adjectives as bas, haut, droit, cher, if used adverbially, do not change their gender or number.
89 Précisément. Note the acute accent on the second e introduced for euphony, as in communément, expressément, profondément, confusément, and several other adverbe.
0, 7 Dame, an interjection, snch as, Well I Well you know I It is derived from dominus, as the expression Dame Dieu ! English : Good Lord 1 which is found constantly in old French books, will show.
15 Ne te fasse pas vilaine figure, should not disappoint you.
16 La huche, ine hutch or box in which the bread was kept.
Etym. L. Latin hutica (?).
20 Pèle. Observe the grave accent on the e preceding / ; verbs in 1er, nêr, ter, ver, either double the consonant before an e mute, as appeler, f appelle, or place a grave accent on the e preceding the consonant, aa achever, f achève; acheter, f achète ; se promener, je me promené»
S8 Une cuillerée, a spoonful. The terminatîon ée dénotes the quantity contained in the object, indicated by the primitive noun, cf. bouche, bouchée, a mouthful, «fco., and is derived from the Latin féminine participial
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termlnation ata. (See Public School French Grammar, Brachet, edited bv Brette and Masson, p. 77» Hachette, 1884.) •, 26 Chaude, from Latin calidus, by the nsnal transition ol Latin c into French ch (see note on hchafaudage^ p. 4, Une 6), and / softened into ti, as in " alter/' autre ^ " ultra,*' outre^ &c.
26 // n*y eut plus qu*à, there was nothing to be done but wait for, <feo.
80 Longue, observe the insertion of the letter u in the féminine of long, thus preserving the hard Sound of the g whîch would be softened by the simple addition of the ordinary femine termination e ; longe, noun subst., means either a lungîng rein for exercising young horses, or a loin of yeal, mutton, &q,
83 Lèvera, will rise. For this grave accent see note Une 20, same page.
y, 2 Bouillons, bubbles.
17 En grésillant, sputtering. Grésiller properly means to
wither up by the action of heat, as the heat of the sun withers leaves. M. Littré says that the root of the Word is cognate with gril and griller, to broil.
18 Chatouillait, tickled.
21 Cétait aussi, etc. For this construction see note on page 4, 1. 22.
23 Si attentif que je fusse, ail attentive as I was.
28 CuilUràpot,\9kd\e.
82 Heurta le seuil, knocked at the door post or threshold ; heurter means to run violently up against any thing or person. Se heurter la tête contre un mur has a proverbial meaning of trying to convince a person who is not easUy persuaded. M. Littré suggests as the etymology of the word the English verb " to hurt." •, 6 On fait donc la fête ici (fam.), there are high jînks going on hère then.
6 Ne vous gênez pas, do not let me interrupt you. The original meaning of gêner, or mettre à la gêne, was to put to torture ; gênes et potences, racks and gallows; its etymology is géhenne, gehenna, the place of torture.
