CHAPTER II
Page 13. 1. galette : A kind of cake, oblong in form and baked to a crisp. — 2. levure de bière : barm, yeast. — 3. fermenter : rise. — 4. ronflait depuis une heure : With depuis the présent is translated by the English perfect, and the iinperfect, as hère, by the English pluperfect. — 5. en l'air : astir — 6. des reflets pourpres miroitaient sur mes vitres : reflections of purple light were dancing on my window-panes.
Page 14. 1. rien que de grands gaillards, coiffés d'immenses chapeaux à cornes : nothing but tall f ellows wearing immense cockedhats. A chapeau à [trois] cornes was a hat, of which the brim was turned up so as to make three points or corners. Later the brim was turned up sô as to make two points. The term tricorne is also used. — 2. mettre en faisceaux : to stack. — 3. tignasse : Literally, an old or badly kept wig or unkempt hair ; hère, old eue. The word is also written teignasse. The name cornes from the resemblance such a wig bears to the hair of a teigneux, a man amicted with the scurvy (teigne). — 4. qui retiraient : Note again that the présent or imperf ect indicative, with the relative pronoun as subject, is often best translated by the présent participle.
Page 15. 1. brasser : This word means to brew, to stir together ; hence to mix, as hère. Pétrir, to knead, lias already been used in this chapter. — 2. favoris : side-whiskers. — 3. écartées : standing out from. — 4. coquille : basket-hilt. — 5. l'arme au bras : with gun at support. — 6. tu es médecin : Note that the major employs tu instead of vous. The French Republicans did away with ail distinctions of rank and declared ail men equal. Every man was to be simply a citoyen, every woman a citoyenne. So, instead of vous, which implied superiority, tu was to be used.
Page 16. 1. pour en revenir à nos moutons : to return to our subject. The original expression, revenons à ces moutons, occurs in an old French farce, L'Avocat Pathelin, in which a draper accuses his shepherd of stealing and killing his sheep. In court the draper recognizes the shepherd' s lawyer as the one who had robbed him of some cloth, and in his statement mixes up the cloth and the sheep. Thereupon the judge exclaims, Revenons à ces moutons; qu'en fut-il f The expression afterwards became proverbial. — 2. sur les quatre chemins : on the road. — 3. les habits blancs : the Austrians.
Page 17. 1. noua autres: Autres simply emphasizes nous, We don't hang, we don' t. — 2. ce n'est pas trop bête : that' s not bad. — 3. entre Bitche et Sarreguemines : The major came from this région, as appears on page 19.
Page 18. 1. à la bonne heure : Good! Verywell! An expression of satisfaction. — 2. réparation d'honneur : I beg your pardon, I was wrong. Faire réparation d'honneur means to confess that one has blamed unjustly. — 3. Noua allons boire encore un coup pour cimenter les fêtea de la Concorde : we will drink another glass to the Feast of Peace. In les fêtes de la Concorde there is an allusion to the célébrations held on the Field of Mars in Paris on the fourteenth of July, the anniversary of the destruction of the Bastille. Of the Feast of Fédération, July 14, 1790, Duruy says: u This was the most beautiful day of the Révolution. The spirit of concord and brotherly love filled ail hearts." — 4. lea droite de l'homme : The National Assembly in Paris made a déclaration of what it regarded as the Rights of Man. Among thèse were the doctrine of equality and the supremacy of the people.
Page 19. 1. notre grand flandrin de comte: our tall spindleshanks of a count. — 2. Avale-moi ça: Moi is the so-called Ethical Dative. Compare in English : ' 4 PU rhyme y ou so eight years together. " " It ascends me into the brain." — 3. sec comme un hareng saur: thin as a rail ; lean as a down-river shad. Avoid translating such expressions literaily.
Page 20. 1. sautèrent: were shattered. — 2. pain d'épice: gingerbread. — 3. ne se tenait plus sur ses longues jambes: could hardly stand up on his long legs.
Page 21. 1. de sorte que sa figure, dont on ne voyait que la face sans les côtes, semblait extrêmement longue : so that her face, of which only the front could be seen, seemed very long. — 2. tricolore : of red, white, and blue. Thèse colors of the French flag were adopted in 1789. It is said that they represented the fusion of the three orders, red for the people, blue for the clergy, and white for the nobility. — 3. ébahi : in open-mouthed astonishment. — 4. en sautoir sur l'épaule: over the shoulder. En sautoir means presenting the appearance of a Saint Andrew's cross x. — 5. courir par tout le village : to ransack the whole village. — 6. la branche de sapin : Sign of aninn. — 7. tambour-maître : drum-major. — 8. kaiserlick : Ger* man Kaiserlich, an Imperialist.
Page 22. 1. assignats: Paper money issued during the French Révolution. Notes, bills. — 2. Une longue canne à pomme de cuivre en forme d'oignon : A description of the drum- major' s bâton. — 3. tout chacun : Compare the English expression each and ail. — 4. civique : A word on everybody's tongue at the time of the Révolution ; hère équivalent to republican. The speech is in keeping with the pompousness of a drum-major. — 5. je fais : PU hâve.
Page 23. 1. il venait d'en échapper d'une belle : he had just had a very narrow escape of it.
i CHAPTER III.
Page 24. 1. en frappant de la semelle : knocking their feet together.
Page 25. 1. allonger la lèvre au goulot : put their lips to the spout. — 2. brouette : handcart. The word usually means a wheelbarrow. — 3. mèche : wisp. — 4. à cheval sur des bottes de foin, ils se faisaient la queue l'un à l'autre: they were sitting in Une astride upon some bundles of hay.
Page 26. 1. caniche : On page 76 the same dog is described as a " French dog, with hair like sheep's wool " ; poodle. — 2. Pais battre le rappel : hâve the drums beat to arms.
Page 27. 1. Hue : get up, g'iang.
Page 28. 1. Croates : Croats, soldiers from Croatia. — 2. ventre à terre: at full speed. — 3. se repliaient: fell back. — 4. les compagnies se croisaient comme un jeu de cartes: the companies crossed one another's tracks like the shuffling of a pack of cards. — 6. sur trois rangs: three deep. — 6. la latte: sabre. — 7. J'avais bien peur, mais la curiosité l'emportait encore: my fear was great, but my curiosity was still greater. — 8. Forvertz : The German word is Vorwârts, meaning Forward; the French expression is en avant.
Page 29. 1. crépi : plastering. — 2. croisait la baïonnette : were in guard position. The word croiser is used in this expression because the gun forms nearly a cross (croix) with the body. — 3. coup de pointe: thrust. — 4. à quatre pattes: on ail fours; on their hands and knees. — 5. Pardône, Françôse : Pardon, Français.
Page 30. 1 . faisait serrer les rangs : was ordering the Tanks closed up. — 2. maison commune: town-house, town-hall. — 3. gamelles: mess-pans. — 4. les manteaux rouges: red coats, Croate. See page 28.
Page 31. 1. des pelisses vertes : green hussar-cloaks.
Page 32. 1. Les houlans : A houlan or uhlan is " one of a kind of light cavalry of Tartaric origin, first introduced into European armies in Poland." He was armed with lance, pistols, and sabre. — 2. le dolman: dolman, "the uniform jacket of an hussar, and worn like a cloak with one or both sleeves hanging loose." — 3. bonnets à poil: bear-skin caps. — 4. à quatre pas: Another example of the use of quatre to dénote a small indeterminate number.
Page 33. 1. une chanson : The Marseillaise. — 2. qui vous donnait la chair de poule : which made your flesh creep. — 3. se redressa : straightened out. — 4. acharnés à la bataille : maddened by the first taste of battle ; battle-crazed. The figure is from giving dogs or falcons a taste of the prey they are to hunt that they may become desperate for more. — 5. cassines : small houses of mean appearance ; hovels.
Page 34. 1. guévoir: This word is used in Alsace and Lorraine for abreuvoir, a horse-pond, to which horses and cattle are taken to drink. — 2. percés à jour: completely riddled ; literally, pierced so that the light showed through. — 3. il s'agit de tirer notre peau d'ici : the thing is to get out of this with our skin. — 4. sur les bras : on our hands. — 6. battre la retraite: sound a retreat. Battre en retraite means to retreat. — 6. c'est bien vu: if s a good plan.
Page 35. 1. frémissement : din.
