Last updated 23th April 2007. Google machine translations of Partick Hanrahan's prose approximations in English, are not authorised or endorsed by Patrick.
This is a combined list of languages other than English in both of Patrick Hanrahan's novels NUNC and also TUNC.
Patrick can personally appreciate great poetry in many of the languages that it has been written in.
He does not like artificial or forced literal translations, especially when many concepts do not exist in one language, but are central to another, for example, the French "tu" has no English equivalent for "you."
He would rather the meaning was conveyed, than a literal translation.
Below are Patrick's interpretations of some of these phrases. They are not translations, merely what the author intended the words or phrases to mean in context.
amor vincit omnia.
Love removes all obstacles
bacchanalia
Orgiastic rites in the name of the Greek God of wine Dionysius, in Latin Bacchus.
Euripides (480 - 406 B.C.) Author of Greek tragedy plays. See The Bacchae
Carpe diem
Seize the day. A phrase from Horace. It has something of the meaning of: Make hay while the sun shines, but is brilliantly compact and dramatic in Latin. It gives the impression of: grab the passing moment instantly and use it to its full
Coitus interruptus!
Withdrawal of penis before ejaculation.
Dei verbum, Nostra aetate, Inter oecumenici
Dei verbum, The word of God, i.e. The Bible. Nostra aetate, In this age of ours.(Declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, Vatican Council Two.) Inter oecumenici, Between Churches. (Document cited in Vatican Council Two.)
Deus absconditus
God the Hidden, this is a kind of title sometimes given to God.
in-medio-stat-virtus
The truth lies at the central point between two extremes
(Aristotle) Strength is in the middle
In pace
In peace.
lacrimae rerum
All things weep
(Horace, I think, maybe Ovid, certainly one of the great Latin poets.)
The tears of things.
Lacunae
Gaps, used untranslated also in English.
Missa solemnis
High Mass Here it refers to the magnificent music composed by Mozart K 337 (1780) for a High Mass.
noli-me-tangere
Touch me not. From St. John's Gospel. Christ speaking to Mary Magdalene in the garden after the Resurrection.
non sequitor
A break in logic
non serviam!
I refuse to obey
nunc
Now (Pronounced noonk, oo as in nook)
Ora pro nobis, ora pro nobis, ora...)
Pray for us, pray for us
(A phrase used in Catholic litanies)
persona non grata
A person who is not welcome.
Post coitum omne animal triste est. Post coitum omne...
After sexual intercourse there is always a sensation of sadness.
Pyrame, responde! tua te carissima Thisbe) nominat; exaudi vultusque attolle iacentes.
Speak to me, Pyramis! This is your darling Thisbe crying your name. Please, please lift your head from the ground. (Prose approximation)
From Metamorphoses by Ovid
tunc
Then (Pronounced toonk, oo as in tool)
Ubique mare, coelum ubique
The sea everywhere, everywhere the sky
Vere dignum et justum est...
It is truly fitting and right (This is from the Latin Mass)
Altro che
Anything you like but not ...
Altro che talento!
Nothing to do with talent!
Balduina
It is the name of a middle-class area in Rome and also the name of a long street in the same area.
Buona passeggiata.
Have a nice walk!
Campagna.
Countryside. The Roman countryside is justifiably honoured by many great writers.
Casale
a large country home. Very often the ground floor was originally for animals and farm machinery.. Nowadays often sought after by commuters. Casali is plural.
Probably Vaughan's studio would originally have been a stable.
cena
last meal of the day
Chi siete voi, che contro al cieco fiume Fuggita avete la pregione eterna?
You? Who are you? And how did you manage to avoid the eternal prison when you were being borne up the subterranean river (Lethe)? (Prose approximation)
Ciao, ciao!
Bye-bye.
Used only among young people, very intimate friends, or obviously members of a family.
Used at considerable risk of offending by anyone else. It is also used to say "Hi!" among the above mentioned.
citofano:
Entry intercom. Almost every building and home in Italy
has a microphone at the door or gate.
commissario
The chief of a police station.
Dante
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) The author of La divina commedia, The Divine Comedy, considered to be one of the greatest poems of all time.
direttore
Boss
distacco
Distancing, sometimes with the sense of an unemotional or uninvolved approach.
doucement, tesoruccio mio. Mama ha un tel mal à la tête.
Gently, my precious. Mummy has a terrible headache. A mixture of French and
Italian. Tesoruccio mio, often used by Italian mothers = my lovely little treasure.
e basta
and that's it!
Forti dei Marmi, Marina di Massa
These are two seaside resorts in Tuscany.
Gianni, er furbo
Gianni, the wise guy. This would be spoken with a Roman dialect sound.
Gianicolo
One of the seven hills of Rome. Here Garibaldi and his followers are commemorated. A popular strolling area near Vaughan's flat.
Guai a chi la tocca!
There will be dramatic repercussions for anyone who touches her or Touch her at your own risk!
la cuoca è bella ma stupida.
The cook is beautiful but stupid.
Imbroglio
here an act of deceit.
In pace
In peace.
Lascialo in pace, via!
Leave him alone, come on!
L'inglesina,
The little English girl.
Madonna
The Virgin Mary. Sometimes an exclamation used by Italians to express surprise, not considered vulgar.
Marisa Basili
the Christian name and surname of Penelope's mother. In official documents these names are normally inverted: Basili Marisa.
Michelangelo : (1475-1564) Great Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet
Marsala
An Italian surname.
No, pagliaccio non son.
No, no clown am I, this is a reference to the Italian Opera (The Clowns) a very famous and innovative opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The words in the novel are the opening words of an aria sung by the protagonist, a tenor, a hunchback clown.
Osro
Orso, bear, inverted
Osro, Australiano Romano,
This is a play on words. Orso is the Italian for bear. Back to front it
becomes osro. Os would be Aussie, and Ro short for Romano, a Roman Australian. Osro
Pasolini
Pasolini is a very Italian poet and film director.
Pensione
The word is sometimes used now for a cheap hotel. It, however, suggests a permanent clientele and a family atmosphere.
Piazza Venezia,
One of the biggest squares in Rome Here Mussolini harangued the multitudes from a small balcony.
"Poverina. Poverina. Così giovane! Povera ragazza!"
Oh, the poor thing! The poor thing! So young! Poor girl!
Er professor
The Professor. This is Roman dialect.
Professore Giancarlo Germani.
The title "Professore" is given to a doctor when he has reached a very high level of specialisation.
salotto
Drawing room, sometimes used in the sense it has in literary
salon.
scippatore,
A bag snatcher, unfortunately a common form of criminality in Italy, usually perpetrated by youths on motorbikes.
Settimo
a man's name, often the seventh child. The word means seventh.
Sei personaggi
Six characters
Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore!
Six characters looking for an Author. This is from the famous Italian play by Pirandello.
Spada
Sword
studentessa
A girl student, either at high school or university.
Tavola calda
Hot food. Pre-cooked food not normally consumed on the premises
Termini
Is the central station of Rome. Termini is the plural of terminus.
Trastevere
An old and very popular area of Rome, near the Tiber, much frequented in the evening for dining and strolling.
Vendetta
an act of revenge in this context
Via Boccea
is a minor exit road on the West of Rome.
Via Cavour
an important street in Rome
Via Madonna dei Monti
A very narrow old street near Piazza Venezia. The name means Our Lady of the Hills.
Villa Pamphili
A very large park in Rome.
villeggiatura,
Period in the villa Many Italian families have a second house by the sea or in the mountains. Here the family spend the three months of summer when they are not abroad or holidaying in some other part of Italy. Often one parent or both parents are absent for work. School holidays in Italy last almost the whole of these summer months.
bota.
A leather bag for wine.The wine is drunk with the opening of this
squeezed bag held about three inches in front of the lips.
Che hombre!
expresses admiration
condesa española,
Spanish countess
Duerme, duerme, pobrecita.
Sleep, sleep, my poor little darling. Words from a Spanish lullaby.
Jota
is the Spanish word for J and a very strong guttural. Gary's mother is doubly confused. G before E and I is pronounced with a guttural sound, but before the other letters it is pronounced as in English. Her husband was no doubt amused by this and let it stick.
¡Hombre! ¡Que hombre!
Man! What a man! Hombre! is a very common exclamation in Spanish and can mean almost anything.
Pilar
a beautiful name for a Spanish-speaking girl.
niños
Little children
¡Patatas deliciosas!
Scrumptious potatoes!
¡Que aproveche!
Have a good meal.
Santander! La primera playa, y la segunda playa!
Santander, a beautiful seaside town in the North of Spain.
The First and the Second beach. Two very popular sand beaches near this town.
La señora
Madam. A very polite form of address when speaking to a Spanish-speaking married woman.
a chef-d'oeuvre.
A masterpiece
Adieu, Gilberte, je rentre, n'oublie pas que nous venons ce soir chez toi après dîner.
Bye, Gilberte, I'm going back home, don't forget that we're coming to see you this evening after dinner.
From A la Recherche du temps perdu, a seven volume novel by Proust (1871 - 1922)
soupe à l'oignon
soup made with onions and cheese
Ah! Les soirs au balcon, voilés de vapeurs rose.
Ah ! The evenings on the balcony, bathed in a mist of roses. (Prose approximation)
From Les fleurs du mal by Baudelaire (1821 -1867)
Ah oui, ah oui.
Oh yes, oh yes.
Alors
An extremely common word in French is ALORS. (Ironically enough, one of which corresponds to the title TUNC.
It sometimes means "And so?" Rather like our expression "So what the hell?" Another meaning would be:
"Well, that's the way things used to be." Then it can have the meaning of "therefore." It could have dozens of other meanings.
And so ... This is the meaning it usually has in these novels.
Alors à la prochaine.
So, till we meet again.
André Gide
Famous French novelist. See Gide
Amuse-toi.
Enjoy yourself
apéritifs
Alcoholic appetizer
au pairs
Girls living with families abroad exchanging small domestic duties for board
and meals.
Aurevoir, alors, cousine.
Bye bye, then, cousin.
Aurevoir, cousin.
Bye, cousin.
Avec du soleil aux cheveux?
With sunshine in her hair.(Prose approximation) A phrase from a famous poem by Mallarmé. (1842 -1898)
Ariettes oubliées,
Forgotten melodies
Avenue de l'Opera
Avenue leading up to the former Opera House.
Aurevoir monsieur.
Good-bye, sir.
baguettes
Long loaves of bread having roughly the shape of a baseball bat
badinage,
Frivolous conversation
banlieue
The area of the city distant from the centre.
beau
boyfriend
belle
girlfriend sometimes used to mean the most beautiful girl or woman of a group.
belles-lettres
Belles-lettres is quite commonly used in English and refers to aesthetic writing.
Bernanos: Un crime
Title of a thriller written by Bernanos, (1888 - 1948) a well-known 20th Cent. French Catholic writer.
bidet
Small low basin for washing private parts.
Bientôt.
See you soon.
Bloy (1888 - 1948),
Claudel (1868 - 1955),
Mauriac (1885 - 1970) and
Bernanos (1888 - 1948)
All Catholic writers.
Bois de Boulogne
Name of very large park on the west of Paris, close to an elegant residential
area.
Baudelaire
Author of Les Fleurs du Mal, love poems that caused an uproar when they were
written in the middle of the 19th Cent..
Bois d'Aigrefoin
A large wood near Gif-sur-Yvette, an elegant residental area to the South-West of Paris.
boisson
A drink, something like this word in the phrase Let's have a drink.
Bon travail
Work well! something like "Enjoy your work!" in English.
Bonjour monsieur.
Good morning, or good day, sir. or used when one is introduced to somebody. The words themselves
mean Good day!
Boulevard Saint Michel
One of the important streets in the Latin Quarter which leads down to the Seine
Boulevard Saint Germain:
An even longer street in the Latin Quarter which crosses Boulevard Saint Michel.
bourgeoisie
A term used by the French, often with a hint of contempt, even by the
bourgeoisie themselves, for middle class people.
Bourgeois education.
Education here is French and has the meaning of unbringing or training in manners.
Cabaret-Vert (1854 - 1891)
At the Green Inn, a sonnet by a very young Rimbaud - he was about sixteen.
- C'était le jour béni de ton premier baiser...Quand avec du soleil aux cheveux, dans la rue Et dans le soir, tu m'es en riant apparue...
It was the blessed day of your first kiss. When, with sunlight in your hair in the street and in the evening, you appeared before me, and you were laughing.
(Prose approximation) A beautiful poem, Apparition, by Mallarmé in
which there are many words and images which have one think of representations
of the Virgin Mary. This poem is referred to several times in these two novels.
café crème
A white coffee, similar to a capuccino, sometimes comprising the whole of a
French breakfast.
Café de la Paix
Peace Café.
cave
A small underground club for dancing and listening to jazz.
Ça alors!
Goodness ! Well, well ! What next ! Very common exclamation expressing
surprise, amazement.
Ça s'explique.
That explains everthing !
Ça c'est tout, monsieur?
Anything else, sir ?
C'est compris?
Do we understand one another ?
C'est triste, Venice
It's a sad place Venice, a very beautiful song composed and sung by Charles Aznavour.
C'est la mer allée avec le soleil,
It's the sea which has gone with the sun from a poem by Rimbaud
C'est monstrueux
That's absolutely scandalous!
chambre de bonne
Room under the roof, formerly used by domestics.
charmant
Charming.
Chevreuse
A beautiful village to the South-West of Paris.
chef-d'oeuvres
Masterpieces
chateau
A French mansion or palace.
Champs Elysées
One of the widest and most famous streets in Paris.
Cher, Cher,
Dear, dear
chez
This word almost always means, "at the house of." The other use, the one it has here, is rather unusual. In this text, "in the case of."
Clair de lune by Debussy
(1862 - 1918) an initiator of modern music; his music is linked to the symbolist poets and the impressionist painters.
clichés!
Usually has the same meaning as in English, but originally it referred to a
metal plate used to print photographs.
cliché
Singular of the previous word.
clochard
A homeless vagabond, usually found in big cities.
comme le blancheur des corps de femmes
like the whiteness of women's bodies.
(Prose approximation) This is from Memoire, one of the most famous of Rimbaud's poems. Strangely, the whiteness is seen as something which is attacking the sun.
concierges
Door porters.
Cosette
is the ingenue heroine of Victor Hugo's Les miseerables.
creux
A cavity or hollow. Somehow more poetic in French, one thinks of the small
hollow in stone formed over years by drops of water.
Confessions
This is the title of one of Rousseau's most famous books, in which he claims to be writing the true story of his life, possibly less or more scandalous than he makes out.
D'accord
Do we agree?
déclaration.
A public declaration before witnesses.
déplacé.
Perfectly right but in the wrong place.
décolleté
Plunging neckline
défilés
Fashion parade
dérèglement de tous les sens,
A scrambling of all the meanings given to things. A very famous phrase of the young and very rebellious Rimbaud
de nouveau
Once again
Député
A Member of Parliament
derrière
Behind, at the back of. As a noun it means "backside", not
especially vulgar.
Deux Chevaux
Two Horsepower. The name given to a very small, very popular French car.
des satyres lascifs, des faunes animaux, Dieux qui mordaient d'amour l'écorce des rameaux Et dans les nénufars baisaient la Nymphe blonde!
of lustful satyrs, animalistic fauns, gods in an orgy of lust who snapped at the bark of branches and kissed the golden-haired Nymph down among the water-lillies
(Prose approximation) From a poem by Rimbaud
Soleil et chair
Sun and Flesh
Direction Clignancourt
One of the lines of the Paris underground railway network.
Dis donc
An exclamation rather like the English "Don't tell me!"
Domestique
This is the French spelling for a member of the domestic staff.
ésprit, l'ésprit souple.
Wit, subtle wit.
Elle est maintenant Mme Swann, la femme d'un monsieur du Jockey, ami du prince de Galles. Elle est du reste encore superbe.
She is now Mrs. Swann, the wife of a gentleman from the Jockey Club, a friend of the Prince of Wales. Besides, she is is still in superb form.
from A la recherche du temps perdu by Proust.
Elle se permettait avec moi les plus grandes privautés, sans jamais m'en permettre aucune avec elle.
With me she indulged in every kind of sexual touching, but refused to allow me anything of the kind.
from Confessions by Rousseau.
elles se sont lavé les mains;
They washed their hands. The spelling of lavé is sometimes a problem even for the French, especially for French children.
En passant
By the way
"En ce moment, elle sentit tout à coup que le sceau ne pesait plus rien."
Instantly she became aware that the heavy bucket had become weightless.
from Les miserables by Victor Hugo.
Escritoire
elegant writing table with drawers.
Étape
This word really means a break in a journey, or pause. For the bike race it refers to the race each day.
Et moi, je lui ai dit...
And then me, I told him
Et ainsi de suite.
And so on and so forth
Exalté,
Something like hyped up
Faute de mieux.
For want of something better. Very common phrase in French
faux pas
Clanger, as in the phrase Drop a clanger.
Fédéric
The hero of Flaubert's novel Education Sentimental.
femme de ménage
A lady who is paid to look after the cleaning and upkeep of a house.
Figaro Littéraire
A prestigious literary magazine.
fiancé
A man who is engaged to someone
fiancée,
A lady who is engaged to someone
ex-fiancé.
Former fiancé
Flaubert Mme Arnoux: Ce fut comme une apparition.
It was exactly like an apparition This refers to the first appearance of Mme Arnoux, the virtuous heroine of Flaubert's Education Sentimentale.
Fédéric remains in love with her all his life. Education Sentimental. by Flaubert.
frères
brothers
frisson
A shiver down the spine, created by a pleasurable sensation of small fear.
frites
Potato chips..
Gaffe
An embarrassing mistake, especially in conversation, often used untranslated in English.
galant
The word subtly changes its meaning according to the context. The title of Verlaine's poems, Fêtes galantes, could be translated as Amorous Moments or something similar. In NUNC the word is used twice by Frieda: a
"rendezvous galant" which would refer to a meeting between lovers or a "date."
But when Frieda refers to the behaviour of the elderly gentleman she means
"courteous" or "courtly", almost "chivalrous."
Garçon! La même chose.
Waiter ! Give me another.
gastronome
a lover of good cooking as in English.
Gavroche
Famous character in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. A street urchin with a heart of gold and eventually a hero.
Gouloise
A popular cheap French cigarette.
ga of galantes
The first syllable of the word "galantes" in the title of Verlaine's poems Fêtes galantes.
gars.
A slangy form of the word Garçon, meaning "boy."
Garçon. Une Sweppes.
Une Sweppes. Waiter ! A Sweppes.
Garçon.
A boy. Very often used to mean waiter.
Gide: La porte étroite:
Gide, a 20th Century novelist and Nobel Prize winner. Proust was unrecognised for twenty years because Gide didn't
bother to read him - he took the word of an incompent reader - a famous fact in French literary life.
gendarmes
The French police.
Gif-sur-Yvette
Elegant outer suburb of Paris, famous as the site of peace negotiations between Kissinger and Le Duc Tho regarding the Vietnam war.
grande et belle créature,
A spectacular and beautiful creature.
Gitane
Popular cheap French cigarette. The word "gitane" means gypsy.
haut fonctionaire.
An important Government official
Heureusement
Fortunately
histoire de Jérôme,
The explanation lies in the fact of Jérôme,
Pantagruel, Histoire de Gil Blas, Candide, Les confessions, Les diaboliques, Le grand Meaulnes, Journal d'un curé de campagne,
All titles of famous French classics Pantagruel by Rabelais, The story of Gil Bras, by Lesage, Candide, by Voltaire, Weird women, by Barbey d'Aurevilly, The Wanderer, by Alain-Fournier, Diary of a Catholic Priest, by George Bernanos.
hors d'oeuvres
As used in English, an appetiser
In La porte étroite
See Gide
L'homme d'été.
The summer man, an invention of Shannon's daughters.
Île
A small island in the Seine in the heart of Paris, site of the Cathedral, Notre Dame.
inébranlable. Inébranlable.
Unshakable, immovable
Immeubles
Blocks of flats
Jean-Christophe
A three-volume novel by Romain Rolland. The hero is a musician, a composer and physically ugly, like Shannon.
Jean Jacques
Often Rousseau is referred to only by his Christian names.
Jérôme,
A boy's name.
Jean Valjean
is an escaped convict, the principal protagonist of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Jérôme, le méchant.
Jérôme, the naughtly boy.
Je m'excuse.
I'm sorry.
jeune fille
Usually a teenage girl.
je me suis reconnu poète - le bois qui se trouve violon.
I realised that I was a poet. The wood which discovers that it is a violin.
Famous phrases of Rimbaud.
La Chartreuse de Parme,
The Charterhouse of Parma.
A French classic by Stendhal.
La Coupole
A famous restaurant of Paris. The word "coupole" means Dome.
la fille aux tétons énormes, aux yeux vifs.
The girl with enormous breasts and sparkling eyes. (Prose approximation) From a sonnet by Rimbaud.
L'allée de la Reine-Marguerite!
Queen Margaret's Way. A passageway in the Bois de Boulogne, gardens to the West of Paris.
langueur.
A dreamy state
L'année en cours:
The current year
L'amour est assis sur le crâne De l'humanité
Love squats on the skull of the human race.
(Prose approximation) from a poem by Baudelaire
l'Étoile
Here used as an abbreviation of l'Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile,, a victory arch built by Napoleon, standing at a point where half a dozen wide avenues, one of them the Champs Élysées, meet.
Le jeune homme était moi...
That young man was me From Les miserables by Victor Hugo
la petite ville de Verrières,
The village of Verrières
L'automne déjà!
Can it really be autumn already !
la douceur du foyer et le charme des soirs.
The gentleness of home and the magic of the evening
(Prose approximation) From a poem by Baudelaire.
le parfum de tristesse!
The perfume of sadnes, (Prose approximation) from l'Apparition by Mallarmé.
les poètes maudits.
The damned poets. A name given to a school of poets like Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé, who flourished in the 1860s and 1870s and whose lives and works were considered dissolute by some.
le jour béni.
The blessed day, from l'Apparition by Mallarmé.
Le grondement du fleuve monte derrière la maison.
The low growl of the river drifts up behind the house
The opening words of Jean-Christophe
by Romain Rolland (1866 - 1944)
Le piano que baise une main frêle Luit dans le soir rose et gris vaguement
The piano which a delicate hand caresses faintly shines in the rose and misty evening. (Prose approximation)
A poem from Les Romances sans paroles by Verlaine.
Littré
The authoritative French dictionary
Le grondement du fleuve...
The low growl of the river
L'eau claire; comme le sel des larmes d'enfance L'assaut au soleil...
The blinding water, like the salt of childhood tears, the attack on the sun,
(Prose approximation) from the poem Mémoire of Rimbaud.
Les Halles
An old Paris market that no longer exists, famous for its prostitutes and onion soup.
Le Monde
A high prestige newspaper.
Les miserables
The Unfortunate, a novel by Victor Hugo
Les âmes fortes:
Formidable Souls, the title of a novel by Jean Giono.
Les Miserables: la jeune fille qu'il aimait, le veillard qui semblait son père, ces êtres inconnus qui étaient son seul intérêt et sa seule espérence en ce monde.
The Unfortunate. The girl that he loved, the old man who appeared to be her father, these unknown beings who were his sole interest and his only hope on this earth.
le professeur The Professor
The Professor
le vide papier que la blancheur défend,
The blank page protected by its whiteness.
(Prose approximation) From a poem by Mallarmé.
l'Etoile
The star.
l'extase langoureuse, la fatigue amoureuse
The dreamy ecstasy, love weariness
(Prose approximation) Phrases from a poem by Verlaine.
Louvre
The most famous and largest of Paris's museums. Louvre
Mallarmé.
A poet of the symbolist movement (1842 - 1898).
Mallarmé's Apparition.
The poem, Apparition, of Mallarmé.
maquillage
Face make-up
Maman!
Mummy !
manqué
Unsuccessful or referring to something that didn't happen
Marius était joyeux comme l'on est quand il fait beau. Il lui semblait qu'il avait dans le coeur tous les chants d'oiseaux qu'il entendait et tous les morceaux du ciel bleu qu'il voyait à travers les feuilles des arbres.
Marius was experiencing that kind of joy you feel when there is glorious weather. It seemed to him that his heart contained all the songs of the birds that he heard and all the triangles of blue sky that he could see through the branches of the trees.
This is a sentence from Les Miserables of Victor Hugo the title means something like the unfortunate.
Merci, monsieur. Merci bien, monsieur.
Thank you, sir. Thank you very much indeed, sir.
Mère Moreau
The mother of the Moreau family., that is Odile's mother.
mensonge
A lie
merde, merde, merde!
Shit Shit Shit (an exclamation which is much, much milder in French.)
Me touche pas!
Dont touch me !
mille fois merde
A thousand times shit.
Monsieur Sha-non!
Mr Shannon, pronounced with an accent on the last syllable, like all words in French.
Mme de Renâl
Julien Sorel's first love in Le Rouge et le Noir. An innocent soul whom he eventually tries to kill, an attempt that ends with his execution.
M. le Dentiste
Very often in French a professional is addressed as Mr. Dentist or Mr Lawyer or Mr Judge and so on.
mon ami.
My love or my friend.
Mon dieu
My God ! A very common, and perfectly accepted exclamation in French.
mon enfant.
My child
Monsieur le Professeur
Mr Professor, a term of respect when speaking to or speaking about a teacher or lecturer or, obviously a professor.
Naturellement
Obviously
n'est-ce pas?
The most common tail question in French, like the English isn't it? doesn't he? and so on. The English tail question system seems very complicated to the French:
Noémi.
Girl's name, a name from the Bible, very common in poetry.
Ô Vénus, ô Déesse! Je regrette les temps de l'antique jeunesse.
Oh Venus, oh goddess ! I long for the days of youth in ancient times.
(Prose approximation) Lines from a poem of Rimbaud,
O bruit doux de la pluie Par terre et sur les toits
Oh, sweet sound of the rain on the ground and on the roofs
(Prose approximation) from a poem by Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
O triste, triste était mon âme A cause, à cause d'une femme.
O sad, sad was my soul, because of, because of a woman
(Prose approximation) from a poem by Verlaine
Palais royale
An important area in the centre of Paris.
Parisienne
A girl or lady from Paris
Pas possible!"
It's just not possible! This is a much used short form of Ce n'est pas possible! expressing great surprise.
paysan
country boy For the Parisiens often anybody who is not from Paris.
payez-chez-vous
Telephone terminology : reverse charges, or person to person.
périodes peu honnêtes.
Periods when honesty was lacking
Père Moreau
The father of the Moreau Family, Odile's father.
petite bourgeoise
A lady from the lower middle classes, often used with hint of contempt.
piece de resistance
The best creation in an artist's work
phosphores chanteurs.
Phosphors that sing. (Prose approximation)
From one of the most famous French poems by Rimbaud, Le bateau ivre, The Drunken Boat
Piaget
Piaget A Swiss psychologist, who worked in the field of child psychology and child language. Jean Piaget society
Pigalle.
A bohemian area in Paris
poubelle
A street rubbish bin
Pont de la Concorde
One of the most important bridges of Paris.
poseur
A man who is always striking a pose adopted for effect
poseuse
The feminine form of poseur
Professeur!
Professor A term used for a teacher or lecturer, and, obviously for a professor.
pudique,
Very delicate in sexual matters
racé
Refined or aristocratic usually speaking of a person's features.
rapport
relationship between people
Radotage, radotage,
senility, senility
rendezvous
an appointment, meeting
Romances sans paroles
Romantic tales with no words Title of a group of poems by Verlaine.
roué
a lecherous man, a rake
rue des Saints Pères
a narrow street, about three hundred metres long, near the Seine in the Saint-Germain-des-Près area, an area frequented by intellectuals and where Shannon has his room.
rue des St. Pères to the Quai Malaquais
This street leads to the Quai Malaquais, Quai Malaquais, stretch of the riverside boulevard by the Seine
Rue de St. Denis
a long street on the Right Bank near the old market, Les Halles
Rue de la Huchette
a very narrow, very short street in the Latin quarter, much frequented for evening entertainment.
rendez-vous galant
See galant.
sale type
nasty individual, often used jokingly.
Sartre (1905 - 1980)
One of the most important intellectuals in France in the middle of the 20th Century. He was a left-wing critic, novelist, playwright and philosopher.
Sceaux
A suburb in the South of Paris with a magnificent, highly landscaped park
se
indicates a reflexive or impersonal verb
Saclay
A small village to the South-West of Paris, famous for its nuclear research centre.
selon l'artiste anglais
in the opinion of the English artist
Soyons serieux!
Let's get serious. A very common phrase in French, indicating exasperation.
ses livres mille fois maudis
damn his books a thousand times
Solstice d'été.
Summer solstice
'soir, 'sseur.
This is slurred French. It should be: Bonsoir, professeur. Good evening, professor.
Square du Vert Galant
Once a square frequented by young bohemians
Saint Germain, Champs Elysées, Avenue Foch
Three broad and important streets of Paris.
Saint Germain de Prés
An ancient French church. Also the name of an old Left Bank area of Paris, a centre where intellectuals dined and met in the middle of the 20th Century.
Téléphone!
The French spelling of telephone
Touché.
Touched! A term from fencing now used to admit that the other person has scored a point in a conversation
Me touche pas!
Don't touch. Very often in rapidly spoken French the first particle of the French negative is omitted. Correct would be: ne me touche pas!
Tour de France
The famous French bicycle race, followed with great passion by most French people.
Tour de France
truant
wandering from the beaten track
tu.
The word means you However there is a dramatic difference between the French word Vous and the French word tu, both meaning you. It is not a
question of meaning but a question of attitude, tu is reserved for conversation between members of a family, between friends, and for speaking to
children or pets. To change from vous to tu. is an emotional experience for
people whose language has this mechanism or something similar. Tu used to an unknown person is quite offensive. Tu is used when speaking to one person, its plural returns to vous.
Tu es merveilleux, papa. Merveilleux.
You are wonderful, Daddy. Wonderful.
Un ésprit un peu fade
His wit is somewhat in decline.
Un gars en France a dit Çela? Ça alors!
A laddy-boy in France said that ? How about that !
Un succès d'estime.
Recognition by reputable critics for a work which is usually not a financial success.
une femme délicieuse.
A delightful lady
un vrai paysan, oui...
A true peasant, yes.
véritablement
Really and truly
vie de bohème.
Bohemian life
voyant
A person who can see. This word is famous because it was used by the poet Rimbaud, while still a teenager, to describe himself as one blessed by nature with special poetic vision.
voyeur
as in English, a person who observes for sexual gratification.
Voyons!
Something like Let's see. It is constantly thrown into French conversation and often means almost nothing.
vous
You. See tu.
Voyelles
Vowels Voyelles A sonnet of Rimbaud. People have been arguing for over a century about its meaning. Some think it is about alchemy, some about homosexuality, others about the shape of printed vowels, and some about all these things together. Some reject all of these explanations. It remains one of the most famous poems in French.
agape
Christian and not erotic love.
Der Spiegel
The Mirror, a widely read serious German magazine.
Düsseldorf
An industrial city in West Germany.
Komme.
Come!
Zeitgeist
The spirit of the age, a word often used, untranslated, in English. There is word play on Zeitgeist in Nunc. Zeit = time, or tide as in evening tide, or tide in the affairs of men; geist = spirit, ghost as in Holy Ghost. So Ghost-tide, with the additional reference to tide as in ebb tide.
"Clave, sclave, sclaven.
Various attempts to arrive at the word, sclave, slave.
Kaya maya.
This pet name for Odile is an invention. Kaya is the last syllable of Nausicaa, the charming young princess in Homer's Odyssey; maya, is the feminine form of the word my in Russian.
tovarisch
comrade. A word used as a form of address towards everybody during the Communist period in the Soviet Union. Otherwise the word simply means companion.
Vlady.
A short form of the Slavic Vladimir.
Gyöngyös.
This is the name of a coal mining town in Hungary, it is also a surname.
Eminescu (1850 - 1889)
A brilliant Rumanian romantic lyric poet. As his poetry gains enormous strength from the music of his lines he is a translator's nightmare.
Lacul codrilor albastru Nuferi galbeni îl încarcăTresărind în cercuri albe El cutremură o barcă.
The blue lake in the woods is laden with pale yellow lillies and a boat is rocking in small circles of misty ripples. (Prose approximation)
Mihai Eminescu's poetry.
The first chapter of Nunc and the first two chapters of Tunc can be previewed online for evaluation.
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