Wonderful Winding Words 5wh3o

Copyright © 2021 by François PIALAT

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Table of Contents

1 – Lead 2 – Thunder 3 – Chinese 4 – Monkey 5 – Bronze 6 – Hare 7- Cat 8 – Frog 9 – Rat 10 – Tortoise 11 – Elephant 12 – Bull 13 – Donkey 14 – Magpie 15 – Horse 16 – Hippopotamus 17 – Lion

18 – Wolf 19 – Owl 20- Goat 21 – Ant 22 – Crab 23 – Shrimp 24 – Plate 25 – Cheese 26 – Cockroach 27 – Dog 28 – Rose 29 – Pig 30 – Hedgehog 31 – Bear 32 – Violin 33 – Thrush 34 – Grey 35 – Hen 36 – Cock 37 – Red 38 – Lantern

39 – Hollow 40 – Tooth 41 – Peanut 42 – Nut 43 – Music 44 – Black 45 – Eye 46- Straw 47 – Strawberry 48- Flesh 49- White 50 – Lotus 51 – Flower 52 – Heart 53 – Liver 54 – Nose 55 – Bird 56 – Death 57 – Bottom 58 – Silk 59 – Butterfly

60 – Butter 61 – Bread 62 – Salt 63 – Water 64 – Silver 65 – Stone 66 – Wood 67 – Fire 68 – Devil 69 – Pot 70 – Bag 71 – Fish 72 – God 73 – Finger 74 – Foot 75 – Gold 76 – Sun 77 – Lady 78 – Virtue 79 – Strength 80 – Arm

81 – Hole 82 – World 83 – Paradise 84 – Happy 85 – Pouf 86 – Skin 87 – To burn 88 – Taste 89 – Day 90 – Rice 91 – Milk 92 – To chew 93 – Nail 94- To touch 95 – Bill 96 – Herb 97 – Round 98 – Back 99 – Season 100 – Court 101 – Law

102 – Hunt 103 – Spirit

Introduction

Here is a collection of expressions in four languages whose aim is to understand the interest that every one may gain from the study of his neighbour. Each civilisation prints its character according to its real life. The compared expressions are funny, disconcerting, picturesque, high-sounding…They are the mark of people’s perception from different cultures, according to their life’s inheritance. The study of a language opens new horizons on a little-known civilisation; this allows to enhance one’s knowledge and to better perceive our surrounding world. The collection “Wonderful Winding Words” starts with the word lead that comes from the interest of balancing one’s thoughts, it is a tool to probe the depths of the hearts…In the middle of this work you will find on purpose the word heart… And to conclude in a blaze of glory, the word spirit brings you back in the spheres of subconscious and soul. It contains hundred words, some of them having a special sense, a highsounding. From the words a colour, a scent, a perfume are rai that give them their own sensitiveness. A single word may have a particular echoing in the imaginative or real world, as Rabelais said “Know how to break the bone and suck the very substance.” W. Somerset Maugham’s novel: the Razor’s Edge, written in 1944, relates the life of a young man converted to Hinduism and giving up his inheritance to the benefit of the holy life. The Chinese novel of Luo2 Guan4-Zhong1: Water Margin ( / Shi1 Nai4 An1 or also / Shui3 Hu3 Zhuan4) describes some phases of life. The heroes of a mad variety are succeeding until the formation of an ideal society. Adventures after adventures, after twists and turns, appear characters high in value that are always more bursting with vitality.

The theory of light and colour written by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, in 1810, in Zur Farbenlehre (From the Study of Colours) is insisting on the words to attribute them a colour, another feeling. In the same way “Wonderful Winding Words” wishes to reflect the converting of words in the perception of other ethnic entity, according to Maugham, to relinquish its inheritance to the benefit of life. The examples are studied on the razor’s edge, with love and irony. Like the Chinese novel, they unwind a whole generation just to keep a genuine perfume of ancient up to more recent ones. Finally, following the example of Goethe, each word finds a colour, a sound that should allow us to go on by our own this initiatory journey. Goethe wrote: Kennst Du das Land, wo die Zitronen blüht? (Do you know the country where blooms the citrus-tree?) Wishing that we discover Italy. Up to you to discover these selected words, to complete, to find their equivalent in other languages: Italian, Spanish, Arab, aso. These words that cement and differentiate human beings. Good perception and nice spice!

1 – Lead Lead is a very dense grey bluish metal called le plomb in French or, das Blei in German. For the alchemists it becomes Saturn from the name of a God – Jupiter’s father- and of a planet. To lack ballast, i.e. to be scattered-brained, thoughtless, is translated in French by n’avoir pas de plomb dans la tête, (wfw: to have no lead in the head) being matter-of-fact, this really means the contrary of being a cool hand! The fuse of an electric counter is translated in French by plomb.

2 – Thunder Jupiter, Saturn’s son (see lead*) was the God of thunder in the Roman mythology. His counterpart in Scandinavia was named Thor. We speak of a fuse of applause, or better a round, a salve of applause; but I would still prefer a thunder of applause. In the same way, in French it is un tonnerre d’applaudissements. In German, der Donner means thunder, but when we need to applause, it becomes a storm! with der Sturm des Beifalls.

3 – Chinese

We often call to mind some monkey’ tricks when speaking of unnecessary or crank intricacies, where the French says chinoiseries, a term which even the Chinese ignore, who are called in French slang chinetongs! Here, we remain in the metal field: after lead*, we come to bronze*. Indeed / qing1tong2 refers to bronze in Chinese. But let’s come back to our monkey’ tricks which English people attribute to monkeys rather than to Chinese. With the German language, we go back to China, since they are speaking of die Zopfigkeit, we would say a kind of hair in plaits or pigtail! in the Chinese fashion. Chinese had their skull shaved except a long hair-plait which they let grow in the very middle of the skull to be taken away to paradise. To follow these windings, we need to be as quick-moving as a monkey, isn’t?

4 – Monkey

This mammal primate has given us several expressions, as the one, we just encountered, or the French proverbial phrase: on n’apprend pas à un vieux singe à faire la grimace. (We don’t learn to an old ape, how to pull a face); In English it becomes a “dog”: you cannot teach old dogs new tricks. But all things considered, we could ask to be paid in monkey’s money, F.: payer en monnaie de singe, i.e. be rewarded in mumbling and grimace - as here - English people also say to let s.o. whistle for his money. As far as I am concerned, I would like to be paid this way. Yes! When you know that a monkey in Shakespeare’s country is slang for £ 500, or USD 500 in America. All this, you will tell me, is really a puzzle. Beware your language, since a monkey puzzle is anything but the common name of the araucaria, this Chilean pine growing in the Arauco district! which French have called arbre aux singes (monkeys’ tree) and botanists monkey’s despair since the prickled branches puzzle even our despaired monkeys to climb. If you take sg to heart*, you may always take a small monkey to get slightly tipsy ; since the Germans say this when they drink too much, veil their face: einen kleinen Affen haben (word for word: to have a small monkey) or don’t buy any, since sich einen Affen kaufen means to get drunk (wfw to buy oneself a monkey!). The monkey is also known as a god within the Indian folk, under the name of Hanuman ¹. It’s him who allowed the introduction of Buddhism into China, where the restless adventures of the Pilgrim Monkey ² are often mentioned.

5 – Bronze

This copper-tin alloy also known in literature under the name airain in French (brass) showed us how China was proud of it. (See Chinese*). Was she not in the heart of the Bronze Age? F. au coeur du bronze. Not to be mistaken with F. cœur de bronze, this vital hard and insensitive organ: a heart of steel! which the French translate by a heart of iron (F. un coeur de fer). We should know if it is of steel, bronze or iron? In the doubt, we may always say that the person having such an organ is a man of iron, F. un homme de fer, i.e. un coeur de fer (an heart of iron). In German, bronze is called das Erz (ore) and not das Herz (heart*). French friends, learn how to breathe this sound at the risk of not being understood! However, Germans are closer to nature than French people since they claim to have a stone-heart, ein Felsenherz, instead of a steel-heart! In this way we may have too many irons in the fire, which French equivalent is tomber les quatre fers en l’air (wfw: to fall the four irons in the open), meaning to go sprawling or to fall backwards. The other French meaning would be avoir trop de marrons au feu (to have too many chestnuts in the fire) which indeed means rather to try to do two things at once or F. courir deux lièvres à la fois (to run after two hares* at a time). If we stay with the animals, we ought to think to pig-iron, the crude iron from smelting-furnace, F. fonte en saumon (smelting in salmon) or gueuse. Is there really a difference between pig and salmon? Not that much, since they are both pink.

6 – Hare

But what is becoming out of our hare in all that? In German der Hase, you know: the doe-hare or doe-rabbit-warren, commonly doe-rabbit, F. la hase, closer to German than English. You ought to buy a pig in a poke, do a blind bargain. F. acheter le lièvre dans le sac (to buy the hare in the bag) or acheter chat en poche (to buy the cat in a pocket) The French “hare” becomes a “pig” in English and also a “cat” in German language, since they say man muβ keine Katze im Sack kaufen. We really ought to know if it is a pig, a cat or a hare. After all, don’t Chinese name the mountain-cat as being a rabbit? Their common word Ch. / shan1mao1 / refers indeed to a tiger-cat.

7- Cat

From hare to cat, it’s only a jump – as well as between and . When could we then “call a spade a spade”, F. appeler un chat un chat (to call a cat a cat), G. das Kind bei rechten Namen nennen, (to call the child by his right name) i.e. to call things by their proper names. That’s what Frenchmen do when they speak to each other in lovely saying: mon chat (my cat), mon petit chat (my kitten), or even ma chatte (my she-cat), Countercheck quarrelsome shall we say in using the phrase “tit for tat”, F. A bon chat, bon rat (For a good cat, a good rat), G. Wurst wider Wurst, (chitterings against chitterings or rather sucker against sucker, short “give and take”. We understand that Englishmen with their “tit for tat” are rather for F. coup pour coup (stroke for stroke) in this sentence. But when they “have got a frog in their throat” they first think to us, French frog*-eaters; we stay with our pet, the cat, in saying avoir un chat dans la gorge (to have a cat in one’s throat). Notwithstanding they would like to eat some Frenchies for lack of frogs! And, we shall silence them!

8 – Frog

However the Germans also say er hat einen Frosch im Halse as they speak of s.o. who suffers from hoarseness or from temporary loss of voice. But we should not put on an affected air! In G. Sei kein Frosch! (wfw: don’t be a frog). Either the frog is in the throat or in the plate… to be eaten! It’s the cashier who made off with the cash, F. a mangé la grenouille (has eaten the frog), G. mit der Kasse durch-brennen (to burn the cash-box through). The English word frog means grenouille in French; they call us froggies because the back legs of the edible frog form a delicacy in French cuisine. But they also name the “frog”: Dutch nightingale, probably because the croak of frogs is similar to the hellish burden of this bird’s song. In Chinese, frog is pronounced / wa1; farmers often call it / tian1ji1 (celestial cock) meaning also “partridge”, 1 because they thought that the frog’s semen was falling from heaven. Until the Middle-Ages they believed that the frog could change into a quail. This is a moon creature as the toad. In Taiwan, the word / qing1wa1 is forbidden subject for the woman race because this creature is supposed to look like the body of a young girl. In too, since we evidently use this word. And the German to be found of Froschschenken, frog’s thighs! or legs…the human ones not the batrachian’s!

9 – Rat

The Egyptians and Phrygians deified rats. In Egypt, it symbolised utter destruction and also wise judgment. Indeed rats were always choosing the best piece of bread. We are far from the English people who believe the contrary when they use the word rats! to indicate nonsense! or an exclamation of annoyance. In love term we use mon petit rat (my little rat) as chat (cat*); the Germans prefer it to “cat” for this kind of relationship, mein Mäuschen! remains by far more sentimental than “darling”. The rat, Ch. / shu3, is also the first Chinese zodiacal sign, and is connected to money. Like in our French phrase c’est un rat (it’s a rat), he is a niggard, G. der Geizhals (thirsty throat! Funny how the Germans keep the word “throat” like for the frog*!). In England also they were hunting the rat, to take a rat by the tail meant to cut a traveller’s purse. In the French tube there exists a bonus for rat’s tail given to workers and sewer-men that clean the capital’s undergrounds. They show the tail as proof of their capture. F. être fait comme un rat (to be made like a rat) meaning “to be caught out”,” to be trapped”, might come from this. But there exist several kinds of rats, the most known are the young ballet-girls, les Petits Rats (the Little Rats) de l’Opéra (the t must have fallen in the oubliettes? –Opérat -); The French people consider also les rats de bibliothèque (librarian rats), the regular attenders of librairies, G. der Bücherwurm (the bookworm), as its name indicates it’s a worm devouring books; we also have les rats d’église (church rats), the devout attenders at church services. Hullo! Again a relationship in French with our dear batrachians, since we also speak of grenouilles de bénitier! (holy-water basin frogs) to name bigoted churchwomen. Every one is sex and its representation, isn’t? As in French les rats quittent le navire quand il fait eau (rats are leaving the vessel when water comes in), G. die Ratten verlassen das sinkende Schiff, I

believe, we ought to leave before it’s too late. Let’s go at senator’s small pace like the…”tortoise “in French.

10 – Tortoise

We have to mention the worldly known La Fontaine’s fable Le lièvre et la tortue (The hare* and the tortoise) in which the tortoise pictures slowness and determination: slowly but surely. We have drawn expressions from it: marcher d’un pas de tortue (to walk at tortoise’s pace), avancer comme une tortue (to progress like a tortoise), where English people prefer the “snail”: to go at a snail’s pace indicating a very slow movement. By the way: nail means clou in French, but un clou de girofle is translated by one word only: clove; whereas snail-clover is a plant like lucerne with spiral pods, hence snails, which is far from “gillyflower”. The Germans are following the English people with: wie eine Schnecke gehen (to go like a snail) or der Schneckengang (snail’s pace). For the Chinese, this reptile, called/gui1, is picturing sky and earth. In fact the top of the shell is compared to the vault of heaven and the rounded flat bottom to the disc of the earth. It pictures long life and is an immortal creature, the heroin of many fairy tales. Besides the word/ gui1tou2 (tortoise’s head) indicates the penis head. This picture is rather seducing, isn’t? Exactly like the tortoise showing its head in and out. In the Indian myth, our tortoise Chukwa, is always saddle with blame since it s the elephant * Maha-pudma who himself carries the world. By the way, the Swahili word chukwa means to carry. Short, the tortoise embodies the female principle, the elephant the male one, and both are life symbols. After all, how do we say tortoise in German? Die Schildkröte (the toad with a shell)! Yes, a “toad”, and I know a lot who would like to fill their pocket with it, since the German slang expression ein paar Kröten in der Tasche (some toads in the pocket) indicates dough!

11 – Elephant

This pachyderm also indicates with its heavy and imposing mass a certain way of going. We also call elephant, a very dick and fat person having a heavily walk. It’s certainly the most interesting animal of our civilisation. We immediately think to Africa, Asia and to ivory, G. das Elfenbein. In Africa, it is Ivory Coast, F. la Côte d’Ivoire, G. die Elfenbeinküste. In Asia, we have already met Maha-pudma in India, but other countries, China, Thailand – previously Siam, Laos also worshipped this animal. In Chinese, the word / xiang4 means both elephant and to look like. This is the symbol of strength and cunning as for the lion, the leopard and the tiger. But moreover it is a sign of good omen often shaped by a child holding a sceptre in his hand, on elephant’s back. Besides the picture symbols/ qi2xiang4 (to mount onto elephant’s back) and / ji2xiang2 (joy, good omen) are phonetically very close. At chess the bishop is called elephant. Laos, said to be the Country of Million Elephants (the lân-xang Kingdom), gives also a very important place to the elephant. We have already heard from its worshiping which the Thais have in the white elephant. Only the English people do consider the white elephant as a rather burdensome and annoying property because they refer to the story of a King of Siam who offered a white elephant to courtiers whose popularity they wanted to acquire. But the title of King of the White Elephant remains in the Ava Kingdom (presently Myanmar and former Burma), as well as in Thailand, the climax of power. Few are the persons decorated with the famous white elephant’s medal. As far as the Americans are concerned, when they see the elephant, they express that they have seen all there is to see! You will tell me that they make mountains out of molehills, F. en faire une montagne (to make a mountain out of it), when the German says he is making an elephant from a fly, aus der Mücke ein Elefanten machen! We could also say in French faire d’un oeuf un boeuf (to make a bull * out of an egg).

The French expression un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelaine or G. er betrug sich wie ein Elefant im Porzellanladen (he behaves himself like an elephant in a china store) is changed in English with a bull in a china shop! when speaking of a dullard intervening in a ticklish situation. To all these expressions, we need of course a big memory, F. avoir une mémoire d’éléphant (to have an elephant memory), without being vindictive, since it is one of the meanings of this phrase…

12 – Bull

The French people say: qui vole un oeuf, vole un boeuf (wfw: who steals an egg will steal a bull). This ruminant mammal is also a sign of majesty and power, F. il est fort comme un boeuf (wfw: he is strong like a bull), such as a beast of burden, hence F. c’est un boeuf au travail (wfw: he is a bull at work) for the usual English expression: he’s a glutton for work, G. er ist ein echtes Arbeitspferd (wfw: he’s a true working horse*). Here our ox or bull has been changed into a horse! When English people speak of ox-bow, they indeed wish to name the horseshoe bend in a river, i.e. the dead arm of a river. We clearly understand that they also hesitate between the bull and the horse… However in speaking of ox they refer to the Norman Conquest when the Saxon herdsmen used the word ox for their beast, when the Normans had the cooked meat name with the appropriate French name: boeuf, i.e. beef for it. We couldn’t cite the ox, or the bull, without a glimpse at Egypt. The Egyptians worshipped Apis, the sacred bull, wearing sometimes the solar disc between its horns when he was compared to Re – the sun-god -. In China the common name for ox is / niu2, it is the animal that draws the cart, the beast of burden. Still to-day a lot of Chinese don’t eat beef because they think it is not keen to kill and eat a creature serving man during harvest. This taboo seems to go back to the beginning of Buddhism banishing meat, especially beef meat. With the ox, we have to name the buffalo, this spring and plough symbol. Do you know that the oldest coin of Greece bore the impress of an ox? It was the money used for bribery, a kind of F. pot-de-vin (wwf: pot of wine), i.e. hushmoney, for which we ought to keep a stubborn silence. Hence the other expression used both in English and in French: to have an ox on one’s tongue, F. mettre un boeuf sur la langue. The German says shortly halt Rand! i.e. shut up! Finally we have F. l’oeil-de-boeuf, bull’s eye and not ox-eye; the former indicating a thick disc of glass or a small circular window, the latter a great daisy! But it’s also the centre of target, to make a bull’s eye or to score a bull means a successful coup F. faire mouche (wfw: to make fly) or to hit the centre

of the target, F. mettre dans le mille (wfw: to put in the thousand). I beg your pardon if I jump thus from coq-à-l’âne (wfw: from cock to donkey*) meaning skipping from one subject to another, which English people qualify of Irish-bull? And then, they have to be marked off from us by using different words, don’t you think so? We have seen that our elephant* was walking in a china shop, they, they want absolutely that it be a bull, with a bull in a china shop! Notice, the French language remains a very rich one since we may answer them it is like un taureau en rupture d’étable (wfw: a bull in rupture of cattle-shed)! And, slapbang! To follow, we have to take the bull by the horns, F. prendre le taureau par les cornes, i.e. to go forth boldly to meet a difficulty.

13 – Donkey

I was waiting for this one with its long ears who is also called small donkey, ass, hinny, pack-mule…We have our good old French bonnet d’âne (wfw: asses’cap) well known to the scholars, which is a dunce’s cap indeed, from a teacher named John Duns Scotus, G. die Eselmütze like the French word. Even Asian people treat their Buddhist monks of bald asses due to their shaven skull, and probably their ignorance of the business here below? Poor animal that embodies obstinacy and stupidity! With our disillusioning comparisons we say stubborn as a mule, F. têtu comme un âne, pigheaded, to ride the black donkey, where the German sees only a great idiot, ein groβer Dummkopf. But sometimes the ass is not as stupid as it seems, as the English people say: asses as well as pitchers have ears to interpret our French expression: les murs ont des oreilles (wfw: walls have ears). Sometimes they find him perfect, he is a perfect ass, which means nothing but be extremely crazy, in F. il est bête à manger du foin! (He is foolish to eat hay). From a chattering person they say she would talk the hind-leg off a donkey, and sometimes they will replace the word donkey by cow, horse and even jackass, another name for ass! Here, we, French people, we prefer the magpie F. elle jase comme une pie borgne (she talks like a blind magpie) which is usually translated by to talk nineteen to the dozen! But there might be some far relationships between our jabbering magpie and the English term jackass? (Jack or James imitating the donkey, like Peter, Paul, etc.). But our ass is sometimes clever, because it knows how to be in the skin of another, an ass in a lion’s skin, indeed this phrase is used when a fool apes the wise man! Wise men should be the students of Oxford and Cambridge, commonly called Oxbridge – Which I could translate in F. pont aux ânes, why not? –But before they should cross the asses’bridge, a difficulty that dunces will rarely got over for the first time without stumbling; it’s really the “dolts’stumbling block”! And this crossing of bridge is made at the pace of an ass! F. le pas d’âne. This becomes more complicated since in French it refers to the coltsfoot - colt not ass – the name of a perennial herbaceous plant also called tussilago farfara; but it’s also the tool which veterinarians are using to keep the mouth of a horse opened – not of an ass! – during medical examination, we shall say a holdfast or a forceps.

14 – Magpie

For the Chinese this is the good omen bird,Ch / xi2que (happy magpie) at the difference of the crow. Two magpies are expressing the wish: “May you meet each other in joy”, that is to say get married or enjoy conjugal sexual intercourse. French common saying Vérité dans les Pyrénées, erreur au-delà (wfw: Truth in the Pyreneans, mistake beyond) is echoing, what is true in one country may be untrue elsewhere. Indeed, in England, the magpie has been regarded as an uncanny bird; in Scotland magpies flying near the windows of a house foretold death. For the information, why magpie for such a bird? It would refer to the formerly maggot-pie, maggot representing Margaret, the country of magpies and marguerites (marguerite meaning pearl, hence white and flower). The English word pie would go back to ancient times when letters printed in black (pie) would strongly contrast with the whiteness of the paper. Thus in a magpie fashion…is the way of saying commonly in black and white. But the magpie is especially recognised for its petty theft, as thievish as a magpie, F. il est voleur comme une pie, G. er stiehlt wie ein Rabe, the magpie becomes a crow. This is the evident proof that the magpie remains an instinctive attraction, isn’t? When we say in F. trouver la pie au nid (to find the magpie in the nest), we mean that we are making an important discovery. Would it not be due to the fact that stolen things were found in it nest? However F. le nid-de-pie (magpie’s nest) refers to the English word crow’s nest. In the navy it formerly designed the net in which workers, who mended the boats, put away their tools. More recently it became the shelter at mast-head of sailing vessel for look-out man. As far as the F. cheval pie or piebald horse, are concerned, the horse owns it to his black and white coat.

15 – Horse

Here is the most attractive animal for man, so much that a special and rich vocabulary is assigned to him. We will keep to some specificity. We think to Poseidon, the god of the sea and of liquid element who orders the waves with his trident. He is known as the master of horses. In the Christian art the horse embodies bravery and generosity. A lot of saints, St Martin, St Georges, aso. are represented on horse-back. In the / Yi1jing1 (“Book of Changes”) the (male) dragon and the (female) horse are the two creatures chosen to represent the two sexes. In later mythology the horse symbolises the male principle while the female principle is symbolised by the cow (see bull*). As the white* elephant*, the white horse which often appears in Buddhist texts stands for purity and loyalty. He was also the standard of the ancient Saxons. In a poetic phrase the white horses stand for the white-capped breakers as they roll in from the sea. In fact they correspond to our F. moutons (sheep) … Surely, it is difficult to find a friendly understanding with our British fellows when considering the animals – we know, they are ionately fond of horses. It is the reason why they say to put the cart before the horse, when we say mettre la charrue avant les boeufs! (To put the cart before the bulls). This is where we got une fièvre de cheval (horse-fever) to tackle the situation and they mention a drastic remedy, G. die Pferdekur (a horse cure). The “nature” horse-radish is called raifort in , from a strong root with a mustard taste. Anyway, they have their little fads, with them everything is about horses, we have: •Iron-horse to indicate a steam engine, in it would rather be of steel? Note also our •cheval vapeur (CV) which became powerful with HP, Horse-Power. •Towel-horse, the frame for hanging towels on, F. porte –serviette(s) (towels carrier). •Clothes-horse, the frame for airing washed clothes, F. séchoir (drier); not to be

mistaken with horse-cloth used to cover horse, F. la couverture du cheval. •Horse-leech, a large kind of aquatic blood-sucking worm, F. la sangsue (bloodsucker). •Horse-chesnut for F. marron d’Inde (Indian chestnut), this large ornamental tree the bark of which horses are very fond. We must have something for every taste…

But nothing requires to loose one’s temper, to ride on the high horse, F. monter sur ses grands chevaux. G. sich aufs hohe Pferd setzen or auf hohem Rosse sitzen (old nag). Beware in French un grand cheval it is a big mannish woman! Then if you ride your high horse, it becomes a pleasure-party… Thus the horse is still nowadays a feminine principle! Which we have to ride à cru (bare), sans selle, (without saddle) or à poil… latter word meaning both fur and naked! What about riding our subject to death: the words. In French we say cheval de bataille (horse of battle). Battle, let me think to cheval de frise (horse of Friesland) which comes from the Dutch friese ruiter (Friesland’s rider), you know this iron spikes set in timber to repel cavalry or to guard fence! For this time English people lack imagination since they keep our French term as such, but the Germans, they say it’s ein spanischer Reiter, a Spanish horseman! Really, Spanish, Friesian, it’s impossible to come to an agreement. We also have Friesian bred, F. la race frisonne, but hard luck: it does not refer to the horse but to the cow! You laugh Ah! Ah! Hi! Hi! Then let’s to another word.

16 – Hippopotamus

We stay in the horse paddock but the circuit is different. Yes, hippo means horse. The Germans call the hippopotamus, das Nilpferd (the Nile’s horse), the word hippopotamus comes from Greek: horse of the stream. This animal meets the elephant with its weight, its power, its colour, its thick skin and as for the word elephant; a fatty person is treated as such! If the hippopotamus is the horse of the stream, the hippopocampus however from Greek horse and sea-monster, is also called sea-horse due to its head suggestive of horse, but the word refers both to the hippocampus and the walrus? G. das Seepferdchen. It was also the steed of the Roman god of the sea Neptune corresponding to the Greek Poseidon. Neptune was carrying a trident and astride a dolphin or a horse. This is the reason why everybody goes with its own style, according to ones thoughts. Near the word hippocampus we encounter hippocastanaceous, our horsechestnut, which is nothing but the name of its genus. Thus with this word we come closer to the English. In speaking of sea animals I am thinking of sea-lion, F. le lion de mer, which indicates a large eared seal genus otaria, F. une otarie, its other name. In German it is called as in English der Seelöwe, but also der Seebär (sea bear) or even die Ohrenrobbe, i.e. eared seal or sea-dog or sea-calf which French people call phoque à crinière (seal with mane)! It’s true that the ears are near of the mane but we could F. accorder nos violons (tune our fiddles), i.e. come to an agreement on words. Our dear otary is also called sea-otter. As far as the Hudson otter is concerned, it is the F. ondatra, (like the genus for the muskrat) or the Canadian musk-rat! And the Siberian otter for the French becomes the Siberian mink for the British; it’s the marten or kolinsky! I leave it up to you to carry on since there are so many names, that at the end we do not know which animal we are speaking about.

17 – Lion

Here is the king of animals. In China pairs of stone lions rival dragons as guardians of temples. It is well known for its strength and its energy. St Jerome’s story is the illustration of it. While St Jerome was lecturing one day, a lion entered the schoolroom, and lifted up one of its paws. All his disciples fled; but Jerome, seeing that the paw was wounded, drew a thorn out of it and dressed the wound. The lion, out of gratitude, showed a wish to stay with its benefactor. Hence the saint is often represented as accompanied by a lion. William the Conqueror’s standard is also showing two lions, the first was that of Duke of Normandy and the second that of Maine. Henry II added a third to represent the Duchy of Aquitaine. Thus our kings hold the lion’s share. We notice also that it’s better to be like a raging lion, F. il a bouffé du lion (he ate on lion), i.e. to have an unusual energy rather than F. se jeter dans la gueule du lion (to throw oneself in the lion’s mouth), i.e. to hurt oneself into an enterprise. Not because we will meet the fangs, the canine teeth, I want to say F. les dents de lion or pissenlits, if you prefer dandelion, G. der Löwenzahn, probably because they are hard to chew. But dandelion is also in German die Butterblume (butter flower) which is anything else than the buttercup, but indicates also the ranunculus or die Dotterblume (the yolk flower) or again die Hundeblume (the dog flower), even die Kuhblume (the cow flower) simply because all these animals like to take this plant as a purgative… provided it is eaten at the good end of it, because F. manger les pissenlits par la racine (to eat dandelions by the root) means to be dead and buried! The Germans are making a difference with us in this expression, they contemplate the radish from underneath! sich die Radischen von unten ansehen… Where the English people come back to their lovely marguerite (see magpie*) with to push up daisies. We have already seen that the marguerite, the daisy was the pearl of flowers, reason why they use the term she is a daisy, F. c’est une perle, to talk of a wonderful woman. For the English people the mountain-lion indicates the cougar, more known under the name of puma with its fawn-coloured fur. The lion’s provider looking like a fox is indeed the jackal, F. le chacal, G. der Schakal, der Goldwolf, the

golden wolf!

18 – Wolf

Of course, we Europeans, whom we think of the wolf we have got in memory the twin brothers Romulus and Remus which were thrown down in the river Tiber, saved and suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus became afterwards the legendary and founder of Rome. This calls also to mind the cruel and greedy animal. The wolf’s reputation is worldwide. Even the Chinese to eat like a wolf (or like a horse!) say to devour like a wolf and to swallow down like a tiger, Ch. / lang2tun1-hu3yan4. The French people say une faim de loup (wolf’s hunger). But this is well known, it is known to everybody will be translated in French by connu comme le loup blanc (known like the white wolf)! Our German friends say bekannt wie der bunte Hund (known like the multi-coloured dog)! But this is well known too, F. les loups ne se mangent pas entre eux (wolves won’t eat wolfes) which English people interpret as dog wont eat dog, F. chien (pas chien-loup), i.e. wfw: dog not wolf-dog where it should currently be in English Alsacian dog! Here the Germans are marked off; since they prefer saying es hackt keine Krähe der anderen die Augen aus! (Rooks do not burst each other the eyes). They clearly set up the difference as well with the French phrase le loup dans la bergerie (the wolf in the sheep-fold) or the English one to set the fox to mind the geese, since they prefer to say der Hecht im Karpfenteich! (The pike in the pond’s carp). Same: when we clean high ceilings with F. une tête de loup (a wolf’s head), English people with a Turk’s head brush, a long wall-broom and Germans with die Eule (the owl).

19 – Owl

The owl is also Minerva’s bird; this is the reason why German and English use the term to send owl to Athens, G. Eulen nach Athen tragen, when Frenchmen say porter de l’eau au moulin (to carry water to the mill). But English people would prefer to keep their habits and stay jingo in saying to carry coal to Newcastle! And, do you know why? Just because Newcastle was the centre of export and mining of pit-coal in the Durham basin where blast furnaces needed to be supplied in water and coal from the very spot where they were plentiful. F. Ne faîtes donc pas des yeux de hibou (don’t do owl’s eyes), equivalent to don’t open your eyes wide in discovering these expressions! Otherwise you may get F. des yeux de hibou (owl’s eyes), i.e. you may stare? Or if you prefer, you seem F. tomber de la lune (to fall down from the moon), i. e. you don’t know half of what goes on here. Hullo! Our English people for a night without moon speak of an owl-light, i.e. dusk, twilight or the time when we consider, that the light is F. entre chien et loup (between dog and wolf), i. e. in blind man’s holiday! Probably at this hour of the day people are going blindly on, grasping their way? But beware not F. faire le hibou (to do the owl) or broyer du noir (to crush black), i.e. to mope! We cannot leave F. la chouette ou le hibou toujours chouette (the owlet or the owl is always owl, where the last word is to be understood as super, fine) without a hind to G .der Eulenspiegel, F. Till l’Espiègle, Owl-glass a famous oper set to music by Richard Strauss around 1894–95. F. C’est chouette!, i.e. good show isn’t? Yes, we are full of iration, he should make it. But it remains an old story, same as to call an old ugly and shrewish woman F. une vieille chouette! (An old owl) or une vieille bique (an old she-goat) as the Germans do alte Ziege! English would say an old horse or a nag.

20- Goat

It has been associated with the idea of sin. The scapegoat was the one on which the Hebrew priest transferred the sins of Israel. After this it became the person on which other’s faults came down. The half-god Satyre having the legs and hind-quarters of a goat became the term applied to a lecherous and lustful man. So the creature of sin, of evil should be separated from the good as Mathews wrote it in his gospel XXV, 32: “Divideth this sheep from the goats” We find this dividing allusion in the F. ménager la chèvre et le chou (to take care of the goat and of the cabbages) which is translated in English with to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, to reserve one’s decision, to evaluate for and against. Ah! These British people! With them, we’ll F. devenir chèvres (to become goats), or if you prefer, F. faire tourner en bourrique (to be changed in an ass), i.e. they are driving us crazy, bothering us! In the past there existed in Europe a well spread belief which mentioned that the nightjar or F. le tête-chèvre (sucking goat), a reddish-brown harsh-voiced nocturnal bird was coming at night to suck the udder of goats, hence its name, also wonderfully translated in goatsucker or better goat-owl*. In G. der Ziegenmelker. The goat has left us other linguistic creations, especially the honeysuckle, F. chèvrefeuille (goat’s leaf) of which goats are excessively fond; for the British people the taste was the reason of its name. The formerly thought that bees were extracting honey from it is quite wrong. If the Germans name it like us, das Geiβblatt, they like to speak of it as being the longer-the lovier, der Jelängerjelieber. However with them der Ziegenfuβ (goat’s foot) is nothing else than the crow-bar, F. le pied-de-biche (hind’s foot)… But what about der Ziegenpeter (the goat Peter)? This means in English mumps, unless you prefer die Ohrspeicheldrüsenentzündung! which is the literal description of the illness: inflammation of the glands of the auditory duct which we may shorten in parotidis…A good reason to turn crazy, F. devenir chèvre!

In Chinese, goat is said /shan1yang2 (mountain sheep) and honeysuckle / ren3dong1 (to endure winter). A lot of Chinese words are built with the word / shan1, mountain. For example, / shan1cha2 the mountain tea-plant, i.e. the camellia which is also called by English people japonica or Japanese rose. We have also / shan1ci2gu, the mountain arrowhead which is an edible tulip. Not to be mistaken with F. la cigüe, hemlock, this poisonous umbelliferous plant. We have also / shan1ji1, the moutain chicken indicating the pheasant or again / shan1que4, the mountain sparrow to name the titmouse! You know this little mouse? Indeed this has nothing to do with a mouse, it was the former old English word mase used of several small birds. This will explain the German term die Meise to indicate the titmouse. We all know that the titmouse lives on ants. Isn’t it the reason why in German ant is said die Ameise?

21 – Ant

For many centuries the ant has been a symbol of thrift and industry. We find its dedication in the Bible, Proverbs VI, 6:

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways and be wise”

In fact we say in F. c’est une fourmi (she is an ant) to speak of a hard-working and thrifty person. Ant in Chinese, / ma3yi3 (wfw: ma, horse insect, / yi4 virtue insect) figures a symbol of right conduct and of patriotism. NB yi means virtue. French expression: avoir des fourmis dans les jambes (to have ants in the legs) is translated in English to have pins and needles in one’s leg, in G. es krabbelt mir am Beine (I have crabs in my leg, it tickles me), all this to indicate the swarming of ants, F. le fourmillement, the medical word being formication, a sensation of ants crawling over the skin, not to confuse with fornication, the voluntary sexual intercourse between two persons!

22 – Crab

In China, dried crab enjoys a reputation as an aphrodisiac. Crabs, / xie4 are dried and hung up at the entrance of a house; they look more or less like the head of a tiger, and this is why it can repel bad magic. Is this the reason why English people call a wild apple, crab-apple? No idea but contrary to what we may think to catch a crab means in reality to take the wrong road! Then if you go fishing, catching crabs and you fill your basket with crabs, it means that you are on the wrong track, that in rowing you fail to strike the blade deeply enough into the water and that you are in company of people hating each other…At this time, it’s quite normal F. se mettre des bâtons dans les roues (to put sticks in s.o.’s wheels) i.e. to put a spoke in s.o.’s wheel or to crab! To avoid wheels you may use a caterpillar engine which F. name is un crabe… and English’s one a weasel! meaning both a tracked vehicle or a stoat or a ferret like animal. When English speaking people use the term crab-writing, they express the same as our pattes de mouche (fly’s legs), i. e. our ill-formed handwriting hard to decipher when we were kids! You should know that kid in German is said die Krabbe, a crab! It’s also a shrimp*, a winch or a gin, a kind of crane also called crab in English. So when using words beware to their meanings and to the word for word translation.

23 – Shrimp

The French word for shrimp used to be chevrette! (small goat*) but the Norman etymology la crevette has been preferred to it. We all know that the pink one is called bouquet, which comes from le bouc, the name of the he-goat; this is due to the wattles of both animals. In English it’s name is prawn, G. der Seekrebs (sea prawn); the greyish, F. la crevette grise or salicoque, meaning hopping shell, is called shrimp, G. der Flohkrebs (flee prawn) probably because it hops like a flee. By the way the word F. écrevisse is translated in English by fresh-water prawn, whereas Dublin prawn or Norway lobster are in fact our F. langoustines! We think lobster would mean la langouste! Not really, the exact term being spiny lobster or sea-crayfish. In Chinese sea-crayfish is named / long2xia1, the dragon prawn! Short, shrimp, prawn, lobster, sea-crayfish… we can make a sea-food dish out of them! And even die of it! Vatel, Louis XIV’s chef, who prepared a lobster sauce at Chantilly (famous for its cream): he was forced to retire to his room and run his sword through his body because the lobsters intended for the sauce had not arrived! His suicide was announced with dignity as a late coming of sea-food. We have got enough to F. devenir rouge comme un homard (become red like a lobster), i. e. as red as a beetroot!

24 – Plate

Everybody his Chantilly’s cream, his lobster sauce and his plateful of cold meats called F. assiette anglaise (English plate), G. die schwedische Schüssel (the Swedish plate)! Do not confuse with die Schussel (without umlaut which means hare-brained, even cockchafer). Anyway, you are not to put on the agony, F. en faire tout un plat (to make a full dish of it), G. eine lange Brühe über etw. machen (to make a long juice out of it) or eine groβe Salbe um etw. machen (to make a big pomade out of it). We, French people, could also say en faire tout un fromage (to make a whole cheese of it).

25 – Cheese

Fortunately we have got plenty kinds of cheese and we can differentiate them according to the country: French cheese, Dutch cheese, in keeping the origin of the soil…except for the Swiss cheese which becomes Gruyère. In speaking of Switzerland I am thinking to William Tell who was sentenced to shoot with his bow and arrow an apple from the head of his own son – who must have been rather small, F. haut comme trois pommes? (tall like three apples), the German speaking people would say ein Kerlchen drei Käse hoch (a kid tall like three cheeses)…You are ready to tell me that I exaggerate and that I should not believe the moon is made of green cheese, where we say F. il ne faut pas prendre des vessies pour des lanternes (do not take bladders for lanterns*). But should we really talked about it at the end of the meal, F. entre la poire et le fromage (wfw: between pear and cheese), in common English over the walnuts and wine? Really this phenomenon of believes and civilisations are putting us in a big cheese, F. dans le pétrin (in the kneading-trough). Should we, for this reason, cheese off? which means in F. avoir le cafard (to have the cockroach*), i.e. to be browned off, fed up!

26 – Cockroach

In German F. avoir le cafard is said Grillen fangen (to catch crickets). The French word cafard would come to us from Arabian kafir meaning miscreant, renegade. In , this is a devout person or one who denounces others. But the animal is F. la blatte. We are far from the kind cricket called cri-cri, like is chirping. As far as English people are concerned, they name it cockroach or black beetle. This is a question of colour, since the cockroach is rather brown than black. But when in UK we have the blues, French people crush black F. broyer du noir, it’s really because it makes us homesick. Now by this name beetle they not only describe the insect of order coleoptera but also an overhang of cliffs or the shaggy brows. I like as well their compound word beetle-crushers not to use our disgusting écrase merde (shit crushers) for describing large boots or feet. The Germans name the beetle as the undesirable kitchen’s guest, der Küchenschabe (the kitchen’s raker?) as far as the medical term insolation is concerned, F. le cafard, G. der Tropenkoller (the tropical delirium) which indeed means in F. attraper or avoir un coup de bambou (to catch / have a bamboo stroke). i.e. a sunstroke that makes us cracked! If we go back to the English cockroach, roach means in F. le gardon, a small freshwater fish allied to carp; this is the reason why they have translated our expression sain comme un gardon, even frais comme un gardon in sound as a roach! i.e. in first-rate health. As far as the verb to roach is concerned, it means to trim a horse’s mane, hence is also applied to a style of cutting a man’s hair. Thus you might worry yourself grey, where we say F. se faire des cheveux blancs (to make oneself white hairs). I told you already, this is just a question of colour! Especially when you know that roach – the ending of cockroach – is slang for marijuana cigarette-butt! And the part of a gun which is called cock in English, the lever on gun raised, ready to be released by trigger, does not apply to a domestic fowl, a cock, but to a dog, a dog of gun, in French (un chien, un chien de fusil!). They also say

hammer for this.

27 – Dog

The faithful friend of man ever since in many civilisations, the Chinese one included where, although dog is eaten, some respect is also granted to him. If a dog runs towards you, it is a good sign: riches will be yours. If you dream that a dog has bitten you, it means that your ancestors want something to eat. In their folk-tales it is the dog that brings rice to mankind. Besides in ancient times neither dogs nor cats should be buried, as they will turn into demons. This is the reason why the cat is hung, the dog thrown into the water. We notice that dog’s life, F. la vie de chien is not that good, we say sick as a dog, F. malade comme un chien, English also say sick as a cat! And F. un temps de chien (dog’s weather) for a beastly, awful weather. Often the qualification is undesirable. When you have got a beastly weather, it rains cats and dogs. F. say il tombe des cordes (it falls ropes) or hallebardes (halberts). And yet, un temps de chien, an awful weather, it’s also applying to the canicular days, the dog’s days, F. la canicule. Indeed this should come from the other name of the Sirius star in the constellation of the Big Dog, rising with the Sun. The combined heat of both the Dog-Star and the Sun give us the days of great heat about 3 July to 11 August for some, 22 July to 23 August for others. Anyway, as the English say every dog has his day. Twilight will remain for French, l’heure entre chien et loup (the hour between dog and wolf). However F. chien-loup is said in G. der Wolfshund, English people wanted to make a difference, they call him Alsatian dog! But if F. avoir du chien (to have dog) is translated in English as to have charm, in G. we shall say either ein Teufelskerl (to be a small devil) or ein Blitzmädl sein (to be a sparkling girl). We notice that sometimes the dog has got a good part… F. Il n’y a pas que d’autres chiens à fouetter (There is not only other dogs to whip) that our English friends translate to have other fish to fry. In England, the tamed and kept as favourite animals, the pets, hold a place of honour; with evidence all parts of the body are mentioned, you have dog’s ear, the corners of pages crumpled and folded down, dog’s nose, a drink of beer mixed with gin; on the other hand the tooth is missing from the list, F. chiendent (dog’s tooth) is said dog-grass and couch-grass. The Germans are more romantic

³, F. les fleurs bleues du romantisme, the symbol of the Blue Flower of romanticism, they prefer the language of the flowers, die Hundeblume (dog’s flower) to name the dandelion. As concerned the similarity of colours, if the naturally pink dog-rose is used to design the common wild hedge-rose; the black dog in Chinese, / hei1quan3, is a man who runs after every woman he sees, a womaniser. Gather thistles, expect pickles!

28 – Rose

We have just seen that joy involves sorrow; just as the Dog Rose signifies pleasure mixed with pain, we could commonly say no rose without a thorn. This fragrant flower is the symbol of maidenhood and love. The Romance of the Rose written by a 13th century French poet was rewritten later in modern French by Clément Marot, this poem presents us in its first part the art of love, and in the second the satire against women. An English version was translated by Chaucer. The rose is precisely an emblem of England and Chivalry. We know the War of the Roses (1455-1485), opposing the House of York (The Tudor Rose) with the White Rose to the House of Lancaster with The Red Rose, which put an end to the English feudal system. Like the rose symbolises love, Venus is the Roman goddess of beauty and sensual love who has sprung from the foam of the sea, known as rosemary, F. romarin, G. der Rosmarin. The shrub is said to be useful in love-making having aphrodisiac virtue. We know the reason now why doe-rabbit are reproducing so well, we found out the secret F. découvrir le pot aux roses! (To discover the roses’ pot). The rose has given its name to other plants: the rose-bay, F. le laurier rose, which indicates also the rhododendron, quite normal since it is also known as Alps rose-bay. The colour like a pale red rose, or warm pink, short the rose, F. rose, is also attributed to a lot of animals: the pig, the prawn, the flamingo but also the rosewood, a kind of Brazilian rosewood. The flower language may have a bad connotation as F. envoyer sur les roses (to send to roses) meaning to send s.o. packing to express to go to blazes, F. aller au diable (to go to the devil*); but we have got also good ones such as F. avoir un teint de lis et de rose (to have a lily [-white] and rose complexion) which our German friends express wie Milch und Blut aussehen (to look like milk and blood). For them no question to use the word rose where we employ it and the

other way round. In fact they say mit der Zeit pflückt man Rosen (with the time we pick up roses) to express all’s well, to those who can wait. We have again der Rosenkohl (pink cabbages) to name Brussels sprouts! But the rose colour is closed to salmon-pink, lilac, even African marigold: F. rose d’Inde (Indian rose) – which English consider rather gold or bright yellow! – which indeed as French say is a kind of oeillet d’Inde (Indian pink) known in English as French marigold!! We should know if it is of Africa, India or ? If it is pinkish or yellowish? We are sure anyway that it is a plant of genus Tagetes, from an Etrusan divinity. This plant could come from Greece, Italy or India… From pink pig to Guinea-pig, F. cochon d’Inde (Indian pig) it’s only a step.

29 – Pig

Our nice cavy, F. le cobaye, is called in England Guinea-pig, you know that rodent kept as pet or for research in biology. Whereas Guinea-fowl is reserved to a gallinaceous bird with slate-coloured white-spotted plumage, F. la pintade. They considered Guinea as the origin of these animals. But don’t confuse Guinea-fowl referring to the animal with Guinea-hen, an Elizabethan synonym for a prostitute. The pig alone is really a symbol. Thus the smallest pet pig of a litter is called St Anthony’s pig, reason why this saint is often represented accompanied with a little pig which follows him close to his heels like a dog! The Chinese call the pig: / zhu1 it symbolises virility. However in Asia pigs are rather black or white than pink! But Eating roast pig / / chi1kao3zhu1rou4 is a metaphor for sexual intercourse. Should we not change the word pornography into “pork-nography”? These are no obscenities, F. cochonneries (dirty pig attitude) but serious matter. As well in the 17th century when people from Mandchuria invaded China, the Chinese were required to wear pigtails as a sign of servitude. But the word pigtail in England applies also to a tobacco twisted into a thin rope! Now to live like pigs in clover means in F. vivre comme un coq en pâte (to live like a cock in paste) showing that we can jump from pig to cock, just as we skip from one subject to another, i.e. F. er du coq à l’âne (to skip from cock to donkey)! By the way what is called in F. un dos d’âne (donkey back) becomes with the English people a hog back to illustrate a crested hill-ridge! As far as to bleed like a stuck pig is concerned, for us it is to bleed like a bull! (F .saigner comme un boeuf). We also have to come hogging round the corner to show a driver’s behaviour driving in a bend at breakneck speed, where French people stick to the tyre in saying F. prendre un virage sur les chapeaux de roues (to take a bend on the wheels’ top). As far as the German are concerned when they use the word das Schwein, they either think good or bad about the pig according to their mood. Du bist ein

Schwein means like in UK swine, a person of bestial habits, but Schwein haben (to have swine) means to be in luck. Same with die Sau (sow) which also indicate a slattern! But saudumm (stupid like a sow) would rather be translated in F. bête comme ses pieds (stupid like his feet) or bête à manger du foin (stupid as to eat hay)! At school ein Schwein in Heft (a swine in a note book) it is a blot, a blur. However the compound word der Schweinigel is the name of the hedgehog, so called due to its spines and pig-snout.

30 – Hedgehog

We have just seen that its German name is der Igel or der Schweinigel. Its name is associated, of course, to all kinds of prickles: chimney-broom, barbed wire, climbing irons, portcullis, draining-rack for bottles, and even urchin, tetraodon. Hedgehog is also the archaic name for sea-urchin, F. le hérisson de mer, G. der Seeigel. This insectivorous mammal is rolling itself up into ball for defence, so that only the prickles appear. French familiar expression se mettre en boule (to curl oneself up) means to loose one’s temper, in English it is translated by to curl up like a hedgehog.. From a tractable animal it becomes an ill-tempered person, short it becomes an unlicked, cub an unmannerly fellow, F un ours mal léché (an unlicked bear)

31 – Bear

Every cantankerous, rude and uncivilized person is considered as an unlicked cub, F. ours mal léché or vieil ours (old bear). For the Chinese the bear, / xiong2, symbolises man, just as the snake symbolises woman. The bear stands for strength and courage. Courage, we need, to take the bear by the tooth, meaning needless to run into danger, which is equivalent to to put one’s head into the lion’s mouth, F. mettre la tête dans la gueule du loup, where the lion has changed himself into a wolf.* Russia has also an old nickname The Northern Bear, and is still depicted as a bear in political cartoons. In the ideological quarrel between the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union, the Russian bear has come to symbolise the aggressor. Mao Ze-dong referred to it as “Polar bear”. In Chinese version of the Little Red (Red not Russian!) Riding Hood story the wicked bear replaces the wolf. The words built with bear are rather funny. Examples: •Bear and bee, / xiong2feng2 / gives the drone ; •Bear and monkey, / xiong2hou2, names the Assam macaque ; •Bear and cat, / xiong2mao1, means of course the panda.

Concerning our well-known expression: F. Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué (don’t sell the bear’s skin before you have killed him) which is from La Fontaine, the English speaking people express it don’t count your chicken before they are hatched. The English compound word bear garden,a plea of confusion, noise is in F. une pétaudière. In Tudor and Stuart times the gardens were kept and baited for public amusement were notorious for noise and riotous

disorder. In German, bear is said der Bär. If the Northern Bear represents Russia, Berlin has also the bear as symbol. This let me think to the famous statement of Bill Clinton upon his arrival in Berlin: Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner). By chance when he came in Paris, he didn’t say Ich bin ein Pariser (I am a Parisian) since ein Pariser, it is also a contraceptive sheath… or F.une capote anglaise (English hood) which English call French mail! More correct the Germans would say der Kondom. Nothing common with our good town of Condom in the Gers department, Bossuet’s hometown. I wish you happy lectures. This is a proof once more that we will never agree on the subject, tune up as F. accorder nos violons (tune our violins).

32 – Violin

Who say violin, think at once to the violin maker Antonio Stradivari who created the famous Stradivarius in Cremona. Before him his fathers were Andra and especially Nicolo Amati. In another we have F.violon d’Ingres, an artist who practices another art than the one, he masters, like the well-known painter Ingres who played the violin, his pet hobby. Anyway it is better to play violin in full freedom rather than to be locked up, F. le violon means also the cells, the lock-up, this is in analogy with the violin strings and the prison bars. But a violin or sea violin, in F. un violon de mer it’s also a rolling table, as a matter of fact a simple plank with holes to maintain bottles and glasses straight up on the table when on board a boat to brave the storm. Violin is also known as Strad, from Stradivarius, and fiddle. Someone drunk as a fiddler, in is drunk as a thrush (F. saoul comme une grive). The fiddlers aboard ship used to be paid in liquor for playing to the dancers, hence the expression. If you drink too much, you will walk in air, F. être aux anges (to be with angels) or être au septième ciel (to be in the seventh sky). For this Germans say der Himmel hängt ihm voller Geigen (the sky hangs above him full of violins)? This is a bit F. crincrin (a violin sort name from its screaming noise) whose name comes from the string made of horsehair (F. le crin). This is rather F. mauvais violon (bad violin) and here we are again immersed in alcool with the Teutons who say this is die Bierfiefel (a beer fiddle)! Ah! How I like linguistic differences! The more when I hear the English fiddlede-dee or the German paperlepa corresponding to our turlututu. But languages teach us a lot of things. Thus the German term das Geigenharz (violin resin), Engl rosin, is it just colophany, F. la colophane, a resin of Colophan in Lydia used to upkeep the horsehair of violin bows.

33 – Thrush

This small bird of family Tunditae is also known under the French name vendangette (small grape-gathering) because it gorges, feeds greedily on grapes, this is why we say être saoul comme une grive (drunk as a thrush). It gave us also the word F grivois (licentious) due to all what happens after a drinking-bout (F saouleries), here I mean of course debauch and licentiousness. Of course everyone knows the phrase: faute de grive, on mange des merles (lack of thrush, one eats blackbirds) used to express that we will be satisfied with what is to eat. In English they say half a loaf is better than no bread. In German in der Not fritzt der Teufel Fliegen. (in the want the devil devours flies). But to be drunk in French is also être gris (to be grey.

34 – Grey

In the previous expression F. être gris, the Germans say blau sein (to be blue) where we sometimes say être noir (to be black)! Speaking of alcohol I am thinking to vin gris (grey wine), this dear rosé d’Anjou wine which Germans name bleichroter Wein (pale red wine), just enough to turn grey, F. blêmir. Someone who will be in this state, we could give him the cold shoulder, F. faire grise mine (to make a grey figure), G. ein saures Gesicht machen (to make a hard, or acid figure). But if the grey colour attracts sadness, it stands for nobler things such as the grey matter, F. la matière grise, the brain so called due to its greyish tissue. And we also have F. l’éminence grise (the grey eminence) which comes from Cardinal Richelieu’s trusty Counsellor, the French Leclerc de Tremblay. He was a close and shadowy advisor exercing power behind the scenes. Such a person is like the grey mare on the better horse, F. la femme porte la culotte (the woman wears the pants). Let it be the woman or the husband, this is the least of my worries. This is expressed by the Germans as darüber lasse ich mir keine grauen Haare wachsen (for such I do not let my hair grow grey). We also know that at night all cats are grey, F. la nuit tous les chats sont gris, since at nightfall we cannot distinguish the colours. Beware in German als es grau wurde (as it becomes grey) doesn’t mean that night is falling, but on the contrary its daybreak! However for the mists of time, F. la nuit des temps, they say das graue Altertum (the grey antiquity); we could also say the remote antiquity. Shades are precised in French, we have gris perle (pearl grey), gris souris (mouse grey) for mouse-coloured, gris ardoise (slate-grey). However F. le tabac gris which was formerly so called since the tobacco was wrapped in a grey paper is called shag ; in English it refers to the coarse cut of tobacco, not to the coulour…A close word slag corresponds to F. mâchefer (clinker), scories (volcanic scoria) hence cendrées (wfw: ashes, i.e. cinders) since ash is ashgrey…

The Chinese express grey with the compound word / hui1se4 (ash colour), therefore F. gris cendré cannot be translated, as in English. By the way F. oie cendrée, in English grey goose is also called greylag, wfw: oie garnie meaning furnished goose! And their greyhound is this slender long-legged dog used in coursing hares. In English we also meet The Grey Friars, G. die grauen Mönche to name the Franciscans, so called after the colour of their grey habit, which is now brown! In German das Grauerz (the grey ore) stands for galena (from Grek galêné meaning lead*) which is in fact lead sulphide of a bluish-grey colour. Bluish grey brings me to greyish-green, G. graugrün meaning however glaucous! i.e. sea-green!… Of course the French have also the faithful donkey*, F. le grison (small grey) also called in G. das Grauchen (le petit gris / small grey).It should not be confuse with le petit-gris, the Siberian squirrel or the snail. The popular German verb built on grey, graulen, means goose-flesh, F. la chair de poule (hen flesh)! Exactly similar to the other phrase dabei überläuft mich eine Gänsehaut (with this a goose-flesh is running on me) for it makes one’s flesh creep. Note, English and German agree on goose, whereas French mention the hen! It’s fowl anyway, unless you think it’s fool!

35 – Hen

In many Asian countries chicken bones are used to consult oracles as earlier tortoise’s shell. In Chinese chicken, hen is said / ji1, and as for us a wild hen is a prostitute. French would say poule de luxe (luxury hen), for a girl with lack of moral in her conduct. However F. la poule d’Inde (Indian hen) is not an Indian prostitute, but a Turkey hen according to Englishmen. Really their sense of geography is not quite up to the mark. Germans are more precise since they call it der Kalekuter (Calcutta’s resident!). In fact the Turkey hen would come from South America; it would have been introduced from Mexico into Spain to reach us. But, when English say hens and chickens, they either mean the emblem of God’s providence in Christian art or large and small pewter pots mixed together! A grey hen stands for a stone bottle for holding liquor; and in Scotland, a tappithen correspond to a jeroboam, a large bottle containing roughly 6 litres. The other grey-hen known to us is the small heath-hen! That’s enough to be astonished, just as F. une poule qui a trouvé un couteau (a hen which has found a knife). Sometimes it is difficult to cut short, to be cock sure, when you know that F. quand les poules auront des dents (when hens will have teeth) is expressed in English with when pigs begin to fly! We may laugh heartily, just as Germans do when they hear this phrase, it is a joke, because they say da lachen die Hühner (here hens are laughing)! But without skipping from one subjet to the other, F. er du coq à l’âne (to from cock to ass, we could consider the cock.

36 – Cock

Precisely this last French expression would come from the time of stagecoaches. When coachmen changed their mounts, they were in fact ing from horse to ass. The Germans have kept the original expression vom Pferd auf den Esel kommen whereas the English without copying on French says cock and bull, they have jumped from cock to bull. That’s really a long coloured or incredible story, a cock and bull story, if you prefer. F. une histoire à dormir debout (a story to sleep stand up). For sure, from one continent to the other, the expressions are evolving. Hear our crowing cock cocorico, In English cock-a-doodle-do, in German Kikeriki and in Chinese wowowo; last song or crow would rather be the barking of a dog in ! The cock, in Chinese: / gong1ji1 is a symbol of male vigour. Besides, their vocabulary gives us good pictures, since / ji1ba (hen’s wish) names the think suggesting a tail, i.e. the penis, and / ji1guan (cock’s crest) is the clitoris. If I well English use the term big cock for this, equivalent to F. grosse bite! Another word currently used for prostitute, which has a similar tune is / ji4nü3 (public girl). Don’t be ashamed in reading these lines! French would say rougir comme un coq (to become red like a cock), where English use red as a Turkey cock, like the Germans rot wie ein Truthahn, this time they both agree, because they are of Anglo-Saxon origin!

37 – Red

With this word, F. nous voyons tout rouge (we see all red), we become crimson with rage, but we should not get excited for that much. Indeed in China red stands for riches, it’s the colour of the summer, of the South and of the ancient realm of Zhou1 / (1050-256 B.C.). This period is known as “Red Age” since all the dresses were of that colour; this was the harbinger of communism, of the revolution. Red / hong2 stands for happiness as well as for marriage; the white being kept for mourning. Red / chi4 also means naked. Thus a red child, this is a naked child, not a red-haired one! To have a red face was a token of holiness. Guan1-di4 / the God of war, of justice and righteousness is portrayed in the uniform of a general and on horseback: he is instantly recognisable by his red face. A red face, Ch. / hong2yan2, pictures a pretty woman; thus a red young girl (is not naked), she is like peach blossom and mature for love. A red cloud / hong2yun4 is a sign of good fortune, good luck. If mourning dress is white, in Europe it’s dark. However, in Chinese / hong2cha2 (red tea) means black tea! For English people red Friday (July 21st 1925) so-called due to stoppage in the coal industry, is known in French as black Friday (F. vendredi noir). Do not confuse either in Chinese red wood, Ch. / hong2mu4 standing for Brazilian rosewood, this fragrant exotic hard red wood with a hint of purple, black end yellow colour (!) with the red tree, Ch. / hong2shu4 standing for mangrove. Of course red, one of the basic colours of rainbow, is difficult to qualify. This is the reason why it has been associated with other names: brick-red, cherry-red, poppy-red (or flaming red), strawberry-red, as red-currant, peony-red, ruby-red, this glowing purple-tinged red colour ; French uses rouge-tomate (tomato-red), where English people prefer to say red as a beetroot, probably because in UK tomatoes stay unripe and green! We have also blood-red. We have already encountered red as a turkey-cock*, red as a lobster…The pick aberration remains with the red rose, although to-day we have roses other than…rose in colour! Speaking of brick-red, the English word redbrick applies to all English universities other than those of Oxford and Cambridge.

Thus we meet red from top to toe, since the red hat was the flat broad-brimmed hat bestowed upon cardinals, and the red heels were those of 17th century dandies and noblemen. But the day when we shall agree altogether, we should F. faire une croix au calendrier (to put a cross on the calendar) or marquer le jour d’un caillou blanc (to mark the day with a white pebble), which is expressed in English and in German with red, instead of white. G. der Tag rot in Kalender zeichnen (to mark the day red in the calendar), for red letter day in English. It seems however that the red lantern or red lamp stands for brothel in many countries.

38 – Lantern

The Chinese / deng1hong2-jiu3lü4 / “red lamps-green wine” describes the way of life in low pubs. We have just seen that one meaning of red lamp was used to name a bawdy house. This is why, when speaking of red lantern, we should not be mistaken, French says: il ne faut pas prendre des vessies pour des lanterns! (don’t take bladders for lanterns), because earlier the lamps were made with pork bladders. Our English friends say for this to believe that the moon is made of green cheese, Germans prefer jm blauen Dunst vormachen (to make blue dust in front of so) which is near our other term F. poussière aux yeux (dust in the eyes). it that these translations are magic, like the magic lantern! But you also have Chinese lantern called in F. lanterns chinoises or lanternes vénitiennes (Venitian lanterns) to name the lights, F. le lampion which is preferred by Germans, der Lampion. But I was on the point to forget to light my lantern, F. allumer sa lanterne, i.e. to recall you great thing: in China the lantern occurs in all sorts of shapes and is made from various materials. Nowadays they are symbols of fertility. In Buddhism, light stands for illumination and knowledge. They are signposts for guests and also for the souls of departed. The Chinese dedicate him a feast on the 15th day of the 1st full moon called “Feast of Lanterns” / / yuan2xiao1jie2 closing the New Year festivities. Chinese have their lanterns, we have ours. Think to Saint Gudule, the Patron saint of Brussels represented with a lantern. A tradition mentioned that she was one day going to the church with a lantern which went out, but the Holy Virgin lighted it again with her prayers. St Hugh is also represented holding a lantern in his hand. Here we speak seriously, but we are not on the lantern land, the land of charlatans as Rabelais liked to make allusion to the divines assembled in the Council of Trent. To finish with this word, F. je ne vous raconte pas des lanternes (I am not telling you lanterns), i.e. I don’t tell you idle story, if hollow cheeks in English is said lantern jaws, in comparison with the so thin skin of cheeks that one may see daylight through them. When they want, English are really imaginative.

39 – Hollow

We use this adjective in a lot of body parts: •F. joues creuses, hollow cheeks, G. hohlwängig •F. yeux creux, deep-set eyes, G. hohle Augen •F. nez creux (hollow nose) simply translated in English with to be shrewed, G. eine feine Nase haben (to have a fine nose) •F. dent creuse, hollow tooth, G. hohler Zahn •F. tête creuse becomes empty-headed in English, hohler Kopf in German •F. estomac creux for to feel hollow or to be hungry, G. die Herzgrube (the heart’s pit)!

But in English we have to beat so hollow which means in F. battre qn à plat de couture (to beat so on the flat seam), where hollow would be a corruption of wholly. As far as the French expression ventre affamé n’a point d’oreilles is concerned, it is about the same in English, the belly has no ears or in German einen hungrigen Magen schlecht predigen (we badly preach to a hungried belly). But I like very much the English term belly-timber by which British people, F. les G.-B. / Gueules de Bois (Wooden Mouths) – standing also for Great - Britain - for hang-over, digestive migraine, indicating food in the Elizabethan time and which would correspond to a translation of the French carrelure de ventre (refurnishing of the stomac) given by Cotgrove.

40 – Tooth

When we are very hungry, we feel hollow or F. nous avons les dents longues (we have long teeth). But this last expression means as well to be grasping for money or great loan. At this moment, we could fight tooth and nail, which French expresses with bec et ongle (bill and nail), where the bill replaces the tooth. Here the Germans say Haare auf den Zahn haben (to have hair on the tooth). In some persons have the hair on the tongue, F. un cheveu sur la langue! when they lisp. When writing these lines, I am thinking to the English term: by the skin of one’s teeth, which means by a mere hair’s breadth, F. d’un cheveu! He is an arrant liar is said in F. il ment comme un arracheur de dent (he lies like a toothdrawer) and in G. er lügt, dass die Balken brechen / biegen (he lies, that the beams break / bend)! In English too we should not confuse to be very hungry or to be graspy with to be long in teeth, which simply means old, French would say avoir de la bouteille (to have bottle)! It’s well known when we grew older, we become wiser. But did you know that wisdom tooth, F. la dent de sagesse, G. der Weisheitszahn, appears between the age of 17 and 25, years which we consider wise or of discretion? This wisdom tooth is sometimes called F. la dent de l’oeil, eye-tooth because it is located just under the eyes. When our dear British friends use the phrase to cut one’s eye-teeth, they mean someone is wide awake…But to acquire wisdom, is it not to keep quiet? F. ne pas desserrer les dents (not to unclench the teeth), where Anglo-Saxons use “mouth” instead of “teeth”: not to open the mouth, G. der Mund nicht auftun. And when French says être sur les dents (to be on the teeth), like a horse when she has the bit in her teeth, it is also to be done up, worn out. And if we have a far relation with the horse, Germans are thinking to the dog, since they say auf den Hund sein (to be on the dog)! Anyway, when in on met son personnel sur les dents (one put one’s staff on the teeth) to let him work hard, in England he dies: to work one’s staff to death. In China, dreaming about losing a front tooth was supposed to presage the

imminent death of one’s parents. It was better to grind the teeth to ward off ghosts, as it was the custom on entering a temple. The tooth is said / ya2 or / chi3, even / ya2chi3 in Chinese. And if you double the word tooth: / ya2ya2 it means that you mumble… All this, you will tell me, we can feel it…Don’t Germans say j’m auf den Zahn fühlen (to feel so on the tooth) to express to feel so’s pulse. ? For sure, it is the only place which I would not have touched! And what do you think of the English phrase tooth and egg, an obsolete corruption of tutenag (from Arabian tutiya), which is an alloy rich in zinc coming from the East Indies, much used for the lining of tea chests! What about the dentist’ forceps, G. der Zahnzang, called in F. le davier (forceps) or le pélican (pelican, named after this water-fowl, because of its pouch in bill for storing fish… or tools! Then you will tell me F. je n’ai rien à manger (I have nothing to eat), or je n’ai rien à me metre sous la dent (I have nothing to put under my tooth), or better in English to have peanuts to eat.

41 – Peanut

You all know this word which is a common name of the groundnut, F. arachide. Something that French people rarely know is that this fruit is not growing on trees like other nuts, but in the ground. Anglo-Saxons know it, because in their mother tongue, F. cacahouète, is translated groundnut, G. die Erdnuβ. On the other hand, Europeans apparently ignore the meaning of its Chinese name / hua1sheng1 (flower of life) or / chang2hua1guo3 (fruit of long life), it’s time to believe that eating peanuts may bring you a long life. When English use the word peanut, they missed the target, since peas are round…and peanuts have a rather long shape. And they were already mistaken with their Groundnut Scheme in 1947, when their government decided to clear large areas of unprofitable land in Africa to grow groundnuts. Since this term is associated to an expensive failure or ill-considered enterprise.

42 – Nut

In thinking about nuts, a lot of fruits are coming to mind. The first kind, the walnut, G. die Walnuβ which opens the list to the other categories. •F. la noix d’acajou or de cajou, cashew-nut, coming from anacard-tree which Chinese call / ji1yao4 (chicken kidney) due to its kidney shape. •F. la noix d’arec, betel-nut, which is used as tonic and astringent chewing compound, made of betel leaves – a kind of pepper-tree -, tobacco, lime and areca-nut (the other name for betel-nut), which Asian people are masticating the whole day. This gives them a black and red mouth, but worse bares their teeth. After having chewed betel, they spit it on the floor! We prefer to suck cachou lozenges made with this nut. Ch. / bing1lang. •F. la noix de coco, coconut, G. die Kokosnuβ, Ch. / ye1zi giving us milk and copra oil.The French word coco is also a drink: liquorice water mixed with lemon, which children are so fond of. •F. la noix de kola, kola-nut, Ch. / ke3le4guo3 (the funny fruit), which is a tonic and is used in drinks such as Coca-cola and in drugs. If the Chinese find it funny, it is probably due to its euphoric properties. People in Africa use it against thirst and to be stimulated under their tropics. •F. la pistache, pistachio-nut, which greenish kernel has left its name to the colour. Chinese find it yellow, since they call it: the fruit of the tree with yellow binding (huang2lian2mu4 de guo3shi2). The tree itself belongs to the genus anacardium like the cashew-nut; from the resinous pistachio-tree is withdrawn the Clio turpentine. •F. la noix muscade, nutmeg, Ch. / rou4dou4kou4 (cardamom pulp). Connecticut is sometimes nicknamed Nutmeg State, because this spice was allegedly manufactured for export there. •F. la noix de galle, gallnut, G. der Eichapfel (oak apple), Ch. / ying3 mei2shi2zi3 (the gall which is not eaten) or / wu3bei4zi3 (fivefold). Of course for the Chinese, China is the cradle for nutmegs, although the most fame

are from Alep due to their high tannin content (35 to 70 %). It’s true that those nuts are not eaten, but hey are used as dye. Exactly like sumac(h) which gives a gum resin also used in varnish, the famous Japanese varnish or Chinese lacquer… the sumac(h) secretion is due to an insect devouring its bark ; we have, for a long time, believed, it were the excrements of this tiny beast that gave us lacquer.

With all these nuts and their derivatives, we could say in the German way: das ist eine harte Nuβ zu knacken (it’s a hard nut to crack), which corresponds to our F. cela donne du fil à retordre (this gives thread to twist again) for you’ll have your work cut out! English people, they have a sledge-hammer to crack a nut, just to express the disproportionate steps to settle a matter. For this, they also say: to break a butterfly on a wheel, where you really need good will to succeed in doing it! In the same way of thinking, we could say: F. enfoncer un clou à la masse (to drive a nail with a beetle / sledge-hammer) or péter les boulons d’une roue (to break the bolt of a wheel)… You see, the gods give nothing to us without great labour, which would be translated in English with he who would eat the nut must first crack the shell. In England, the nutcrack night stands for All Hallowen’s eve, from the customary cracking of nuts at that time of the year. Nut is also the slang for head. F. qn qui a perdu la boule (so you has lost the ball, i. e. the head), we shall say to be off one’s nut, for F. qn de cinglé (a crazy person) or F. qn qui travaille du chapeau (so who works from the hat/ head), we currently say he’s nut. As in German alter Nuβknacker (old nut-cracker) is a grey beard or old fogey, we also say in F. quelle noix! (What a nut!), une vieille noix (an old nut), where English commonly speak of old chap! F. vieux copain! When we speak of worthless things, we just say F. à la noix, thing understood: à la noix…de coco, a shocking piece of work. But in UK nut stands also for the nut’s colour! Thus nut-brown is used for the hair, F. cheveux châtains. The nut-cracker chin is our F. menton en galoche (clog chin). F. noisette is however relevantly hazelnut! (Not nut). Butterfly and nut-cracker let me think to Robert Schumann’s music. This

German composer who wrote F. Papillons (Butterflies), a set of piano pieces based on several romantic poems by Goethe, Heine…and especially J. Mosen, the author of Der Nuβbaum (The Nut-tree), F. Casse-noisette (Hazelnut-cracker).

43 – Music

As everyone knows, music is the art of Muses, and especially Euterpe’s one, the inventress of the flute, of the dithyramb, of the lyric poetry. Jubal, the father of musicians, however, is not well known, although he is cited in Genesis IV, 21: “The father of all such handle the harp and organ” The musical stone or jade stone, / qing4 is one of the oldest Chinese and Vietnamese musical instruments. It seems to have developed from the xylophone. Its phonetic identity with / qing4, blessings, good luck, has led to its being used to symbolise “good luck”. We also know the harmony of the spheres, G. die Sphärenharmonie. This music reached us thanks to Pythagoras who ascertained that the pitch of notes depend on the rapidity of the vibrations, he concluded that planets must make sounds in their motion. Kepler has a treatise on this subject. You see, F. je connais la musique! (I know the music), for I know all the tricks. F. faire de la musique (to play music) in the figurative sense means to make a lot of noise, G. Lärm schlagen (to beat noise), but it is also to blackmail, F. faire du chantage (to bring so to sing).

44 – Black

In music, black is a note with black body and tail. For the Chinese, black / hei1 stands for the Dynasty of the first Emperor of China, Shi3 Huang2-di4 / who chose this colour after he had defeated the red Zhou Dynasty, since water associated with black puts out fire, red. According to the ancient teaching, black was associated with water, the North and a salty taste, its representative domestic animal was the pig. We should not forget that in Asia black pigs are as numerous as pink ones in Europe! As a symbol, black stands for darkness, death, honour. In the Chinese theatre heroes with blackened faces represent men who are honourable. The black tube, Ch., / hei1guan3 is the clarinet. The black language, Ch. / hei1hua4 corresponds to our F. langue verte (green language), meaning slang! Ch. / hei1jia1lun2zi (black gallon) stands for black-currant, F. le cassis. Ch. / hei1pi2jiu 3 (black beer) corresponds to stout, a dark beer, F. bière brune (brown beer)! Ch. / hei1xing1xing1 (black orang-outang) is the chimpanzee. By the way orang-outang is an Indonesian word meaning ape-man. Among the berries, we have the black-currant, F. le cassis, the blackberry, F. la mûre, G. die Maulbeere (the mouth berry); the equivalent of blackberry: G. die schwarze Beere means indeed bilberry, F. la myrtille. You see that from one country to the other, the colour perception, once more, differs quite a lot. We also have among pigment, the ivory black! (Logic would bring us to say ivory white, isn’t?) which is deep, pure black obtained from calcinations of very hard bones. Beware the English translation: Black Ivory names the African Negro slaves! Germans are more matter-of-fact, since they call it bone black, das Knochenschwarz.

But someone who F. broie du noir (crashes black), either crashes bones to make ivory black or is sad. In English we call it a dismal Jemmy, a diminutive of James, the slang for a burglar’s jemmy or crowbar, F. le pied-de-biche (she-doe foot). It is also a boiled sheep’s head so called from the tradition that James IV of Scotland breakfasted on one just before battles. In English to be black and blue is to be discoloured by bruises. We, French people, have dropped the black. In black eye, English in their turn have dropped F. beurre (butter), since we say F. un oeil au beurre noir (a black butter eye). However black butter becomes brown in German braune Butter! Finally, in UK someone called a blackleg, in he is yellow, F. c’est un jaune! well, a betrayer. In a figurative sense, when we say F. c’est sa bête noire (it is his black beast), this means, we have a horror of sg or hate sb; here, English say pet aversion. Germans are more imaginative with er ist mir ein Dorn im Auge (he is a thorn in my eye). Chinese say a nail in the eye: yan3zhong1ding1 / . In UK a blackthorn winter is a cold weather occurring when the blackthorn or sloe-tree is in full blossom.(F. épine noire or prunellier, G. der Schwarzdorn) in may, during Ice Saints week. Finally, if you want to imitate Bismarck, you ought to order his favourite drink: black velvet, an equal mixture of Champagne and Guinness. We also have the Black Stone at Mecca (Kaaba). Moslems say that it was white when it fell from heaven, but it turned black because of the sins of mankind.

45 – Eye

Chinese pay a lot of attention to the eye. Like us, a beautiful woman is said to have eyes like almonds, F. des yeux en amande. However “the being in my eyes”, Ch. / yan3zhong1ren2 (eye in the man) describes one’s mistress. Red eyes count as a bad sign: the god of brothel - Yes, he also exists! - has red eyes and white eyebrows. Besides “one-eye” is another expression for the penis. In English, a green eye is a jealous. Jealousy is also depicted as a green-eyed monster. And when they speak nonsense, they say all my eye and Betty Martin, an invocation to St Martin in prayers without believing in it, since this means that is all bosh! When they are fully occupied in work, it’s up to the eyes, where we have it above the head, F. par-dessus la tête! However, their expression to make sheep’s eyes for F. faire les yeux doux (to make smooth eyes), is closer to country life, since they associate it to this so sweet animal for children. In German: •die Augenbutter (butter eye), F la châssie, is the rheum in the eyes, this watery secretion of mucus membrane; •der Augenkneifer (pinch eye) is F. un pince-nez (pinch-nose), this pair of eyeglasses with spring to clip nose! •die Augenwurz (eye root) stands for the wood anemone or wind-flower, F. anémone des bois. •der Augentrost (eye’s consolation) means both consolation and eyebright, or euphrasy (eufrasia officinalis), F. eufraise, a plant that was used as remedy for weak eyes.

Among compound words of which none correspond to the named animal, we have:

•L’oeil-de-boeuf, bull’s eye, depicting a thick disc or boss of glass, short a small circular window, usually called an attic-window. •L’oeil-de-chat, cat’s eye, a semi-precious gem, a form of chatoyancy quartz. In UK, this names also a reflector embedded in the road as a guide for motorists at night or in fog. Full of imagery, isn’t? •L’oeil-de-perdrix (partridge’s eye) to call the soft corn between toes. •L’oeil-de-pie (magpie’s eye) which corresponds to an eyelet-hole in a sail; this word is probably less known to the public except sailors.

We also have a lot of biblical quotations based on eye; I will withhold the one which brings me to a new word: F. il voit la paille de l’œil du voisin et ne voit pas la poutre dans le sien. (He sees the straw in his neighbour’s eye and not the beam in his own) for to see the mote in one’s brother’s eye, G. der Splitter im frenden, den Balken im eigenen Auge nicht sehen (do not see the splinter in the foreign eye, the beam in one’s own), which is closer to the French one.

46- Straw

This word deg chaff, stubble, often calls forth bad positions or tight corners. F. être / coucher sur la paille (to be / lay on the straw) or F. mettre sur la paille (to put on the straw) means to be destitute, without resources, in great need, thus it foretells downfall. G. zum Bettler machen (to make beggar). The man of straw is acting as a dummy or figure-head in gloomy things, suspicious matters. So much that this word alone F. une paille, chaff means very little, valueless. F. le feu de paille (straw fire), i.e. flash in the pan is also a token of bad omen. And F. le paillard, a dissolute rake, or F. le vagabond qui couche sur la paille (the tramp sleeping on straw) became ribald, G. der Hurer, making a pair with die Hure, the prostitute. Only F. le vin de paille (straw wine) will warm up the heart, this wine made of grapes which mellow on straw, to differentiate with F. le vin jaune (yellow wine) which need to be kept a certain time and enduring several filtrations. We should avoid drinking it with a straw…nowadays we should say a plastic! To be protected from the sun rays nothing better than F. un chapeau de paille (a straw hat), a Leghorn hat. Leghorn stands for the Italian town, but also for the race of a valuable lay-hen. Since we are speaking of winged creatures, we can also name F. le paille-queue (tail straw) or paille-en-cul (straw in bottom), standing for the phaeton, this big bird, son of the Tropical Sun (Phoebus) having a long tail, simply called in English white-tailed Tropic bird, whereas we named it too “messenger of the sun”, with its two long feathers without wattle which make him look so funny. In English, straw in the wind stands for slight hint that suggests much, like in F. les bruits qui courent (running noises), i.e. to put a rumour afloat. You don’t care F. comme en l’an quarante (like in the year forty), you will tell me, which gives to care not a straw. Thus, as every one may foresee, F. c’est la dernière goutte qui fait déborder le vase. (it is the last drop that let the vase overflow) corresponding to English this is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. By the way, camel, in Chinese, is said / luo4tuo2 and desert: /

sha1mo4, pronounced like the French word chameau for camel; we would find this quite normal, since the camel is living in the desert! This mnemotechnic mean is this time very interesting for French speaking people. Germans also have good pictures with die Strohblume (straw flower), the everlasting flower, F. immortelle, or with der Strohkopf (straw head), a blockhead, an empty mind; again better die Strohwitwe (straw widow) to denote a divorced woman or one deserted by her husband or a wife temporarily parted from her husband, or vice-versa with der Strohwitwer (straw widower). The equivalents in English are grass-widow and grass-widower. By the way, F. l’ immortelle des Alpes (Alps immortelle) or des neiges (of the snows) is also called edelweiss. For the Eight Immortals, Ch. / ba1xian1, their saints who have obtained or developed supranatural powers, see the appendix. How can we speak of straw without naming the strawberry? F. la fraise; this fruit protected from frost with straw, hence its English name, called in G. die Erdbeere (the earth berry), not to confuse with die Erdnuβ (the earth nut) standing for peanut.

47 – Strawberry

Next to the well known strawberry, F. la fraise, we have got another tree or bark naevus mushroom with the same name in French, and also F. la fraise du désert (desert strawberry), the name of a cactus fruit. I will leave aside the colloquial expressions, F. aller aux fraises (to go to strawberries) either to pick them up or to wander in charming company, or F. sucrer les fraises (to sugar the strawberries), meaning to shake or to be in senile decay, or F. ramener sa fraise (to bring back one’s strawberry: here the face) for one’s ruff counting, having the meaning of to cast one’s thoughts back. I will retain la fraise du dindon, the wattle of turkey, this fleshy appendage on head or throat of turkey; also known in French as caroncules. But the English name stands also for the barb of fish and an Australian acacia, mimosa, G. die Fleischwarze (the flesh wart). In UK strawberry leaves are the emblem of a dukedom which coronet is ornamented with eight strawberry leaves. We also have the strawberry mark, a birth mark something like a strawberry, F. la fraise or currently la tache de vin (wine fleck),because it is soft reddish like wine! Chinese also say of the strawberry that it is a fruit kept in straw, / cao3mei2 ( / cao3 = straw). Do not confuse either / cao3, straw with / cao4 which means vulgarly F. enfiler une femme (to thread a woman), i.e. to fuck, composed of two superposed, overlapping characters one having the meaning to come in, and the other flesh, i.e. to come in the flesh just like when copulating!

48- Flesh

Flesh is usually associated to bone or blood to insist upon the person; F. en chair et en os is translated in G. im Fleisch und Blut, like the English flesh and blood, sometimes im Fleisch und Bein (flesh and bone). Thus bones are becoming blood! We have already seen that as a result of coldness or fear, the skin is bristling, creeping like a goose-flesh, G. die Gänsehaut, F. la chair de poule, where the goose becomes a hen in French. Flesh expresses also carnal desires often cited in the Bible: the mind is quick, the flesh is weak, F. l’esprit est prompt, la chair est faible, G. der Geist ist willig, aber das Fleisch ist schwach. We also encounter F. la résurrection de la chair, where chair is becoming “body” in English: the resurrection of the body; the Word was flesh, G. das Wort ward Fleisch, F. le Verbe s’est fait chair (Verb instead of word) which should not be confused with F. faire bonne chère, to live well which originally meant faire bon visage (to make a nice face), bon accueil (good welcome) since the word chère is coming from Greek kara standing for head, face, nowadays the meaning is rather: to have a good meal. The French expression ni chair, ni poisson (neither flesh nor fish) to qualify an irresolute person, is probably coming from the Bible in reference to the days of fasting; English people have added the fowl and named the fish in saying to be neither flesh, fowl, nor good red herring! Germans use the same expression as we do weder Fisch noch Fleisch or neither warm nor cold: weder warm noch kalt. In English, when you have got a splinter under the skin, a thorn in the flesh, it is a source of constant irritation. The phrase is taken out from the Bible (II Cor. xii, 7) When French people say hacher qn menu comme chair à pâté (to mince like pâté flesh), the English prefer to thresh s.o. within an inch of his life. Here too, instead of an inch of life, we would rather say à deux doigts de la mort (two fingers of the death)! It is like the story of the glass half-full or half empty…it’s either the life or the death. Before going, better to pay one’s debt at nature, or better to go the way of all flesh.

Failing to go, we may still return home or rediscover the family flesh-pot, F. le pot-au-feu, expressed in German with zu den ägypthischen Fleischtöpfen zurückkehren. Funny, here the English speaking people would use a similar expression to sigh for the flesh-pots of Egypt, where the French would rather say in the same meaning regretter les oignons d’Egypte (to regret the Egypt’s onions). Note by the way our F. pot-au-feu (fire pot) has been changed in fleshpot! Should we, for this reason, F. en donner cher de sa peau? (To give much of one’s skin) i.e. one’s skin fetches a high price. Some compound words with flesh in German are imaginative: das Fleischfaβ (the flesh barrel) is indeed a salting-tub; der Fleischgegner (the flesh opponent) is of course the vegetarian. And when you make a butcher’s walk, einen Fleischergang machen, it means F. faire chou blanc (to make white cabbages), i.e. to draw a blank or to make a duck! They also say G. ein Loch schieben (to push a hole)!

49- White

In China, white, this immaculate colour, is symbolically connected with the West; so the “white tiger” is the animal of the West, just as the blue dragon is the creature of the East. White, Ch. / bai2, is also the symbolic colour of the Shang1 Dynasty / . / Shang1 Chao2 It is also the colour of the autumn, and the emblem of old age. The earth-god, / tu3di4, is represented as an old man with a white face. On the stage, it stands for men who are cunning and treacherous; they are named / dou4fu (bean curd) faces, because this curd has a whitish-yellow colour. At the Feast of Lanterns*, white blossom presages a daughter; a yellow flower, on the contrary, stands for a son. It is often said that white is the colour of mourning in China. This is not quite correct: the word in question is su, which means a kind of unbleached sackcloth, and mourning apparel made from it is brownishyellow rather than white. The same word is used for vegetarian diet, Ch. / chi1su4 (to eat white), or / su4shi2 (white food), not to be confused with Japanese /sushi, a dish of mixed raw fishes. “Pure white”, Ch. / qing1bai2, as in Europe, is an expression denoting virginity. For us, in addition, white conveys moral values such as artlessness, sinless, singleness, truthfulness and hope. During a wedding, in UK, the bride wears the traditional white wedding dress and veil, white symbolising purity and virginity. For the same reason grey* horses were formerly used for the wedding carriage, and the post boys wore white hats. Of course white wedding stands also for a marriage of convenience, except when it is outlaw. In that case, you could tell like the Germans mir machen Sie das nicht weiβ (You will not make it white to me) just to protest loudly: nonsense! I like very much the repetition of the word white in Chinese, / bai2bai2 meaning in vain. This term should not be confused with the English bye bye! And what about the white herb which bends, / bai2qu1cai4 corresponding to the great celandine, F. la chélidoine, also called in F. l’herbe-aux-boucs, aux verrues, de l’hirondelle, respectively ram’s wort, warts wort, swallow wort…In English only swallow wort and rock poppy are current for this plant. F. chélidoine comes from Greek khelidon, meaning swallow; this yellow flowering

poppy has got a milky sap known to heal warts, hence its other name. The Chinese word / bai2tou2weng1 (white head old man) is also of interest to name either the anemone or the titmouse or the sterling! You have the choice, according to the context. In English the white haired boy is a highly favoured one, F. le chouchou, a pampered child… In bird matter, English call whitethroat what French name la grisette, the greyish bird! like Germans who also say das Weiβkehlchen (small whitethroat). Concerning the lesser whitethroat, it corresponds to our fauvette babillarde! (babbling warbler). But the white bird is nothing else than the conscience, the soul often pictured as a dove. You will tell me it is six of one and half a dozen of the other, which we express: c’est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet (it is a white cap and a white coloured cap). Look now as white as a ghost, as white as a sheet becomes in French pale like the death, pale comme la mort, or blanc comme un linge (white like a linen), where we associated ghost to death! By the way White Satin in English has nothing to do with a white material made of white satin; it is an old nickname for gin, the juniper spirit. F. blanc comme un linge is translated in German with kreideweiβ (chalk white)! With them F. blanchir (to whiten) means to have grey hairs, graue Haare bekommen. In English, we use either the French or the German expression: turning grey or going white! This seems quite normal due to the different shades. However, when making s.o. blush with shame, annoyance, or confusion, F. rougir jusqu’au blanc des yeux (to redden until the white of the eyes), they say: G. bis über die Ohren rot werden (to redden until above the ears) I tell you again, with all these colours, we are completely lost. Another example der Weiβfuchs (the white fox) is for sure a white fox in German, but it is also a pale grey horse! And, what about white flour? G. das Weiβmehl which defines the pure wheaten flour, F. la fleur de farine (flour flower). Or die Weiβwurz (white root) which is the German name of the Salomon’s-seal (polygonatum odoratum, or multiflora), this forest plant with greenish-white flowers and red toxic berries which become blue-black and which rhizome keeps a scar looking like a seal. King Salomon had discovered the healing properties of this plant

used to scar over wounds; the rhizome was also healing whitlow, boils, diabetes…hence its name. Well considered also the white whale, G. das Weiβwal to name the beluga, from Russian “white fish”. What French people call blanc de baleine (white of whale), the white waxy substance contained in the head of whale, is indeed called spermaceti in English, from Grek meaning whale-spawn; this has nothing to do with the sperm of whale, and avoid the confusion with spermatozoid, although both words have the same origin: sperm, meaning seed. In German, it is called der Walrat (whale remedy). Let’s stay with the fishes. F. faire des yeux de carpe mal pâmée or de merlan frit (to make eyes like a gasping carp / fried whiting), is said in English to gaze ecstatically at s.o. or to turn up the white of one’s eyes. This last expression corresponds to F. tourner de l’oeil (to turn of the eye). What should we say when our blanc-bec (white bill) standing for a callow youth, a young unexperienced man, is called in English green-horn and in German either der Grünschnabel (green-bill) or der Gelbschnabel (yellow-bill)? Among religious people, everybody has heard about the White Fathers, F. les Pères Blancs, these missionaries of Africa, so called from their white tunic, or about the White Friars, F. les Frères Blancs, these Carmelites so called from their white mantle worn other a brown habit. Less people, however, know the White Company, in the 13th century, a band of cut-throats organized by Folquet, bishop of Toulouse, to extirpate heretics in his Albigean diocese. We also have the White League, the other name for the Ku Klux Klan, an American secret society founded in 1866 in Tennessee; its name derives from their hooded white robes. Finally, we have the White Lotus, another secret Chinese society which arose in the 12th century in search of another, better and “purer” world.

50 – Lotus

Lotus is a species of water-lily associated to F. le lotier (sweet clover) or F. piedde-poule (hen’s foot) i.e. bird’s foot! or nelumbo, Indian lotus, used as fodder, like F. le mélilot (melilot) - from Greek honey, and lotus -. Indeed, there are two kinds of lotus, the blue which opens at daylight, and the white one opening at night. In Egypt, the blue lotus is also called Nile water-lily or even Nile lily: it is the solar rebirth. A lotus flower was offered to the deceased to breath, its reviving scent was taking part in the resurrection. The God Nefertem, named “lotus bud with Re’s nostrils” is represented sitting on it like the Buddha. In Buddhism, the fruit, the flower and the stalk of the sacred lotus symbolise past, present and future. This has been borrowed from the Hindus sacred lotus or Western nelumbo. The lotus or sea-rose is of almost unique importance in Chinese folklore and symbolism. This is for sure due to Buddhist influence: the lotus comes out of the mire but is not itself sullied; it has no branches but it smells sweet. It is the symbol of purity, and one of the eight Buddhist precious things. With the lotus, they are: the sea-slug, the umbrella (corresponding to the divine spleen), the canopy (a cosmos representation), the vase, the fish (token of wealth), the knot (the endless) and the wheel of learning. There are two Chinese words meaning lotus: / lian2 and / he2. A third one is sometimes used / fu2 or more precisely / fu2qu2 or / fu2rong2 the last word meaning both hibiscus and lotus. The former, / lian2 is phonetically identical to / lian2: “to bind, connect” (and therefore to marriage), and also “uninterrupted”, “love” and “modesty”. A boy with a carp beside a lotus means “May you have abundance year in year out”. A second, / he2 also means “concord”, “unison”. Love is symbolised by juxtaposing a lotus, representing the girl, and a fish, symbolising the young man.

The red lotus blossom symbolises the female genitalia, the lotus stem the male, quite normal, isn’t? A blue lotus blossom / qing1 stands for cleanliness and modesty. The lotus stands also for the empty space; its six petals figuring the six virtues: discipline, energy, intelligence, meditation, patience and transcendency. We went a bit far from our subject, the language , but the lotus emblem is too important to be left aside. Let’s come back to our linguistic perception. Chinese call the Dutch language in a phonetical way: / helan1yu3 (see F. hollandais), word for word this gives us language of lotus and orchids! That’s not bad for the tulip country! The word / lian2pengtou2 (head of the lotus seed collector) stands quite simply for the rose of a watering-can, due to its likeness with the plant. Note the French refers to the “apple”: la pomme d’arrosoir (apple of watering-can), where the English speaks of “rose”! You should know that every part of the lotus can be eaten; Asian people are eating it in all circumstances and in any food preparation. Especially, the seeds are used as sedative, reason why mothers give them to their offspring.

51 – Flower

This word is opening the door to a lot of subjects. Mythology dedicates trees and flowers to heathen gods, for example Maidenhair, F. le cheveu de Vénus, to Pluto. The saints have also their flowery representations, for example crocus to St Valentine. National emblems also have their flowers, such as the lily, F. la fleur de lys, for the Bourbon. Christian tradition also is connected with them, for example lily for purity. The language of flowers is as well very “flourishing”, for example snowdrop for hope. For us, Europeans, the rose is the queen of flowers. Flora is their goddess. The flower is full of freshness, of brittleness; this is the reason why we qualify young women as such. F. Elle est belle or fraîche comme une fleur (She is beautiful / fresh like a flower). We also say in F. à la fleur de l’âge (at the blossom / flower of age) for to be in the heyday of life, G. die Jugendblüte (the youth blossom). However, if we F. avons des émotions à fleur de peau (have emotions at skin flower: i.e. level), English, on the contrary, have them deep in the skin, let’s say deep-rooted in the skin with “skin-deep emotions”. Same, when F. nous avons les nerfs à fleur de peau (we have nerves at skin level), they simply say “to be on the edge” with the hint of going into hysterics. When F. nous avons l’oeil à fleur de tête (we have the eye at head level), English speak of “goggle eyes”, we would more commonly say: en boules de loto (like loto balls)! The Germans are nearer of nature once more; they speak of calb’s eye, das Kalbsauge!! In the navy, F. à fleur d’eau, at water-level, is said in German between wind and water, zwischen Wind und Wasser…But we have a wonderful expression for F. conter fleurette, to say sweet nothings, to flirt: das Süβholz raspeln (to rasp liquorice). Note by the way, that liquorice is said “soft, sweet wood” in German, you know that stick, that we chew. A German term, which might be issued from flower, is blümerant, less it is a phonetical transcription of French word bleu mourant (dying blue), pale blue (blaβblau)? Of somebody being dazzled, they say mir wird blümerant vor den Augen (it becomes dying blue in front of the eyes).

In England, John of Exeter, Bishop of Winchester, had called King Arthur: The Flower of Kings. However, when they tell of China, it is The Flowery Kingdom, Ch / hua1guo2, this is a mistake, since they confuse / hua1, flower with the homonym / Hua2, Chinese, and /guo2 for country, that is to say the Country of Chinese, and not the flowery country! Chinese pay also a lot of attention to the language of flowers. The Flowers of the Four Seasons are: •for spring, the iris, Ch. / lian1hu2die2hua1 (blue butterfly flower) and the magnolia, Ch. / mu4lan2 (orchid-tree); •for summer, the peony, Ch. / mu4dan1 (red male) and the lotus*. We should that, in China, the peony is the queen of flowers. •for autumn, the chrysanthemum (from Greek “gold flower”), Ch. / ju2. It is the symbol of long life, and also the Japanese national flower. You will see and meet it on the door of every temple and even as ornament on tiles on the eaves of houses. It is interesting to notice that the juxtaposition of the words “chrysanthemum” and “tuber”, Ch / ju2 + / yu4, gives us the Jerusalem artichoke, Ch. / ju2yu4 which is the common name of helianthus, a tuber used as fodder and as food substitute during restriction period; it is true that Jerusalem artichoke has some likeness with the chrysanthemum. •For winter, the plum, Ch. / mei2 or / li3, and the bamboo, Ch. / zhu2. The plum represents virginity. The translation of “plum” is quite funny in French, since it is the prunus musme, in another way F. l’abricotier du Japon (Japanese apricot-tree)! The lesions of syphilis caused on the skin look like plum-blossom, so it becomes quite clear that the Chinese description of the poison of the plum-tree, / mei2du2, corresponds to this sickness. And, what should we think of the Chinese expression: to replace the plum-tree with the rigid peach-tree, / li3 dai4 tao2 jiang1, which means: to be s.o. cat’s paw?

Finally, the 15th day of the 2nd month is the festival of the Goddess of the Hundred Flowers / / Bai2hua1shen2. Like in Europe, a lot of flowery allusions apply to the “feminine race”. A girl

can be described as / huang2hua1nü3 a yellow flower, if she is a virgin, while / yan1hua1nü3 a smoke-flower is a prostitute, and / hua1chuan2 the flower-boat names a floating brothel in Hong Kong. / huang2hua1 means also chrysanthemum! As far as the compound word / hua1xin1 flower-heart is concerned, this is a metaphor for the vagina or s.o. flightly. In the same way, the sickness of the houses of ill-fame area is said in Chinese hua1liu3bing4 (sickness of the willow flower) and stands for the venereal diseases.

52 – Heart

We are in the core of the subject, F. au coeur du sujet (in the heart of the subject). What about a heart to heart talk, F. un tête à tête (head to head)? Surprising how the heart, the centre of a lot of things is transformed in “depth “or “height”. Thus F. au coeur de l’hiver (in the heart of the winter) became in English in the depth of winter, and F. au cœur de l’été (in the heart of the summer): in the height of summer! When we say F. faire contre mauvaise fortune bon cœur (to make against bad fortune good heart), English say to make the best of a bad job, where the Germans would say gute Miene zu bösem Spiel machen (to make a good face for a bad game). We ought to change the expression in order to dish up its content in another form: “bad job” is different from “bad game”. But what shall we say of F. un coeur dur (a hard heart) i.e. a tough guy? We could think he is a heart of oak, as hard as the oak-wood - bad luck! It stands really for the heart of oak-tree -, but this is also similar to a brave man! This is contrary to the expression: F. il n’a pas coeur à la besogne (he does not have heart to work) which Germans express with er hat für die Sache nur ein halbes Herz (he has for this thing only half a heart). Half a heart instead of a whole heart, why not? But F. prendre son courage à deux mains (to take one’s courage with two hands) is really translated G. sich ein Herz nehmen (to take oneself a heart). We are sure; we need both hands to take a whole heart! What should we think about the expression: F. Il ne fait qu’un (he makes only one) i.e. to be rolled into one, which is translated in G. sie sind ein Herz und eine Seele (they are one heart and one soul)? There only one heart does not suffice, we need to add a soul to it. But if the heart is the soul, it’s also the belly, the stomach. Thus F. avoir la peur au ventre (to have fear at the belly) or F. une peur bleue (a blue fear) means to be in a blue funk or to be scared to death, vulgarly F. faire dans son froc (to do in one’s frock) i.e. to shit in one’s pants or in better English his heart sank into his boots. We are close to the French expression avoir le moral dans les chaussettes (to have the moral in the socks)!

In German, the epigastric hollow, the stomach, it’s die Herzgrube (the heart ditch). F. brûlures d’estomac (stomach burns) is equivalent to English heart burn. And if these burns F. vous soulèvent le coeur (make your heart rise), this means that your gorge rises! Like English it makes one’s gorge rise. Now if you show your gorge, your throat, this means that you may expose your secrets in broad daylight, which English express with to wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeves, reference is to the custom of tying one’s lady’s favour to one’s sleeve. Finally, the English expression to warm the cockles of one’s heart means to be warmed up with good wine or anything which warms up the heart or the feelings. In German we have two more interesting words, built with “heart”, there are die Herzkirsche (the heart cherry)? The white-heart cherry or bigaroon, a red and white cherry sort slightly different from F. le coeur-de- pigeon (pigeon / dove’s heart) another variety which is reddish-yellow; and der Herzkohl (heart cabbage) for the curly kale, a kind of cabbage with wrinkled leaves. In China, as in the West, the heart, Ch. / xin1, plays a dual role as seat of life and as seat of the emotions. Interesting, their expression / xin1hua1 nu4fang4 (flowering heart / in full blossom) meaning beside oneself with joy. We may notice that they are, once more, using the language of flowers. When they have their head upside down, it means their mind is confused liked tangled hemp, Ch. / xin1 luan4 ru2 ma2. And, like us, they associate “heart” and “liver” together, but heart-liver, Ch. / xin1gan1, is a term of endearment used by women to their lovers. We should say their beloved who are F. chair de leur coeur, chair de leur foie (flesh of their heart, flesh of their liver). The Germans could say das Herzblatt (the heart / centre leaf) for darling or sweet. In English, chicken-hearted or chicken-livered means cowardly! We are standing further away of darling! And, when F. on dit ce que l’on a sur le coeur (one tells, what one has on the heart), i.e; to speak one’s mind, in German we would say frei von dem Leber weg reden. (to speak freely from the liver).

53 – Liver

Extremely surprising the French word le foie (liver) coming from Greek, meaning “fig”! And yet, its diagram looks really like a fig leaf. For the Chinese, the liver is one of the five viscera which are correlated with the seven bodily orifices. The eyes permit of weeping and they afford a clear view; as orifices they correspond to the liver, which is connected with green as its symbolic colour. Is this the reason, why jaundice shows itself in the look? The liver is also the seat of courage, this is why, in ancient times, the criminal’s liver was eaten, in order to absorb his courage, his heart! (Not his liver). It was supposed to be the seat of love as well; For English belief, the liver of a coward contained no blood, hence such expressions as white-livered - In French we would use the plural: avoir les foies blancs (to have white livers)! - or lilylivered, pigeon-livered. Beware not to confuse with the American word “lily” standing for a pansy, a male homosexual! Often the chicken-hearted are those who are in a funk, F. avoir les foies (to have the livers), G. Schiβ in den Hosen haben (to have shit in the pants), we would vulgarly say F. chier dans son froc! To have a liver, in English, means either to be liver-sick or to be in a bad mood…And loose liver means wanton, a licentious person. But the more striking and funny part, in my opinion, will be the German expression corresponding to the French one: la moutarde lui monte au nez (the mustard is rising him to the nose), in G. die Laus kriecht ihn über die Leber (the louse is creeping on his liver), just to say that sb is loosing one’s temper or takes pepper i’ the nose. Notice that, where French uses “mustard”, English culinary taste prefers “pepper”.

54 – Nose

For the Chinese, the nose, Ch. / bi2 is the bodily orifice corresponding to the lungs. As it sticks up out of the face, it is also compared with the penis. It is so much appearing that F. cela ce voit comme le nez au milieu de la figure (this is seen as the nose in the middle of the face), English would say as plain as the nose on your face. Indeed, what they call the “human middle”, Ch. / ren2zhong1, is the line ing the nose to the mouth: the expression graphically symbolises the pleasure of sex… from the penis to the vulva. Don’t German also say wie die Nase des Mannes, so sein Johannes (such the nose of the man, such one’s small John – his tail)! And for women: wie den Mund, so den Schnitt (such the mouth, such the split). Besides, biting the nose off is a sign of extreme jealousy. Concerning Ch. / bi2zu3 (the forebear of nose) this corresponds to the first ancestor, especially the founder of a tradition. Nothing common with F. bizut (freshman), who is nevertheless in his first class year! For the Japanese, the word / watashi (I) is formed with two coupled pictures, the left one represents a sheaf of rice, considered as the most important food, and the right one stands for the nose, facing the sheaf. The nose was the most noticeable man’s part, the expression of his individuality, of his ego. In Western countries, to show: its’me, one’s strikes the chest, in Asia, one’s points to the nose! This means: this rice is mine, it belongs to me. Thus gestures are also taking different significations from one country to the other, like wording. Note as well that for Asian people, foreigners are the long-nosed persons. This brings me to the mockery sign, F. le pied de nez (nose’s foot), a snook. Indeed, it really refers to a length of one foot. However, when the Germans say alle Nasen lang (all noses long), this has nothing to do with the length, since it means at every turn, repeatedly! On the other hand, when cars are F. pare-choc contre pare-choc (bumper against bumper) they are in English nose to tail, with reminiscence to the horse- or greyhound-races! Every one knows that a happy dog is waving its tail, however somebody stirring the nose is a token of falsehood. French and English use about the same

expression F. fourrer son nez partout, to poke one’s nose in, Germans however, say Hans in allen Gassen (John in all lanes). And we are fed up with it, F. en avoir plein le dos (to have the back full of it), they use the “nose” instead of the “back” in French: G. die Nase voll haben (to have the nose full of it). They are still distinguished with G. der Nasenwärmer, which means at your wish and according to the topic either a muffler or a cutty! F. le brûle-gueule (burning mouth), this short clay pipe, so short that it burns you the face. There are going further than the nose… F. nez à nez (nose to nose) is said face to face in English, G. einandergegenüber (one in front of the other); on an other hand, when we say F. au nez et à la barbe de qn (to the nose and to the beard of sb), English and Germans forget the “beard”: under one’s very nose, G. vor der Nase. We have got a lot of qualificatives for the nose which can be F. busqué, crochu, en bec d’aigle, en lame de couteau, en patate, respectively: aquiline, hooked, eagle-billed, knife-blade or spud like…I would retain F. retroussé, the snub nose, which gives in German die Himmelsfahrtsnase (religious – Ascension of the nose), which seems quite F. catholique (catholic), i.e. fishy. Everybody knows Cyrano de Bergerac’s nose, less the Cleopatra’s one, of which Blaise Pascal criticised the length:

“If Cleopatra’s nose had been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed” Thoughts VIII, 25

And what should we think of English comparing the Pope’s nose with the rump of a fowl, also called the parson’s nose? This phrase is said to have originated during the years following James II’s reign, when anti-Catholic feeling was high! There exist a lot of expressions and descriptions about the nose, without talking through the nose for that! But, when F. on a le nez plongé dans son travail (one has the nose deeped in one’s work), English, they, refer to the ancient handicraft, they say to keep one’s nose to the grindstone; sharp tools were kept cutting in working hard over the grindstone and craftsman had to look down with attention on his work.

Before F. piquer du nez (to go down the nose), to nose-dive, to get asleep, I would still like to cite the following German words: das Nashorn (horn nose), which stands for the rhinoceros, and the bird das Nashornvogel (the horn-nosed bird); we could think it is the ox-pecker coming to pick up the parasites on the animal skin, but it refers to the buceros having a horny casq. This bird is commonly called F. calao, hornbill in fact it is the rhinoceros hornbill from the bucerotidae genus…

55 – Bird

Chief of the feathered creatures was Jupiter’s bird, the eagle; the phoenix was a mythical bird. The Chinese phoenix, Ch. / feng4huang2, has nothing to do with the phoenix of Egypt. In the 4th century BC in “Spring and Autumn Annals” / / Chun1qiu1, we were told that the male phoenix, along with the female unicorn, and the five magic beings: the white* tiger, the tortoise*, the green dragon, the red*bird and the dark warrior, is a sign that the land is being ruled by a just king. The phoenix is the ruler of those which are feathered. Depicted together with a dragon, it symbolises the Empress (the word / huang2 contains the imperial sign / huang2). The Emperor was represented by the dragon. Chinese scholars considered it like a god of the winds (the character for “phoenix”, Ch. / fèng4 derives from the character for “wind”, Ch. feng1). It is interesting to note that pineapple in Chinese is said / feng4li2, phoenix’ pear. According to the Egyptian mythology, the phoenix is also called the Arabian bird, a fabulous bird making its nest of spices, singing a melodious dirge, flapping its wings to set fire to the pile, burning itself to ashes, and coming forth with new life. This is why; it is also a symbol of the Resurrection. We know also that, in Egypt, the falcon was protected, since it symbolised Ra and Horus, like the ibis was the incarnation of the lunar god Thoth. In Chinese, bird is said / niao3 and the expression to put away one’s bow when birds are exterminated, Ch. / niao3jin4-gong1cang2 means to dismiss s.o. no more needed. If nobody needs you, you are F. comme l’oiseau sur la branche (like the bird on the branch), i. e. you have no more house, English people say to have no settled home. This is why, we use the expression F. un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l’auras (one is better than two, you’ll have it); English people have a close phrase since they say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. The Germans are exaggerating a little, from “two” they switch over to “ten”, Ein Vogel in der Hand ist besser als zehn über Land (one bird in the hand is better than ten above the country). To express F. qui se ressemble s’assemble (who look like are gathering together), an English man would say birds of a feather flocked together, and of that feather

would mean F. de la même trempe (from the same temper… of steel), i. e. of his kidney. But the wisdom spirit is expressed by our British friends with old birds are not to be caught with chaff, which we are expressing either with F. on n’apprend pas aux vieux singes à faire la grimace (we don’t learn old apes to make grimace) i.e. to put on airs, or F. on n’attrape pas les mouches avec du vinaigre (we don’t catch flies with vinegar). Indeed to trap them, F. il faudrait se lever de bonne heure (one would have to get up early). English would say ‘tis the early bird that catches the worm, which we express with the proverbial sentence à qui se lève matin, Dieu aide et prête main (who gets early in the morning, God is helping and borrowing hand). In German a similar phrase exists: die Vögel, die früh singen, frisst die Katze (the cat is eating the birds, which sing early) which meaning is closer of our proverb F. qui rit vendredi, dimanche pleurera! (Who is laughing on Friday, will cry on Sunday), i.e. laugh on Friday, cry on Sunday. However, when we F. faisons d’une pierre deux coups (to make with one stone two “strikes”), English are killing two “birds”, to kill two birds with one stone. And, if I tell you F. c’est mon petit doigt qui me l’a dit (it’s my little “finger” which told me so), English, of course, will say it’s a “bird”: a little bird told me so. They refer to the Bible, Eccles. X, 20: “Curse not the King, no not in thy thought; …for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.” Ah! Here I obtain quite an important score, F. je décroche la timbale (I unhook the kettledrum), i.e; win the prize on top of the greasy pole, which Germans are expressing with den Vogel abschieβen (to kill the bird). And when they say, he is as well as the bird on the hemp-seeds: ihm ist so wohl wie dem Vogel im Hanfsamen, they mean F. vivre comme un coq en pâte (to live like a cock in paste) i.e. to live like a fighting-cock. Exactly when they also say F. vivre comme le bon Dieu en (to live like the good god in ), er lebt wie der liebe Gott in Frankreich. For sure our neighbours, when speaking of , find it a beautiful, wonderful, and nice country. When English speak of bird’s eye, they refer to a plant with small bright round

flowers, pattern with many small spots, also named speedwell, F. véronique (veronica), due to its blue flowers it is also named European tea! So beware of bird’s eyes, as well as F. noms d’oiseaux (bird’s names) standing for rudeness, since bird’s eye mahogany corresponds to F. acajou moucheté (spotted mahogany), or bird’s eye maple corresponding to F. érable madré (veined maple) or érable à broussin (burl maple) “Burl”, F.loupe,is used in arboriculture, it is a noble wooden part used in cabinet-making. The Germans also have dedicated trees and flowers to birds: •Die Vogelbeere (the bird berry), it is F. le sorbier des oiseleurs, the rowan-tree or mountain-ash, so prized by birds for its scarlet berries. •Die Vogelmiere, F. le mouron des oiseaux, the chickweed – in English for “chicken” rather than for “birds”! •Der Vogelkirschbaum, F. le merisier, the wild cherry-tree; you see people like furniture made in wild-cherry wood, birds too; however a kind of cherry-tree with bunches is called F. putier, coming from “put”: bad smelling, besides exactly like our F. putain, whore!

Yes! We have to tell things as they are, don’t practice F. la politique de l’autruche (ostrich’ policy), G. die Vogelstrauβpolitik like these politicians refusing to accept facts. Note that G.der Strauβ means “bunch”, “fight” and “ostrich.” But, this is not the reason to become “outlaw”, G. vogelfrei (bird free). We ought to say there exist good and bad omen birds. Among the good ones, we have the stork, the swallow; among the bad ones, we may name the raven and the owl*. The raven is well-known for its keen sense of smell allowing him to smell death at long distance. The owl, F. le hibou or screech-owl, F. l’effraie are screeching so much that they frighten us (see F. effrayer) when bad weather is coming. Note, English uses an other name the barn-owl, where F. uses une chouette des clochers (bell-towers owl); the “barn” is changed in “bell-towers”! Often, the bad weather is preceded with illness, reason why these birds are fatal.

56 – Death

“Death”, let me think to The Black Death, the bubonic plague so well described in Alfred Camus’ novel, and, of course, to its spectre, its skeleton, its scythe. In poetry, the French call it la camarde (grim death) probably due to the spectre of its flattened and crushed nose… The Germans call it Freund Hein (Friend Hen-ry) – I would rather opt for a change from der Hain, with “a” which means “sacred wood”, in which bad omen beings were wandering about – or for der Knochenmann (the bony man) or again der Sensemann (the scythe man). For them, the death Empire is known as das unterirdische Reich (the under earth kingdom), there, we ought to draw nearer to Dante’s Inferno… Finally, the death is its contrary: the life. F. le danger de mort (danger of death) in German is said die Lebensgefahr (danger of life). English people too prefer to see the life instead of the death. F. se donner la mort (to give one’s death) becomes to take one’s own life, like G. sich das Leben nehmen. However, when F. on lutte à mort (one struggles to death) the French people consider the worst, when Germans keep a glimmer of hope since they say Kampf auf Tod und Leben (fight for death and life), inevitably one of the two fighters must die. Better to F. faire le mort (to make the dead)i.e. to sham dead, G. weder Hand noch Fuβ rühren (do not move either hand or foot) than F. se saigner à blanc (to bleed oneself white), G. sich zu Tode bluten (to bleed oneself until death). Thus the death may also be white! Again a question of colour! Should I dare say F. mordieu! (Dead god), i. e. Heavens above! Death! Which becomes in G. Tod und Teufel! (Death and evil)! Our expression F. morte la bête, mort le venin (dead the beast, dead the venom) becomes in En. dead men tell no tales, and in G. ein toter Hund beiβt nicht mehr (a dead dog bites no more); it seems that Germans are taking the idea from the Bible, where a living dog is worth a dead lion! And you know that the misfortune of the ones is the source of others’ happiness,

this proverbial sentence, F. le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres is well translated in G. des einen Tod ist des anderen Brot (the death of one is the other’s bread). And F.avoir la mort dans l’âme (to have death in the soul) becomes En.to be sick at heart, the Germans are coming nearer with mit gebrochenem Herzen (with broken heart). To conclude, we have F. la morte saison, the dead season familiarly called in G. die Sauergurkenzeit (the time of bitter gherkin), yes! F. faute de grives, on mange des merles (by lack of thrushes, one eats blackbirds) i.e beggars can be choosers, and we have to resort to pickles… “Death” in Chinese is said / si3, and I especially like their expression considering the dead horse as a healed living horse, Ch. / si3ma3 dang1zuo4 huo2ma3 yi1, which means indeed that we should do our utmost to care an evil situation, not to consider sg or sb as lost… We notice that each civilisation takes its expressions in its roots: what would be a Chinese without his horse? An other interesting word: the dead lane, Ch. / si3hu2tong4, to describe a blind-alley, a dead-end, un cul-de-sac. Well imagine, isn’it?

57 – Bottom

We have just seen the word “death”, it’s quite logical to speak about The Bottom Pit, standing for F. l’Abîme, the Abyss and especially F. l’Enfer, Hell. If this word is vulgar when referring to the buttocks, it is richer when meaning “bottom”. So, we have F. cul-sec! (Bottom dry) call to drain one’s glass, i.e. bottoms up! The navy is also using it quite a lot: in British bottoms means a ship sailing under British flag. English sailors also say never venture all in one bottom, F. ne mettez pas tous vos oeufs dans le même panier, i.e. do not put all your eggs in the same basket. They have left us knots named with it, such as F. cul-de-porc (pork bottom) for wall knot! In UK, a horse of good bottom means of good stamina, good foundation. Among the birds, we have F. le cul-blanc (the white bottom), i. e. the wheatear or stonechat, from the turdoid family (Latin turdus = thrush), comprising of course the thrush, but also the blackbird, the nightingale, the red-throat; The Germans are not at a loss for all these species, they simply call them der Weiβschwanz (the white tail), they are more polite than we are… We can also name F. le cul-rouge (the red bottom) a kind of woodpecker, G. der Specht, let’s say a green woodpecker with a yellow and black feather, and of course a red tail, the dendrocopos major or great spotted woodpecker. We can also name F. le cul-doré (the golden bottom) a butterfly, the bombyx or silkworm that Chinese call naturally “mulberry silkworm”, / can2’e2 (silkworm phaleana). By the way, in Chinese, the “bottom” is said / pi4gu, word built with two picture symbols tied together meaning respectively “fart” and”thigh”! With pigu we are close to the English word “pig”.

58 – Silk

Impossible to speak about silk without mentioning the Silk Road topics of Marco Polo’s travels. This silk, G. die Seide, that is so soft to touch and became a reference In German the wistiti is called der Seidenaffe (the silky monkey), the Angora rabbit: der Seidenhase (the silky rabbit), even a bird, the waxwing is called der Seidenschwanz (the silky tail). To be on velvet is said Seide spinnen (to spin silk). We notice that angora wool, velvet became “silk” for the Germans. However der Seidenspinner which means, of course, silk spinner, but also the bombyx, the silkworm or silk-moth. In German, the one who does not spin silk, er wird dabei keine Seide spinnen means that things are not going like clockwork, that it does not go all right! In , we are thinking to Lyon’s Canuts who were specialised in this material. Besides the gold and silver threads used to adorn the Thai silk are always imported from Lyon. Silk is also the Indian tussah or tussore and shantung, this soft pure silk of the Chinese Shandong / / Shan1dong1 Province.Various types of caterpillar were used to produce silk among the minority people in South China; but for a very long time now the Chinese have preferred the silkworm to all other kinds. While the Chinese peasant concerned himself with his fields, his wife looked after the silkworms, and all girls over 15 years of age should do so. They attended the cocooneries in the silkworm breeding places. In many regions it is possible to have as many as four or five crops a year. The women have to pick the leaves of the mulberry trees to feed the silkworm several times a day. At the right time, the worms had to be killed by immersion in boiling water, and then began the work of spinning and weaving. April is the usual month in China for all this activity. Chinese silk was taken to Syria by traders and wooven there into the sort of garnments that Romans liked to wear. Chinese were well aware of the value of this commerce. So they prohibited the export of silkworms, and did all they could to keep the method of using secret. It remained a secret until a monk, during his pilgrim, introduced them to the West. Even the English people consider silk as something noble. Thus a barrister

appointed as a Queen’s Counsel had to exchange his stuff gown for a silk one; so when taking silk, the barrister is at the height of his glory. He is assisted by a stuff gownsman, who does not wear silk. The English expression you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear corresponds to our F. on ne peut tirer de la farine d’un sac de son (one cannot draw flour from a bag of bran), i. e. you cannot make sg good of what is by nature bad. We have to notice that the sow’s ear is also wearing bristles, F. des soies! G. die Granne. The last German word means also “whiskers” of cat and in botany the “spikelets” of ear or “glume” as we find on barley. We also have the artificial silk which name has been prohibited to avoid confusion; it is from now on called rayon due to its brilliant. Anyway, the word “silk” has been besmirched and used in any circumstances. Yes, English Sirs, you, who call F. le simili (looking like / similar) silk finished cotton or the waterproof taffeta: oiled silk?… Either you render it unnatural, ex. F. le papier de soie (silk paper) which is of noble texture, becomes with you a vulgar tissue paper! Why not toilet paper? Not to say something else.

59 – Butterfly

In Chinese “butterfly” is said / hu2die2, it is the emblem of a lover sipping nectar from the calyx of a flower, a female symbol. In one oracle text we could read: “The colourful butterfly dances among the flowers, the yellow oriole sings in the willow tree”, here “oriole” and “willow” are female symbols. Butterflies and plum-blossom together in a picture symbolise long life and immaculate beauty. The butterfly and the cat together express a wish that the recipient of the picture may reach the age of 70 or even 80. Note as well that the Chinese term / hu2die2hua1 (butterfly flower) corresponds to the pansy. In Europe the butterfly, F. le papillon, sipping from flower to flower is associated to a person who flutters, F. papillonne, from pleasure to pleasure, let’s say who flirts, or flies about like a butterfly. I like the English term butterfly kiss to design a kiss with the eyelashes stroking the cheek. But ethymology advises us that the English word comes from “butter” and from “fly”. It is true that a lot of butterflies have a yellowish colour, but by chance there exist more various shimmering colours!

60 – Butter

We have just seen that the butter fly has the colour of the butter. When we say F. faire son beurre (to make one’s butter), English would remain in the animal field saying to feather one’s nest. We would be nearer of their expression with the similar one: mettre du foin dans ses bottes (to put hay in one’s boots). To flatter somebody we are used to F.er de la pommade (to put pomade), English would say to butter s.o. up. And to have efficiency, F. avoir du punch (to have punch) may be should we drink some buttered ale, a beverage made of ale or beer mixed with butter, sugar and cinnamon…which has nothing to do with the West Indian punch although there are five ingredients in it. The word “punch” is indeed coming from Hindi panch meaning “five”. What a British taste! Do they have copied Tibetans who mix yak’s butter in their tea? Then, if you don’t want to drink buttered ale, I propose you to try a butterscotch. No whisky indeed, but a kind of toffee made with butter and sugar! And why not a butter-pear, G. die Butterbirne? It is in F. une beurrée, simply a melted pear. It is certainly much better, but this is again a question of taste. We could think that during the preparation of this beverage, people get their fingers full of butter. You will be undeceived, because a so called butter-finger is a person likely to drop things, a destructive and clumsy person accustomed to let things slip from its hands, its fingers! When an Englishman tells you: he knows which side his bread is buttered, this means that he knows his own interest. And, of course, when it is done on both sides to butter one’s bread on both sides, he means, he is wastefully extravagant or luxurious - we know that butter is expensive - and that he wants to gain advantages from two sides at once, French would say gagner le beurre et l’argent du beurre – (to earn the butter and the money from the butter). Anyway, it is better than F. se faire manger la laine sur le dos (to have the wool on one’s back eaten by so), i.e. to fleece s.o. that the Germans express: sich die Butter vom Brot nehmen (to have the butter taken from the bread). In speaking of “bread”, to buy sg for a piece of bread is said in G. etw. für ein Butterbrot bekommen (to obtain sg for [a slice] of bread and butter), F. une

tartine means both a slice of bread and butter and a long-winded speech. Then we could write a long story about it! To this point, a slice of bread and butter is also said G. die Butterstulle, but Butterstullen werfen (to cast them) has nothing to do with wasting them…it really means to make ducks and drakes, the ricocheting of a stone thrown to skim along the surface of water! Exactly like their other expression: G. Jungfern werfen (to throw virgins)!

61 – Bread

Bread is in Europe the basic food, like rice in Asia. In Africa, it is cassava which Germans call die Brotwurze, the bread root. From this plant is extracted a starchy substance named tapioca as rich in starch as bread. A German car builder has made some barter deals exchanging cars against tapioca in order to finance its operations, and especially to introduce it in its paint to make it more resistant and more flexible. All that which is important in is related to bread. We have F. manger son pain blanc (to eat one’s bread white) rendered in English by to begin with the cake, to show that all beginnings are happy. Surprising that English substitute “cake” to “bread”, isn’it? We know that English women around 5 o’clock appreciate their tea party with cookies. For them cakes and cookies are more attractive than bread. We have also F. ça se vend comme des petits pains (it’s selling like small breads), obviously translated it’s selling like hot cakes. However, when survival at sea is concernded, English are eating ship’s bread, where French prefer le biscuit de mer, the ship’s biscuit! Just because we think, it is more delightful to have something to eat as subsitute. As far as the German soldier is concerned, his snack is in his haversack, der Brotbeutel (bread satchel). English people when they live on bread and cheese* or on bread and point, mean it’s the barest necessities of life. Concerning the latter expression, it is coming from the strange one “to dine on potatoes and point” told by parents to their children when meat was scarce. They told them to point their potato to the imaginary salt, cheese or bacon…We could say F. une pointe de sel (salt point). It was certainly more tasty to eat F. pain d’épice, gingerbread. Here opinions vary. For English, it is based on “ginger”, since they say gingerbread; for Germans it is based on “pepper”, der Pfefferkuchen (pepper cake), when in , although “épice” (spice) is singular, we use several spices with a preference for anise. Once more, we can notice that tastes and colours are well different from one

country to the other. Look, even the British so found of bread and breakfast, are sending to their host a thanks word called a bread and butter letter! In other countries, salt is the trading money. We find it in English expressions: “he is not worth his salt”, to express in fact F. Il ne vaut pas le pain qu’il mange (he is not worth the bread that he eats). We also have it in association with “bread” in he took bread and salt as a formula to take an oath. All this F.nous semble long comme un jour sans pain! (Seems us long like a day without bread), for such an expression, English would say “as long as a month of Sundays”, to believe that Sunday is of less interest than Friday or Saturday, or may be are Sundays without bread for them? According to customs, the stomach is said in En. bread-basket, In G. obviously der Bierbauch (beer belly) and in we consider both with la brioche (brioche) and le buffet de comptoir (bar buffet / chest). In , the “bread basket” affords to tell something else. Indeed ‘m das Brotkorb höher tragen (to carry the bread basket higher to s.o.) means “to make s.o.dance to one’s tune”. And when we say F. avoir du pain sur la planche (to have bread on the plank) i.e. to have plenty of work or to have a lot on one’s plate, they say Korn auf dem Boden haben (to have grain on the ground)! In Chinese, “bread” is said / mian4bao1 (flour wrap), quite logical…but / mian4bao1che1 a bread car is not the baker’s one, this is a minibus… which in their minds looks like a small rolling bread.

62 – Salt

Salt has always been in every period of time a necessity product as well for human beings as for animals. In the desert, Bedouins convoyed camels’ caravans loaded with salt. We could speak of the Salt Road as we evoke the Silk Road. The goats and some other animals are licking salt blocks, and are very fond of them. It was a trading commodity. Thus the salt ration allowed the Roman soldiers became our salary, from Latin salarium (salt). We also have the salt-tax, F. la gabelle which word is coming from Arabian al-gabâla meaning “tax”. If the word F. gabelle is to-day obsolete, French has still kept in the common language gabelou, pejorative for custom-house officer. In the Bible salt was a symbol of incorruption and perpetuity, a covenant which could not be broken:

“By a covenant of salt for eternity” Numb. Xviii, 19

We find it again in the salt of the earth which became synonym to the best of mankind, the elect. It was also used to prepare holy water. It is also said that the devil, who disliked it, was driven away when throwing a handful of salt in the coffin. Some people were offering up salt as a sacrifice of their work. Arabian population is sharing it as token of hospitality, the salt bounds between the host and his guest are sealing friendship and brotherhood; it is really a profound sign of morality. In this sense, English say to eat a man’s salt or even to sit above the salt, i.e. to sit in a place of distinction. Formerly the “saler” was of massiv sliver and placed in the middle of the table. Persons of distinction sat above it, at a higher level. What so ever the word is still connected to money, like bread. Don’t English say he won’t eat salt for his porridge, to indicate that he will never earn a penny? And thus could not afford his food? F. la note est salée! (The bill is salted), i.e.

the bill is exorbitant in price. In German it will rather be “peppery”, gepfefferte Rechnung! (Peppered bill). Again a difference with them, when French say ça manque de piment (it lacks pimento / red pepper), i.e. it lacks spice, they say weder Salz noch Schmalz (neither salt nor grease) to qualify something tasteless. Note by the way when French is using one word, German language uses two having a music tonality. You are not going to weep salt tears for that, F. pleurer à chaudes larmes (to weep warm tears)! Or to cry bitterly. Do you know that in UK an old salt is F. un loup de mer (sea wolf), a long-experienced sailor, one who has been well salted by the sea? And to catch or apprehend somebody, they also say to put one salt on his tail. This is from the advice (!) given to young children to lay salt on bird’s tail to catch it! Ah! These young children full of vigour who they name salt of youth. Like Shakespeare who used the term on several occasions for strong amorous ion. In his Othello, he referred it as “hot as monkeys*, salt as wolves* in pride”. Besides one could assimilate salt of youth with in the pride of years. Before concluding with this word, a small anecdote, our sel d’oseille (salt of sorrel) is translated into English salt of lemon and in G. das Sauerkleesalz (salt of the acid clover), but is is also F. oxalide (oxalis), from Greek oxalis meaning “wood-sorrel”! What is then this salt of oxalic acid? Chimically the salt of sorrel is the acid oxalate of potassium because its leaves contain potassium oxalate. It is also named Epsom salt, from a South town in UK where takes place the famous derby, or English salt, reason why the Germans are opposing to it their Sedlitz salt! (From a Bohemian town in the Metalliferous Mounts). We have our repartee with Vichy salt! Let’s resume, in fact, the England salt is withdrawn from the (potassium) liver, the Epsom salt is a crystalline, acrid and bitter Glauber salt! Its crystallisation is troubled on purpose to avoid its likeness with pure Glauber salt. It’s an absorbing earth called magnesia, like the Sedlitz salt and not some kind of potassium!

63 – Water

“Water” in Chinese is said / shui3, it symbolises the primeval female principle, / yin1 represented by the moon which causes the dew to fall at night, and it is associated with the North. The female principle has its male counterpart, / yang2 which is the element of fire and day, and of the South. The expression “drop by drop, the water erodes the stone”, Ch. / shui3 di1 shi2 chuan1 means F. petit à petit l’oiseau fait son nid (little by little the bird makes its nest), i.e. little strokes fell great oaks! When a room is packed, overcrowded, Chinese say that they are so much close that a drop of water cannot : / shui3 xie4 bu4 tong1, French would say ne pas pouvoir y glisser une feuille de papier à cigarette (not to be able to slip a cigarette paper leaf in it) or être serrés comme harengs en caque (to be close like hearings in casks), i.e. packed like sardines! English uses “sardines” in place of “hearings”. And, of course, wanting to seize the moon in the water, Ch. / shui3zhong1 lao1 yue4 means waste of time. But what is the water dragon head: Ch. / shui3long2tou2? Quite simply a water tap. I though that the dragon was spiting fire…it was probably to extinguish it…As far as the “water star” is concerned, Ch. / shui3xing1, it is the common name of Mercury. In English everybody knows that “water” is said “eau” in French, due to the mnemotechnic processus Waterloo, according French tune for water l’eau… But few people know that English call Mississippi, in North America, or Irrawaddy, in Myanmar The Father of Waters. You know that F. Il ne faut pas mettre d’huile sur le feu (one must not put oil on the fire), to avoid, the discussion grows acrimonious, in English its contrary exists: to pour oil on troubled waters, to calm the tempest, to cool down the situation. It’s probably what English people wanted to say when confronted with Court holy water, an obsolete term of Elizabeth I’s reign for fair speeches, which look like promises of favour, but end in nothing. What do you want? We really need F. mettre de l’eau dans son vin (to put water in one’s wine), i.e. to draw in one’s horns, like the snail! Or to come down a peg or two. Thus we risk to find us F. à nager entre deux eaux (to be swimming

between two waters), i.e. to run with the hare and to hunt with the hounds. The English expression in low water means financially embarrassed, F. dans la dèche, or à sec (dry). They borrow this term from the navy when a boat is “stranded”, she is left high and dry. And what do you think of the expression to turn on the waterworks which means either to begin to weep, to blubber or to piddle, according to the distribution process…? And after much weeping, you have a water-gall, the dark rim round the eyes. A water-witch is another name for a “dowser”, a water-diviner, the man searching for hidden water. We must say this is a divinatory art, if not a sorcerer’s one. To the point, people playing scrabble must absolutely know the name F. le gyrin, whirligig-beetle, this coleopter commonly named F. le tourniquet, because it “whirls”, it “circles” about on the surface of standing water. In English it is simpler and brings less points since they call it waterbeetle, in G. they say a “water-flea”: der Wasserfloh. As soon as one speaks of faun, flora or animals, all words are looming up, thus the water-ouzel, F. le merle d’eau (water blackbird) or cingle plongeur (diving cinclus cinclus), more common the water-rat, F. le rat d’eau not to be confused with le radeau, the raft! In German it is Wasserratte standing for “water-rat”, but also for an “old salt”, G. alte Wasserratte, or a person swimming very well, F. would say comme un phoque, like a seal. We must differentiate as well the water-gate, a gate giving across to river, a sluice-gate with the Watergate, the most outrageous governmental conspiracy and the biggest political shame in USA which led to the dismissal of President Nixon in 1974. In German, we have der Wasserhund (water dog) standing for the poodle, die Wasserjungfer (water maid) for the dragonfly, die Wasserabe (water raven) concerning the big cormorant, das Wasserschwein (water pig) however is the tapir! I ignored this animal liked water so much… But, you know that F. l’eau va toujours à la rivière (water goes allways to the river), i.e. to carry coals to Newcastle, G. wo Tauben sind, da fliegen Tauben zu (where pigeons are, there fly pigeons). The Germans compare the water with the pigeon, and to since F. comme le poisson dans l’eau (like the fish in water), i.e. to be in one’s element is said G. wie Gott in Frankreich (like God in

); from here they could compare the fish with God, why not? However, when they assimilate the word “water” with the sea, this seems more reasonable to me, this is not the reason F. de leur donner le bon Dieu sans confession (to give them the good God without confession), G. sie sehen aus, als könnten sie kein Wässerchen trüben (they look like as if they could not trouble small waters)! As tonic, they drink Danzig brandy, F. l’eau-de-vie de Dantzig, which they call das Goldwasser (gold water). Normal, since this strong drink is obtained with maceration of lemon skin and mace soaked in alcohol with addition of gold leaves, sometimes silver ones! According to your purse.

64 – Silver

Among the ancient alchemists silver represented the moon or Diana. In England, “The English Channel” is also called The Silver Stretch. We also speak of a person born to good luckin saying that F. elle est née avec une cuiller d’argent dans la bouche, En. born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth. The reference is to the usual gift of the silver spoon by the god parents at christenings. This spoon represented one of the twelve apostles or one of the four evangelists. A kidnapper in UK is the one who plays the silver cooper. In fact the word “coop” stands for a cage place over sitting or fattening fowls. As we keep poultry in cage, we lock or cloister the people. And when one is cooped up or immured, we may think to the English saying: every cloud has a silver lining, hoping for better times or things. Philip of Macedon, as he is concerned, consulted the Delphic oracle in saying that with silver weapons, one could conquer the world. Thus before a fortress which his staff pronounced to be impregnable, the king said: “You shall see how an ass laden with silver will find an entrance.” To come back to linguistical comparisons, a silver-tongued person famed for eloquence, has in F. la langue dorée (golden tongue)! The English silver or the German das Silber should be translated in F. argent or at least argenté (silvered). However the word is rendered with F. blanc (white). For example der Silberglimmer (silver glimmer) corresponds to F. le mica blanc (white mica)! Die Silberpappel (silver poplar) corresponds to F. le peuplier blanc (white poplar) and not argenté (silvered). However some German words give the same “silver” qualification as in French, ex. die Silbertanne (silver fir), le sapin argenté, die Silberweide (silver willow), le saule argenté, but der Silberlöwe (silver lion) does not correspond to le lion

argenté: it is le puma, the puma; and der Silberreiher (silber heron) is une aigrette, an aigrette, a kind of “white” heron! Concerning the chemistry, we know that F. le vif-argent, quicksilver is the old name for mercury, a silvery-white heavy metal; we know also F. le nitrate d’argent, silver nitrate used to scar over wounds, it is called by Germans der Höllenstein (the hell stone)! In English silver paper, F. wfw le papier argent is indeed F. une feuille d’étain (a tin leaf)! About cooking, silverside corresponds to F. le gîte à la noix! (Pope’s eye in beef leg). What is really funny are the different names: “Pope’s eye” for English, “Judas’s eye” for French and the “priest’s tit-bit” for German…Delicious indeed these meanings and this meat. In Chinese,”silver” is said / yin2, eventually / bai2yin2 (white silver). The term / yin2xing4, “silver apricot” is in fact the gingko, this tree with fanshaped leaves and “yellow” flowers which name is said to be of Chinese origin? I would rather think it is coming from Japanese/ ginkyo!

65 – Stone

In all parts of the world primitive peoples have set up stones, especially those of meteoric origin, in connection with religious rites. Anaxagoras mentions a stone that fall from Jupiter in Thrace. Did we not believe that they have fallen from heaven? The stone at Emessa, in Syria, worshipped as a symbol of the sun, was a similar meteorite, and there were similar stones at Abydos and Potidoea. At Corinth one was venerated as Zeus, and Tacitus describes one in Cyprus dedicated to Venus. We have already mentioned the famous Black*Stone set in the wall of the Great Mosque at Mecca. We also know the great stone circles at Carnac, Stonehenge and the Easter Island. In China also we meet a cult involving stones, Ch. / shi2. Prayers were made to these stones for rain. If rain still did not fall, the stones were beaten! The stone is also a symbol of longevity. A woman who wanted a son sat on a stone. “Master Stonehead” is a patron god of children in Taiwan. In the Empire of the Middle, the entrance of temples is kept by stones or stone figures to drive off demons. Stones are erected at street corners or in front of buildings bearing the insciption: / shi3 gan3dang1 (to dare accept the stone) meaning: “The stone dares to stand guard”. This inscription was formerly found in Tai4shan1 (The Big Mountain) in Shandong Province, one of the five sacred mounts worshipped by the Chinese. The cult of the “Five Mountains” / / wu3yue4 still persits nowadays. We meet also some interesting words built with the caracter “stone”: •Asparagus, / shi2diao1bai3 (cunning stone cypress), probably because this vegetable uses its craft to arise from the earth through pebbles.

•Chinese pink, /shi2zhu2 (stone bamboo). •Bancoulier, / shi2li4 (stone chesnut-tree) an oleaginous plant genus aleurite, like the oil tree or abrasin, also called tung oil or Chinese wood oil. This tree is the national emblem of Hawai. From the nut (stone) we extract oil used to protect the skin. This nut was formerly one of the first light bulb, hence its other name: candle nut (or Indian nut). Besides its lamp-black was used as dye like “Indian” ink, F. encre de “Chine” (China ink)! It was especially used to fix tatoes on the body. •Skink, / shi2long2zi3 (stone dragon), a reptile saurian – like the dragonliving in the Sahara, in a stone desert. English would say it is a “sand” skink, not a “stone”’one! •Sciaena, / shi2shou3yu2 (stone-head fish) which has a delicious flesh although its description is not that pleasant.

Surprising how many words are formed with the word “stone”, G.der Stein, as well in Chinese as in German. Are they connected to the Stone Age? I would rather think it is a likeness with the stone itself, its shape, its colour, even its characteristics. I propose you hereafter some interesting examples worth to be studied: •The yoke-elm is said die Steinbuche (stone beech); •For English oak we have a compound word made of “stone” and “oak”: die Steineiche; •The hairy pink, der Steinnelke (stone pink); •The pungent stone-crop (also “stone” in En.), das Steinpfeffer (stone pepper), here this seems quite normal since the plant is growing on roves and walls; •The gromwell, der Steinsame (stone seed), a plant used in medicine also called crane’s millet. In French it is le grémil, an association of grès (sandstone) and millet (the bird’s seed);

•The cep, der Steinpilz (stone mushroom) ; •The turbot, der Steinbutt (stone brill) ; •The moufflon, das Steinschaf (stone sheep); •The polar fox or isatis, F. le renard bleu (blue fox), der Steinfuchs (stone fox), and a lot more.

Do not forget that ein Stein means “a stone” and is different from Einstein, the German scientist (1879-1955) who immigrated to the United States, and obtained the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 “for the photo-electric law and his works on the field of theorical physics”. Most of the time, the German associates the place where are found these plants or animals. Unlike the English using the word “stone” for its hardness. We find: •Stone-blind for completely blind ; •Stone-cold for completely cold ; •Stone-dead completely so ; •Stone-deaf, as above.

In English we also have the hag-stones which are flints naturally perforated used in country places as charms against witches, like the evil eye harming some individuals with a glance. They were hunged on the key of an outer door, round the neck for luck, on the bed-post to prevent nightmare, on a horse’s collar to ward off disease. We still have other funny expressions: F. remuer ciel et terre, to stir heaven and earth is also said in English to have no stone unturned, to show that everything hes been examined.

F. courir à toutes jambes (to run all legs), i.e. to run at full speed is said in G. über Stock und Stein laufen (to run over stick and stone). Note that the “stick” becomes “stone” with the F. mettre les bâtons dans les roues (to put “sticks” in the wheels) i.e. to put a spoke in s.o.’s wheel, to interfere is translated in G. Stein in den Weg legen (to put “stone” on the way). And F. il gèle à pierre fendre (it is freezing [so much that] the stone splits), i.e. it is freezing hard becomes G. es friert Stein und Bein (it’s freezing stone and bone / leg). And other expression rendered with two words and a music tune. There exist much more, but I would end with F. c’est un cautère sur une jambe de bois (it’s a cautery on a wooden leg), i.e. it is a useless act or remedy, expressed in G. das ist ein Tropf Wasser auf einen heiβen Stein (it is a drop of water on a hot stone), which we can also express in F. c’est une goutte d’eau dans la mer (it is a drop of water in the sea), i.e. it is a drop in the ocean.

66 – Wood

In China, the planet Jupiter is associated with the wood element. Its name will then be Ch. mu4xing1 (wood star). Some words containing the character “wood / tree”, Ch. mu4 are very instructive, as: •Quince, papaw, / mu4gua1 (melon tree) •Magniola, / mu4lan2 (orchid tree) it’s the symbol of wealth and the emblem of Shanghai •Kapok, / mu4mian2 (cotton tree) •Cassava, / mu4shu3 (potatoe tree) •Osmanthus, / mu4xi (rhinoceros tree)! This plant embodies the moon, it has a smell near jessamine, and leaves looking like holly”s ones.

Like us, the Chinese have also their own expressions: F. raide comme un piquet (stiff like a peg) is said / mu4diao1-ni2su4 (wood engraving – clay figure) or literally to be as stiff as a wooden or clay figure. They also have their person F. à tête dure (with hard head), i.e. dull-witted, or F. à tête de Turc (with Turk head), i.e. whipping boy, which they express / mu4touren2r (wooden head person), well, a nut! And, what should we think of their picture: the tree stops growing to become a ship? Ch. / mu4 yi3 cheng2 zhou1 which quite naturally means F. quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire (when the wine is drawn, one must drink it), i.e. it is too late to draw back now, what is done is done… For them a “wooden fish”, / mu4yu2 is a great symbol, it is a wooden clapper in shape of a fish with which Buddhist priests beat time during their songs. This fish symbol goes back to ancient times; it is also present in Christianism: on the wafer there is a fish representation referring to the prophecy of bread and wine multiplication.

In English, we have an expression related to “wood” in the sense of “forest”: don’t halloo till you are out of the wood, meaning do not rejoice for having escape danger till danger has ed away, or there is many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip, success is not always certain, in a word: you are not sure to drink. To get out of it, we ought to F. toucher du bois, touch wood! in order to drive illluck away. “Ill-luck” in French means la guigne, but it means also “heartcherry”. Traditionally, certain trees such as the oak, ash, hazel, hawthorn and willow had a sacred significance, and thus protective powers. To-day, any wood is put to use, often, even the forehead is touched. We have got a typical French expression: je leur ferai voir de quel bois je me chauffe (I’ll show them with which wood I make heat), En. I’ll show them what stuff I’m made of, G. sie sollen sehen, wes Geistes Kind ich bin (you will see from which spirit I am the son). “Wood” became “stuff” and “spirit”! And, when one says of somebody F. il est du bois don’t on fait les flûtes (he is of the wood with which one makes flutes), En. you can twist him round your little finger, this means you can do just what you like with him. Unless F. qu’il ne soit bouché à l’émeri (he is stopped with emery), i.e. utterly stupid, En. he’s wood from the neck up. In English wine in the wood does not mean, there is wine in the wood, the forest, but that it is in a wooden barrel. In the same way we know F. le tir au pigeon d’argile (clay pigeon shooting), i.e. ball-trap, but F. le pigeon des bois (the wood-pigeon) is a ring-dove (F.la palombe). F. la bécasse, the woodcock has nothing to do with F. le coq de bruyère (heath cock), it is a gamebird related to snipe (F. la bécassine). By the way both, in English and in French “woodcock” and “bécasse” stands for the fowl and a simpleton, “a goose”. We have also woodshed, where wood is stored, in the expression there’s sg nasty in the woodshed to express there is trouble brewing, something nasty! Among the animals, we have again woodchuck corresponding to the reddishbrown and grey North American marmot! Note that to call the hen, we use F. petits! petits! (chicks! chicks!) where English says “chuck! chuck!”…But in shouting this we might F. trouver visage de bois (to find wooden face), i.e. to find nobody at home, G. verschlossene Türen finden (to find closed doors).

In German “wood” is said das Holz. We have for example F. le bois de campêche (Campeche wood), i.e. logwood or bloodwood, G. das Blauholz (blue wood)! which is indeed a hard black wood containing a red “blood coloured”pigment! Its French name comes from a town in Mexico where grows the tree, reason why we also call it bois d’Inde (Indian wood)!! Well, let it be blue, black or red, you may choose…F. le bois de sapin (fir-wood) – with which we may make coffins – is called G. das Atlasholz (atlas wood), it is true that this tree is bearing the vault of heaven on its foliage. Finally, when you are walking in the woods, you may pick up some fire wood in the common forest, provided you have F. un droit d’affouage (right of fire), G. die Holzgerechtigkeit (wood law / equality) or das Holzungsrecht (wood right) which, as the name tells us, allows us to make fire, to heat with wood. F.affouage comes from Latin focus meaning “fire, hearth”.

67 – Fire

For the Chinese, fire is one of the five elements ⁵; it is correlated with the South, with the colour red, with a bitter taste, and a smell of burning. In Tantrism, fire is a male symbol, while the fireplace is female. Thus a “fire-pit” is a frequently used metaphor for a brothel…Taoist monks when they marry form “fire-family”, Ch. / huo3jia1. “Fire-walking”, i.e. walking over live coals, is a purification ceremony similar to the baptism of fire where people had to go bare footed with a bandage over the eyes on live coals. If within three days they show no wound, they were declared innocent. The fact that the Chinese words for “fire”, / huo3 and for “living”, / huo2 are phonetically identical led people to light great fires on New Year’s Day in honour of the god of riches, and thus, obtain wealth and long life. For the same reason, fireworks could be let off. The “great fire” is the red star Antares (Scorpionis) which diameter is four hundred times greater than the Sun’s one, and was used as a calender in Ancient China by peasants for agricultural occupations. In Chinese / huo3ji1, the “fire-chicken” satnds for the Turkey-cock. We understand better when we know that “hen” is a fire symbol animal. “Ham” is said Ch. / huo3tui3 fire thigh. And F. sortir de ses gonds (to go out of one’s hinge-pins), i.e. to fly off the handle, to lose one’s temper or F. monter comme une soupe au lait (to go up like a milk soup), i.e. to flare up very easily is said: / huo3 mao4 san1 zhang4 (to brave the fire three times 3 m¹/³, i.e. 10 meters). Magellan discovered in 1520 Tierra del Fuego, more commonly named Patagony, a southern part of Argentina. Not because this country is on the (volcanic) fire belt, but because natives lighted fires all along the shore. And, if I was firing a question at you, F. poser la question à brûle-pourpoint (to as a question at point-blank): How do we translate in German: F. chat échaudé craint l’eau froide (scalded cat fears the cold water), i.e. once bitten twice shy? You should answer: ein gebranntes Kind scheuert das Feuer (a burned child fears

the fire). Fire and water are really complementary. Besides in English F. une prise d’eau (water plug) is said fire-plug, let’s say F. une bouche d’incendie (fire mouth)! And what is a fire-iron? We call it F. un ringard…de fourneau (Furnace…poker) [in French we need to apply “furnace” because the word alone could also mean in slang “fuddy-duddy”]. You know this iron-bar used to tend domestic fire, to poke up and to revive fire in the cooking-stove. The French word comes from a German dialect Rengel meaning F. rondin (from round), i.e. log of firewood: you understand well a fire-iron used to be a fire-wood! German calls it der Feuerspieβ (fire spit). In the same style we have fire-dog or andiron with its variants end-iron and hand-iron, but these words have nothing to do with “iron”, this comes from old French andier, which to-day is understood landier, i.e. a big fire-dog with hooks holding the spits. F. landier means “young bull”, this might be the reason why Germans call it der Feuerbock (fire goat)! And that’s that: dog, goat, bull-calf, may be it’s there that they were spitted and roasted? We have already borrowed from English the word “barbecue”, which means F. de la barbe à la queue, from beard to tail, to cue, exactly when spitting… And what about fire-eater? meaning either a person spitting or swallowing (!) fire – he does not eat it - in fairs, or an eager fighter, F. un tranche-montagne (a mountain-cutter), you know this braggart always boasting his deeds, which we also call F. matamore, from Spanish “Moor’s killer”, let’s say F. un faux-brave (a false brave), a swashbuckler! This man will never make any figure in this world, we could also say in a fancy manner: he’ll never set the Thames on fire. We have the similar expression: F. ne jamais mettre la Seine en feu (never set the Seine on fire), and since each country has its own cherished river, Germans would naturally say das Rhein anzünden (to set the Rhine on fire). For the Swiss people il n’y a pas le feu au lac (Léman) (there is no fire on the Lake [of Geneva]), their expression is rather correlated to patience! Indeed English are making a pun on the word “temse”, a corn-sieve like French locution with “seine”, a drag-net. By the way a short story quite up to date concerning ecology and pollution, you know: F. la Tamise est saine, et la Seine est tamisée! (The Thames is healthy, and the Seine is sieved). Ever since civilizations have been fascinated with fire which they besought with

saints for healing. St Anthony’s fire is one of them. People prayed the saints to recover from the sacred fire or erysipelas which caused a local inflammation and swelling on skin. English commonly name this disaster “rose”. St Elmo’s fire is different, it is formed by a spark due to atmospheric electricity; we associate it with St Helen’s fire. This brings us of course to F. le feu follet (foolish fire) called in En. fire-drake or fire-dragon ; this flame is coming from the exhalation of the inflammable gas in the ground. The English people gives a long string of names to this foolish fire, such as Elf-fire, Fair Maid of Ireland, Jack o’lantern, John in the wad, kit’o the canstik, Peg-a-lantern, walking fire…in German it is either das Feuermännchen (the little man’s fire) or das Irrlicht (wandering light). Talking of this, I strongly advise you to read the book of Max von der Grün: Irrlicht und Feuer, written in 1963, in which the mining world is described in a very sensitive and raw manner with all his fire and sweat. It’s almost equivalent to Zola! The author spent thirteen years as an underground worker in the mines of the Ruhr area and knows his subject. To say “I am sure”, we may say F. j’en mettrais ma main au feu (I’ll put my hand in the fire), i.e. I would swear to it, is said in G. ich wollte meinen Kopf darauf setzen (I would like to put my head on it). From the “hand” we go over to the “head”, from the “head” to the “tail” with F. avoir le feu au derrière (au cul!) (To have fire in the bottom), i.e. to be always in a hurry or better: to have ants in one’s pants which seems more polite but not less pleasant… You see, we progress with giant strides, or we get on like a horse on fire, and without F. avoir mis tout à feu et à sang (having set everything on fire and on blood), G. mit Feuer und Schwert verheeren (to make havoc with fire and sword). To conclude, I would tell you F. Il ne faut pas jouer avec le feu (one must not play wit the fire), G. man darf den Teufel nicht an die Wand malen (one should not paint the devil on the wall).

68 – Devil

Of course F. quand on parle du loup, on en voit la queue (when one speaks of the wolf, we see the tail), i.e. talk to the devil and he’s soon to appear. English assimilate the “wolf” to the “Devil”! F. Du diable si je le sais! (Devil if I know it) becomes “hanged if I know!” It seems that sometimes they are afraid of the devil because they forget to speak about him. Sometimes they venerate him, since they often give him a capital letter. For F. allez au diable! (Go to the devil!), they say “go to blazes”, for F. au diable (to the devil), they prefer “miles away”, for the Germans it will be am Ende der Welt (at the end of the world). And F. aller au diable vauvert (to go to the Vauvert’s devil) [allusion is to the Catholic sanctuary of Vauvert in Southern , near Nîmes, which was destroyed by the Protestants during the Middle-Ages] is simply translated “to disappear”, where our more romantic Germans say über alle Berge (above all mountains). For us F. la beauté du diable (devil’s beauty) which is rather tempting, becomes “the bloom of youth”. F. Quelle diable de langue que l’anglais (what devil language is English) is expressed “English is a hell of a language!” F. Diable! (Devil!) isn’it? And here they start afresh; they say “Heaven!” Once Devil is “Hell”, the other it is “Heaven”! F. J’en suis très diable (I ’m very devil) don’t you believe it? Here again they are saying “I am full of fun” short I am always fond of a poke…And when they speak of the devil, we dish up the contents in another form and use other words. So, when they say between the Devil and the deep blue sea, we are saying F. entre le marteau et l’enclume (between the hammer and the anvil), even F. de Charybde en Scylla! (From Charibdis into Scylla), i.e. to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire! When they have got some problems with certain persons who are devil-may-care, they are confronted with F. têtes brûlées (burnt heads), i.e. reckless individuals. Yes, because these persons pull Devil, pull backer: they lie, cheat and wrangle away. This is why they speak of Devil’s dozen, thirteen for twelve. The locution comes from the fact that a heavy penalty was inflicted for short weight, bakers used to give a surplus, a 13th loaf. Should they count on their fingers? By the way devil’s finger is the common name of the starfish of the class asteroidean with five or more radiating “arms”. There, since we use F.étoile de

mer (sea star), they adopt “devil”! Concerning plants and fishes, their connection with the devil is usually explained due to their poisonous sap or their venom. For example devil’s milk is the sun-spurge of genus Euphorbia containing an acrid milky juice becoming dark in with the air. F. le diable (devil) in , it is the manta ray, and F. le poisson du diable (devil’s fish) it is the octopus. Very picturesque as well is the devil’s candlestick to name a stinking mushroom, phallus impedicus, also called devil’s horn or devil’s stinkpot. We give him also a lot of names: morille du diable (devil’s morel), oeuf du diable (devil’s egg), phallus impudique (unchaste phallus), phallus obscène (obscene phallus), satyre puant (stinking satyre)…it is a mushroom made of a spongy tissue which expends exactly like the virile member…it is your choice. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, with its Italian attractive name “handsome lady” remains a poisonous plant with purple-black berries from which is extracted an alkaloid used in medicine as antispasm and as pupil dilator. It is atropine coming from Latin belladone. The Germans call it die Teufelskirsche (devil’s cherry). F. Qui diable le sait? (Who devil knows it?), i.e. hanged if I know! The Germans will answer das weiβ der Kuckuck! (The cuckoo knows it). You see, that sometimes the devil is from time to time appearing to us to wink at us. Germans are doing like English, they prefer to speak of god or anything else rather than of the devil. Don’t they say for F. le diable en personne (the devil self) der Gottseibeiuns (god-be-with-us)? And don’t they translate F. envoyer qn à tous les diables (to send s.o. to all the devils) with ‘n ins Pfefferland wünschen (to wish s.o. to pepper contry)? For them too F. la peur du diable (fear of devil) becomes die Höllenangst (fear of hell). And F. où diable est-il resté (where devil did he stay) is changed into wo tausend ist er geblieben? (where thousand did he stay?). From here, I hear Captain Haddock shout F. Diable! Mille sabords! (Devil! Thousand port-holes!) i.e. Thousand typhoons! The Devil is even in the islands: look at the famous Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana where Alfred Dreyfus was sent prisoner in 1894 to have, it is said, revealed military information to the German officer Schwartzkoppen, and which is known to us as Dreyfus’ affair. Other French people have tempted the devil, especially Jean Bart (1651-1702) French iral called the French Devil since he was a terror to English during the wars between William III and Louis XIV. We have also Voltaire, named the Devil Missionary by English due to his

antireligious lampoons. He made a noticeable stay in UK from 1726 to 1729, period during which he met other philosophers. His enthusiasm for the Britisch Government compelled him to go back to . In Chinese as well we have some picturesque expressions with F. le diable bat sa femme et marie sa fille (the Devil beats his wife and maries his daughter) which is said “on one side it is raining, on the other the sun shines”: / yi2mia4 xia4yu3, yi2mian4 chu1 tai4yang2, and F. s’agiter comme un beau diable (to get excited like a handsome devil), i. e. like a good fellow, which is said “to be like an ant on a hot stew-pan”: / xiang4 re4 guo1 shang4de ma3yi3. Indeed “devil” is said Ch. / mo2gui3. The compound words “cooking-pan, “stew-pan” brings me to consider with you the word “pot”.

69 – Pot

In English, the word “pot” is one of the many slang for the drug marijuana. F. manque de pot (lack of pot), i.e. bad luck: a big pot is not a huge pot, it is an important person F. un gros bonnet (big bonnet) or F. une grosse légume (a big vegetable), i.e. a top-brass, a big shot! By chance, or luck, we have F. manger à la fortune du pot, to take pot-luck. In German, they say essen, was die Kelle gibt (to eat what the soup-ladle gives) or said differently: to eat, what you are able to catch with the ladle. F. tourner autour du pot (to turn around the pot) is in En. to beat about the bush, G. wie die Katze um den heiβen Brei gehen (to go like the cat around the hot pap). The English proverbial sentence: the pot calling the kettle back gives in F. la pelle se moque du fourgon (the shovel does not care of the waggon), and is said of one accusing another of faults similar to those committed by himself. A pot of money is a large amount of money, F. un paquet de pognon (a pack of money) or un argent fou (foolish money). This expression is especially used in UK for a large stake on a horse. Speaking of sport, one who is collecting prizes is called in UK a pot-hunter in reference to the silver cup awarded for sporting events. Pot-valour is not a valuable pot, but a drink to provide courage since it consists of alcohol to pick up after bad mood. English attribute this customs to Dutch who they consider heavy drinkers, so much for them, that is is called Dutch courage! As for the French expression payer les pots cassés (to pay for the broken pots), they use the phrase “to pay the piper”, that we could also translate F. payer les violons (to pay the violins). In the navy, F. le pot au noir (black pot) corresponds to the doldrums, for French people it is associated with F.avoir le cafard, to cheese off or to be in the doldrums, which also means to be in the Equatorial light winds or in an inactive economic situation. In G. they say der Wichstopf (glossy pot). We have some interesting English words: pots and pans to name, of course, the set of kitchen utensils. Pot-hole which is our F. nid de poule (hen’s nest), the

hole in the road pavement. In German alles in einen Topf werfen (to throw all in a pot) gives in F. mettre tout dans le même sac (to put all in the same bag); das ist Topf wie Deckel (it is as well pot as lid) means F. c’est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet (it’s white cup and white bonnet), i.e. it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. That’s what I could tell you on this word F. en deux coups de cuiller à pot (in two strokes of ladle), i. e. shortly and rapidly.

70 – Bag

This word “bag”, F. le sac having as origin a coarse fabric of flax or hemp surprises with all deviations from its original meaning. In English, when plural, bags means “tros”, clothes made from coarse material. However when the pattern is strong and “loud” they are called howling-bags, to believe that wind sweeps in the tros’ legs. This has given us the expression F. être fagoté comme un sac (to be faggoted like a bag), i. e. to be dressed without taste, to be dowdy. But the F. sac (bag) stands also for the stomach. Thus F. se remplir le sac (to fill up the bag) means to fill one’s belly or F. se remplir la panse – Irish people would add F. de brebis farcie (to fill up one’s belly…with stuffed ewe’s paunch)! – The Dunkard is sometimes called F. sac à vin (wine bag), En.boozer. G. der Saufbruder (drink / draught brother), standing for F. frère de lampe, from which we kept la lampée, a gulp (of wine), although this word stands for large mouthful hastily and greedily performed, remains in the field of sobriety. Here also, the Germans say voll wie ein Sack (full like a bag) to express F. saoul comme une bourrique (drunk like an ass). And F. vider son sac (to empty one’s bag), i.e; to unbosom oneself, it is really to disclose one’s thoughts, F. dire tout ce que l’on a sur l’estomac (to tell all what one’s has on the stomach)! If you are drunk, better to resign, En. to give the bag before beeing sacked, F. saccé, to be dismissed. If not, you will be left holding the bag, meaning to be deserted by one’s comrads and left with the entire responsibility. English have similar expressions: to be left holding the baby, or to be left to carry the can. We could also say F. laisser en plan (to leave in plan) or laisser le bec dans l’eau (to leave the bill in the water), i.e. to leave in the lurch, meaning to desert a person in a difficulty. But the word “bag” has sometimes its mystery, it is obvious that in UK bags of mystery is the allusion for sausages and saveloys; should we not doubt of their content? I tell you, it was a mysterious word, because it concerns a lot of senses. F. le sac à fourrage (fodder bag) for the animals becomes in En. nose-bag. F. l’homme de sac et de corde (bag and rope man) standing for a criminal fit to be hanged, gives En. “gallows-bird”, G. der Gelgenvogel which would be translated into F. gibier de potence (gallows-game). If this person is sentenced, it

is because she has been caught red-handed, F.la main dans le sac (the hand in the bag), i.e. caught in the act! However if one tells you: F. Mettez ça dans votre sac (put that in your bag), En. put this in your pipe and smoke it! It’s a good thing; you are going to receive a good snack for your trip… Concerning F. il a épousé le sac (he get married with the bag), here “bag” means the money which is in the bag, and means, that he get married with a rich heiress. That’s much better than to get married with F. un tas d’os (a heap of bones), En. a bag of bones, otherwise it would be better F de.prendre ses cliques et ses claques (to take one’s cliques and one’s slaps), i.e. to take oneself off quickly or to pack up bag and baggage, meaning to pack-up with all one’s belongings, F. faire son baluchon. If you do so, let it be F. avec armes et bagages (with weapons and luggage), En bag and baggage, G. mit Sack und Pack (with bag and pack) and above all do not use F. la valise diplomatique (diplomatic suitcase), En. the diplomatic bag kept usually for more serious effects…In this case avoid F.de les mettre dans le même sac (to put them in the same bag), G. alle unter einen Hut bringen (to bring everything under a hat). Anyway F. ne lâchez pas la proie pour l’ombre (do not leave the prey for the shadow), i. e. to drop the substance for the shadow, G. die Katze aus dem Sack lassen (to let the cat out of the bag), otherwise you may risk F. d’être Jean qui pleure et Jean qui rit (to be John who cries and John who laughs), G. Lachen und Weinen in einem Sack haben (to have laughs and cries in a bag). To end with this F. tableau …de chasse (meaning here both: chasing pictures, and hunting, sportsman’s bag), I will give you three interesting German words: die Sackgasse (bag street), F. cul-de-sac, En. blind alley ; der Sacknetz (basket bag) corresponding to “drag-net”, and der Sackgarn (net bag) which is a “hoop-net”, F. le verveux, a funnel-shaped fishing-net consisting of a closed bottom made of circular band of metal. In Chinese “bag” is said / dai4. When they say Ch. / dai4shu3 (mouse bag), they mean “kangaroo”. We may think, they make a mistake on the size of the animal, but when you consider it properly, you will realize that the kangarookit is as small as a mouse. They have a synonym for / dai4, which is / bao1, and / bao1pi2 (skin enveloppe / bag) means either “pack-cloth” or “foreskin”! Surprising, no? We should not forget / bao1zi, the basic element of Chinese kitchen consisting in steam-cooked stuffed small breads.

71 – Fish

The Chinese word for “fish”, Ch. / yu2 is phonetically identical with the word meaning “abundance, affluence”, Ch. / yu2: so the fish symbolises wealth. It is often represented with a child or a lotus blossom. In Central China, fish-heads, Ch. / yu2tou were sacrificed over a long period to the god of riches, in the belief that they symbolised the beginning of wealth. Fish is a popular dish at New Year. When the constellation of the Fish becomes visible in the skies, it is a sign that the time for “clouds and rain”, i.e. having sexual intercourse, has ed. The fish is one of the eight Buddhist symbols. The fish is a very useful animal for Asian peoples, because it is a source of proteins and it palliates with efficiency the lack of B vitamin, origin of the beriberi. After the monsoon downpours a lot of cat-fishes invade the flooded paddy-field, and one may see in Thailand the children catch fish on the play ground or on the side of the road. In Japan, the biggest fish-market is held in Tsukiji. A world where 1 200 traders receive, pack and sell more than 400 species of fish. The Japanese eat the fish mainly raw, but, of course, they season it with many sauces. Hereafter are some quite amusing Chinese : • / yu2guan4 (endless fish) meaning in Indian file ; • / yu2mu4hun4zhu1, to let fish eyes for pearls meaning to let a counterfeit product for an original one ; • / yu2 you2 fu3zhong1, like the fish swimming in the cooking-pot that is to say to be in a hopeless situation, we would say like a fish out of water.

For us, Europeans, and especially Christians, fish is the symbol of Christ. The Greek word ichthus forms an acronym of the initial letters of Jesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soder, i.e. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. We find it again in the

Papal seal commonly and vulgarly called fisher’s seal, and which remind us of Saint Peter’s miraculous fishing (not the fish!). Our believes brought us some expressions. In English, in the time of Elizabeth I, non-Papists, honest people were recognised with the sentence: he eats no fish, others, namely the Roman Catholics were eating some on Fridays. Reason why this day was known as fish-day, F. jour maigre (lean day), i.e. a day without meat reserved to fish. So much that F. ce n’est pas catholique (it’s not catholic) is said in En. it looks fish. We owe other expressions to fish. For example: a fish out of water is said of a person out of his usual environment. A queer fish stands for an eccentric person, F. un drôle de bonhomme (a funny fellow). In En. I have other fish to fry is translated in F. j’ai d’autres chats à fouetter (I have other cats to whip)! When English people say: to drink like a fish, they mean to drink abundantly or excessively, F. boire comme un panier percé (to drink like a pierced basket). They have to mind the picture of a fish swimming with opened mouth appearing to be continually drinking. And when they say: you must not make fish of one and flesh of the other; it means that you must treat both alike, without discrimination. Another quite British term is “Fish Royal” to call surgeon and whale (although the latter is not a fish). These two kinds of species when caught near the British coast were the property of the Crown. On the other hand, at Court, you must avoid to swear like a fish-wife, F. jurer comme un charretier (to swear like a carter). The “fish-wife” has been changed into a “carter”! But we also have our F. marchande de poisson (fish’s tradewoman), but she corresponds more to a scolding female in the fish auction, F. la criée (from to cry, to call out)…Same with the fish-hawk similar to F. orfraie (orsprey), because it shrieks…like a fish-wife. By the way, F. orfraie, this diurnal prey bird is to be differenciated from F. effraie (screech-owl), as English mentions it is a kind of owl. Far from this, the term “don’t fish” to show too luch modesty! In German “fish” is said der Fisch. And if fish-wives shout and cry, the fish is quite mute, thus stumm wie ein Fisch (dumb as a fish) becomes F. muet comme une carpe (dumb as a carp). And somebody who speaks too much, who says incredible tales, in G. he says faule Fische (rotten fishes). Their expression Fischblut haben (to have fish blood) is the contrary in French: it means to have

no blood in the veins, or if we got some it becomes F. sang de navet (“navet” means both “turnip” and “nothing”) here it means no blood or to be anoemic! In we make a difference between F. le poisson-chat, cat-fish and F. le silure, silurus or sheat-fish, the latter being usually bigger ; in they are just the same, they call both der Katzenwels (cat silurus)… What about der Fischmöwe (fish seamew)? It is indeed the black sea-gull! F. le goéland noir, the word “goéland” comes from a Breton word gwelan meaning “gull”…and in , when we say: il vit comme un poisson dans l’eau (he lives like a fish in water), the Germans say er lebt wie Gott in Frankreich (he lives like God in )! You may notice that the word “fish” is enjoying a divine recognition.

72 – God

In our Judae-Christian civilisation God wears several names: Yehoveh, Iehovah, The King of Kings, The Eternal, The Almighty… In English, it is “god”, a word common, in slightly varying forms, to all Teutonic languages, probably from an Aryan root, gheu meaning to invoke. Already in Ancient Times our ancestors besought the twelve gods of Olympus ⁷, their blood was ichor, a colourless fluid looking in their veins like it, their food was ambrosia, so called because it made them immortal, and their drink was nectar. If all ways lead to Roma, the Papal City representing God on earth, many expressions are referring to god, in good or bad . When we, French people, use the word dieu (god), English are avoiding it. So we have F. pour l’amour de Dieu (for God’s love) becoming “for goodness’ sake”; F. la maison du bon Dieu (the house of the good God) is translated “it is a very hospitable house”; F.Mon Dieu, oui (My God, yes) escapes notice with “why, yes!” and F. mon Dieu je ne sais pas (My God, I don’t know) remains simply “indeed, I don’t know”. On the other hand, the contrary applies as well, where they use the word “god”; we have found a way of escaping. Thus god-foresaken place is defined as F. un endroit perdu (a lost place) or un trou (a hole). What a god-for-saken country! becomes F. quel fichu pays! (what a bad / poor country). To finish: to bid s.o. god-speed is naturally wishing him a good departure, F. souhaiter bon voyage à qn. And when English F. jurent les grands dieux (swear the great gods) they pad out a book in incluing the “little fish”, En. ye gods and little fishes! This seems less vulgar. As far as the Germans are concerned, they disregard god, they just say: hoch und teuer schwören! (To swear high and dear) Same, in the expression F. dieu seul le sait (god only knows it), they prefer to say das weiβ der liebe Himmel (the dear heaven knows it). F. Le regard de Dieu (God’s look) is concentrated on the eye since they say G.Gottes Auge (God’s eye) and F. recevoir le bon Dieu sans confession (to receive the good God without confession) is expressed with G. scheinheilig (looking holy).

The German culture is rich in well-known persons having used this word. First of all Friedrich Nietzsche who wrote in 1886 Jenseits von Gut und Böse (“Beyond Good and Evil”) dealing with God’s death. He was a friend of Richard Wagner who composed the four-part cycle Der Ring der Nibelungen last part of which is called Götterdämmerung (“The Twilight of the Gods”). And the Romantic poet Novalis (pen name of Friedrich Leopold, Freiherr von Hardenberg) ³ who developed a unique personal faith in the mystical unity of all things, and believed that man once lived in complete union with nature. Did he not call the Dutch philosopher Spinoza, the “god intoxicated man”? since he was against all god’s conceptions ; he became famous for his doctrine of pantheism or “atheism of the system”. Very important too, the well - known English National Anthem God Save the Queen: the author is less known. The composition has been attributed to Dr. John Bull, organist at Antwerp Cathedral from 1617 to 1628. Many people as well know the old proverb Man proposes, God disposes, F. l’homme propose, Dieu dispose, G. der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt (man think, God leads) which has its root in the Bible:

“A man’s heart deviseth his way, But the Lord directeth his steps;” Prov.xvi, 9

In Asia, the equivalent of God, it is Buddha (621-543 B.C.). It is said that Siddharma Gautama became Buddha in 528 BC. After he sat under a Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa). Buddhist ideas had come in China via the Silk* Road. In the first place scholars were hostile to the new religion because that man had deserted his family, and secondly he himself appeared in the guise of a “barbarian”, traditionally clad with one shoulder bare and with no form of decoration. So much that a theological difficulty developed: was the Emperor to bow down before the image of Buddha? Or were Buddhist disciples to kneal before the Emperor? The most popular god in East Asia is Maitreya Buddha, the “Buddha yet to

come” appearing as the laughing “Fat-belly Buddha”. I take the opportunity to remind you of the eight Buddhist symbols: the mussel symbolises the call to the sermon, which is itself symbolised by the wheel; the canopy protects all living beings; the umbrella shades all medicinal herbs; the lotus is the symbol of purity, the vase that of perfect wisdom; the goldfish symbolises release, and the knot the eternal life. In Chinese Buddha is said / fo2, and / fo2shou3, i.e. Buddha’s hand, is F. cédrat, a kind of uneatable very scented lemon having the shape of a hand. Its English name is restricted to the “finger”: finger-lemon!

73 – Finger

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) rival and Shakespeare’s bosom friend wrote in The Alchemist (1610):

“The thumb, in chiromancy, we give to Venus, The fore-finger to Jove, the midst to Saturn; The ring to Sol; the least to Mercury.”

The dramatist and poet wrote comedies where he satirized hypocrisy and greed, a humanist who would engraft classical control and purity on English forms. His brilliant gift for caricature and comic realism are at the origin of English humour. When English say fingers were made before forks, everyone knows that formerly we were using our fingers to eat. But here the meaning kept is that ceremony is unnecessary, make yourself at home. Note that many peoples especially primitive ones, are still eating with their fingers as a sign of food sharing, they ignore the fork. When it is up to eat the main dish they say, it must be finished to the finger-nail, i.e. completely. For this, you need to be clumsy with your hands, or your fingers are all thumbs. In English: to keep one’s fingers crossed means both F. toucher du doigt (to touch with the finger) and F. croiser les doigts (to cross the fingers). It comes from the superstition when people making the sign of the cross will avert bad luck. Their expression: to have finger in the pie is: to have a share in doing something, usually with interference or meddling in business. Easy, one does not move for such a little thing will be expressed: with a wet finger, here the allusion is to spinning, in which the spinner constantly wetted her fingers. Sailors proceed in the same manner to find out the side whence the wind comes. When two persons are in the closest co-operation, they say to be finger and

glove with another or “to be hand in glove with”, which we are expressing with F. être comme les deux doigts de la main (to be like the two fingers of the hand). Their expression: A lightfingered gentry stands for the pickpockets. In German, they have simply “long” fingers, G. die langen Finger; we would say F. les doigts crochus (hooked fingers). Note the differences between countries:”light”, “long” or “hooked”. This is the reason why we must be sharp-eyed, in G. j’m auf die Finger sehen (to see s.o. on the fingers)! To believe that Germans have their eyes on their finger’s tip like blindmen…In the same way, they say G. j’m durch die Finger sehen (to see s.o. through the fingers) to say to turn a blind eye to s.o.’s fault. And when they take a responsibility into their head, they say G. einen Nachricht aus den Fingern saugen (to suck news out of the fingers). In to offer no resistance, let’s say F. être souple comme un gant (to be supple as a glove), they say G. man könnte ihn um den Finger wickeln (we could twist him around the finger), and to find sg at hand is said: G. unter die Finger kommen (to come under the finger). F. Mettre le doigt dessus (to put the finger on it), i. e. to point out precisely the meaning, the cause, etc. is said G. den rechten Flecken treffen (to meet the right stain). An interesting German word is das Fingerkraut (Finger’s grass), the potentilla or cinquefoil, a plant with compound leaf of five (F.cinq) leaflets as the five fingers of the hand. In Chinese, the “finger” is said / zhi3. To believe that the moon is made of green cheese or to confuse truth and falsehood, they say to point out with the finger the stag instead of the horse: Ch. / zhi3 lu4 wei2 ma3. When they gesticulate, we do it with our feet and hands, but they show the hand and move the foot: Ch. / zhi3shou3-hua4jiao3! If nowadays, fingerprints are taken to identify individuals worldwide, we must not forget that Chinese and Japanese were using this method since a long time.

74 – Foot

Of course when F. on fait des pieds et des mains (one makes feet and hands) means that we absolutely want to reach our aim, G. alles versuchen (to try everything), En. Uses to move heaven and earth which corresponds to an other of our expressions F. remuer ciel et terre. When we F. volons de nos propres ailes (fly with our own wings), Anglo-Saxon say to find one’s feet, G. auf eigenen Füβen stellen (to maintain oneself on one’s feet). When an Englishman says My foot! We aim at a higher place, we say F. mon oeil (my eye). When he says to miss one’s foot, it is simply a wrong situation. The French expression mettre à pied (to put to foot) is simply translated in En. to suspend or to sack, where the German will say kaltstellen (to put cold)! It is may be the reason why we ought to use a foot-muff for keeping feet warm, F. une chancelière, G. der Fuβsack (foot bag). At this moment we have warm feet, F.nous avons les pieds chauds, which is in En. to be in clover, i.e. we live in ease and luxury, French would say vivre comme un coq en pâte (to live like a cock in paste)! It also means to be hale and hearty, i.e. in F. avoir bon pied bon œil (to have good foot good eye)! In German it will be only in voller Kraft (in full strength) implicating the prime of life. In UK, when we enter a house right foot foremost, it is due to the superstition attached to it, in it would rather be to get up on the right foot, in order to stay in a good mood for the whole day. Pythagoras taught that it is necessary to put the shoe on the right foot first. When English say to put one’s foot in it, we immediately think F. mettre les pieds dans le plat (to put the feet in the dish), but the allusion is to the preliminary exercices in Roman foot-races, the phrase was I have not yet got my foot…in the race (not the dish!). We also meet the “foot” in religion: on Maundy Thursday it became the custom of popes, Catholic sovereigns to wash the feet of poor people. And F. le pied fourchu (cloven foot), i.e. cloven hoof, was the devil’s representation. Hence to

show the cloven foot means to betray an evil intention. In English to foot the bill is to sign one’s name at the foot of the bill, i.e. to promise to pay the . However, to pay one’s footing is to give money for drink when one first enter a trade, it is also used for an officer who has been promoted, has obtained his gold braid.Thus we jump from “feet” to “shoulders”…At that moment we could feel in a theatre, and appear before the footlights, which are placed near the front edge of the stage. When we speak of F. un pied de salade (a foot of salad), our Anglo-Saxon friends contradict us in saying En. head of salad, G. ein Kopf Salat. They are certainly right, because we eat the “heart” of the salad not the “foot”! Our F. pied-du-col (collar’s foot) becomes in En. sham of the collar. F. Le pied d’alouette (lark’s foot), i.e. the larkspur is the common name of the plant genus delphinium with spur-shaped calyx, G. der Rittersporn (rider’s spur), Ch. / fei1yan4cao3 (flying swallow wort)! F. le pied-de-veau (calf’s foot), the name of the wild arum in botanic is En. Lords and ladies or cuckoo-pint, we are far from the “calf”, but the En. word is rather pretty, isn’t? In Ch. it is called hai3yu4 meaning “taro”, a tropical plant also of arum family with tuberculous root, its other wfw meaning “sea tuberous”. In English, foot-and-mouth disease, G. die Maul-und Klauenseuche (epizootic of mouth and cloven foot), Ch / kou3ti2yi4 (epidemic of mouth and hooves) corresponds to the aphthous fever, F. la fièvre aphteuse, an infectious and contagious epizootic. Only the French term remains vague concerning this disease so well described in the other languages, indicating where the illness begins. When the Germans are speaking of the “foot”, we name another part of the body, even something completely different. G. Die Füβe in die Hände nehmen (to take the feet in the hands) is translated F. prendre les jambes à son cou (to take the legs to one’s neck), in En. To take to one’s heels, “heels” are still part of the “feet”. G. Keinen Fuβbreit weichen (not risk a foot’s width) means F. ne pas reculer d’une semelle (not to step back of a sole [shoe]), En. not to give way a inch! Their expression G. das hat weder Hand noch Fuβ (this has neither hand nor foot) corresponds to F. cela n’a ni queue ni tête (this has neither tail nor head), meaning we can make neither head nor tail of it, we cannot understand it at all. And G. es hat Hand und Fuβ (this has hand and foot) means it is a well

done thing. Concerning F. les fers aux pieds (irons to the feet), G. das Fuβeisen (iron foot), this really means irons or fetters of a captive man, but also F. un piège à loups (wolves’ trap), i.e. a man-trap! And G. der Fuβlappen (foot rag) is F. la chaussette russe (Russian sock), i. e a foot-cloth, a kind of narrow band wrapping the foot… In Chinese “foot” is said / zu2, and if repeated / zu2zu2, it means “well, widely”…and Ch. / zu2chi4 (red / bare foot) has nothing to do with having the foot “bare”, it stands for “fine”or “pure gold”! By the way, I remind you that the Chinese use the same word / chi4 for red and pure: “bare, naked”, since they consider that when a baby comes to the world he is stark naked and completely red.

75 – Gold

According to the ancient alchemists, gold represented the sun, and silver the moon. At all times gold’s thirst have attracted people, so much that gold digger became mad. Even iron pyrite was sometimes mistaken for gold, reason why the English calls it fool’s gold. We find a lot of geographical areas named after this term: •Andalusia is called The Golden Purse of Spain because it is the most fertile area of the country; •The Bosphorus is named the Golden Horn or Horn of Plenty; •California is called from the gold discoveries of 1848, the Golden State. But it is only in 1849 that most of the adventurers arrived, coming from the entire world and took part in the gold rush. They are called the “fortyniners”; •Mainz has been called the Golden Town in Carlovingian times; •The rich plain of Munster in Ireland is also called the Golden Valley; •San Francisco was given the name “The City of the Golden Gate” by John C. Frémont in 1846. The strait forming the entrance of San Francisco Bay was called the Golden Gate. I remind you that John C. Frémont ran for the presidency of USA ten years later, in 1856.

And, of course, the Golden Age applied in the history of people when the nation was at its summit of glory and reputation. •In China, it was the era of the Tang Dynasty / / Tang2 Chao2 (618-906); •In England, under the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603); •In , the century including the reign of Louis XIV (1640-1740);

•In , under the reign of Charles V (1519-1558)…

Concerning the expressions, they are quite numerous as well. I will retain only the most striking ones: F. c’est de l’or en barre (this is gold in bar), in En. it is as safe as the Bank of England; F. c’est en or (this is in gold), En. It’s a piece of cake; F. obtenir qch à prix d’or (to obtain sg at gold price), En. to pay through the nose for something. In German also we have some funny expressions, such as G. Geld haben wie Heu (to have money like hay), F. rouler sur l’or (to roll on gold), i.e. to be rolling in money, note that here “gold” has been changed in “money”! G. steinreich (stone rich) for F. cousu d’or (gold sewn), i.e. to be rolling in wealth, and G. die Füchse (foxes) or der Goldfuchs (gold fox) which stands for F. pièces d’or (gold coins) or jaunet, i.e. gold-coloured coin, but also for F. un alezan doré, i.e. a golden chestnut horse, We had rather thought it was a golden fox! In a rather strange way the Germans call F. l’or fin, En. fine gold, G. vierundzwangigkaratiges Gold (gold at 24 carat) when they say for F. l’or à 18 carats, En. eighteen-carat gold, G. das Kronengold (the gold crown)! You see that we ought to F. peser ses mots (to weigh one’s words), i.e. to lay stress on words, G. jedes Wort auf die Goldwaage legen (to put each word on the gold balance). Other words too are entitled to receive “gold” or “gilding” among flowers, birds, fishes, etc. En. golden-rod, F. la verge d’or – it is not the one, you are thinking of [the penis], although it belongs to F. les bijoux de famille (jewels of family) – it is the vulgar name of a plant: solidago And if golden apples stands for apple of discord, a cause of dispute, in English, the German equivalent der Goldapfel (gold apple) means tomato! Our F. poisson rouge (red fish) is of course a gold-fish in English or in G. der Goldfish, or even in Ch. jinyu; except that in G. it also means a well dowered maid. G .Der Goldkarpfen (gold carp) is F. le cyprin doré, this word comes from Latin cyprius meaning “carp”, whose scientific name is carassius, hence the F. carassin…and when one speaks of carassin doré, it is but the gold-fish! French people are really looking for complex descriptions when others stay simple.

G. Der Goldforelle (gold trout) is in F. l’omble / ombre, i.e. umber or “landlocked”arctic char, F. l’omble-chevalier, a fish found in the lake of Neufchâtel with a valuable and tasty flesh. To distinguish from both we call it also F. saumon de fontaine (spring salmon)! G. Die Goldamsel (gold blackbird) is commonly named in F. le loriot (from Latin oriol meaning “golden coloured”), En. golden oriole; if the Germans call it “blackbird” it is because of its likeness with it although smaller, with a bright yellow plumage. We call it also like them F. le merle d’or or grive dorée (golden thrush)! En. goldfinch corresponds to F. chardonneret élégant (smart “thistler”) because it eats thistles, it is also called En. thistle finch; it is associated with the redpole or linnet, F. linnette because it eats the linseeds; we found him an other French name: chardonneret citrinelle meaning lemon coloured, not gold! Finally G. die Goldblume is either the chrysanthemum or the marigold: it remains your choice according to the circumstances… [French pun with F. souci meaning “marigold” and “worry”] “Marigold” is said in Ch. / jin1zhan3hua1 (gold cup flower). And what should we say about “gold” when applied to a country, Dutch gold is indeed “German” gold. It is an alloy of copper and zinc, yellowish in colour. For this word French says oripeau meaning F. peau dorée (golden skin)! German gold is also called by English people Pinchbeck from a jeweller Christopher Pinchbeck (1670-1732) in the famous Street Fleet in London. With evidence, the German had to call it differently, they have chosen nachgeahmtes Gold (imitated gold), i.e. F. simili-or, gold imitation! And when they say G. die Goldader (gold vein) they naturally think to a reef of gold, but also to the piles, which are less enjoyable… There is a lot more words related to mythology, the Golden Fleece, in the Greek Antiquity, Wagner’s opera, Das Rheingold,(The Rhine gold) or Niebelungen gold, based on a German mediaeval epic, the worship of the Golden Calf in the Bible (Exod. xxx ii). Before finishing, we have to mention the golden number allowing determining the date of Easter. It consists in adding 1 to the year of our Lord, and then divide by 19; the remainder, if any, is the golden number; but if nothing remains, then 19 is the golden number. Indeed, it is based on the Metronic cycle – after the

Greek astronomer, Metron, 433 B.C. – it is between 1 and 19 (and not 1.618 as I have seen many times!). The astronomet had calculated a cycle of nineteen years at the end of which period the new moons fall in the same days of the year. This figure has been corrected by Calliprus who quadrupled the period of Meton, i.e. times 19 making his cycle one of seventy-six years less one day, by which means he calculated that the new and full moons would be brought to the same day and hour. This day was marked in gold in the ancient Roman and Alexandrian calendars. I remind you that Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon, thus it cannot be earlier than 22 March, or later than 25 April. I remind you as well that the solar cycle is of 365 days, and the moon’s one 11 days less, i.e. 354 days. In Chinese “gold” is said / jin1; this word is sometimes added to insist upon the sacred, for example Ch. / gui1 stands for the tortoise, and Ch. / jin1gui1 also, since in China the tortoise is a token of long life, of sacred. Besides, they have grafted on the tortoise an other animal the scarabaeid beetle which is said Ch. / jin1gui1zi3! The cicada is said Ch. / chan2 or / jin1chan2, and to hedge, to try to find excuses is said Ch / jin1chan2 tuo1 qiao4 (to escape as a shedding cicada). Money to be distinguished from gold is said Ch. / qian2 or / jin1qian2. The leopard however is said / bao4 or / jin1qian2bao4 (money leopard); we would rather only say “jinbao” and “silver” leopard! Of course, the Evening Star, Venus, is called in Ch .the gold star, / jin1xing1, probably because it is the brightest planet after the moon.

76 – Sun

It is the source of light and heat, and consequently of all life, hence regarded as a deity and worshipped as such by all primitive peoples. Let’s name the god Ra celebrated by the Egyptians, Helios by the Greeks and Sol by the Romans. Jesus Christ has been called The Sun of Righteousness (Mal.iv. 20). Louis XIV asked his people to call him The Sun King, F. Le Roi Soleil. In Chinese, the “sun”, / ri4 is an embodiment of / yang2, the male principle; it is also a symbol of the Emperor. It is as well part of the national anthem:

“The East is red, the sun ascends.”

To show that the sun is already high, Chinese say: / ri4 shang4 san1 gan1 (the sun is above three [bamboo] poles). We know the sun very well, but less the mock-sun, F. le faux-soleil (false sun) the picture of the sun due to a refractive phenomenon which produces in the same time a halo. We name it also parhelion, from Greek Helios, meaning sun. Finally to have some fun, I deliver French people these words for them to improve their pronounciation:

Where the sun’s raises meet Sons raise meat.

That is why you ought not to F. être trop près du soleil (to be too near the sun), i.e. to close to your boss, otherwise it burns you, and then you get a touch of sunstroke, F. vous attrapez un coup de soleil or you are named F. lécheur (licker),

a toady; for that word, the Germans say: er hat einen Vetter im Ministerium (he has a cousin in the ministry).At that moment, we might have tendency to redden F.à piquer un soleil (to dive a sun), i.e. to blush, which our German friends express bis über die Ohren rot werden (to redden up above the ears)! When we say F. clair comme le jour, En. as clear as a daylight, they say G. sonnenklar (clear as the sun). F. avoir du bien au soleil (to have property in the sun) is expressed in the same way in En. to have landed property as in G. Grundbesitz haben. Of course, we also have our F. bête à bon Dieu (good god beats) or la coccinelle which is called in G. der Sonnenkäfer (sun beetle), or even der Sonnenkalb (sun calf), here I think it is rather big for such a small creature, isn’t? After all, English call it lady-cow which is much bigger! or lady-bird, which is flighty. In En. to have the sun in one’s eyes, at the difference of the proper sense meaning to be dazzled by the sun, this means to be slightly inebriated!! And to make hay while the sun shines corresponds to our expression F. il faut battre le fer tant qu’il est chaud, to strike the iron while it is hot! In pyrotechnics a Catherine-wheel is translated in French un soleil (a sun) or une roue de feu (fire wheel), a rotating firework! See how it is from time to time necessary to check one’s vocabulary. Well, F. faire le point means of course to check, but also in the navy to prick the chart and especially to shoot the sun, i.e. to find one’s bearings means of sun and stars. English people have still kept navy such as with the sun to say from left to right, and against the sun to say from right to left… In botany, we must stay humble and keep simple names like F. le soleil (the sun) to name F. l’héliante (helianthus), le topinambour (Jerusalem artichoke), le tournesol (turnsole) and l’héliotrope (heliotrope)…This is what our Anglo Saxon friends are doing, they usually keep only En. sunflower, G. die Sonnenblume. Look as well the G. der Sonnentau and En.sundew which are pompously named by French people le drosera, from Greek “moisted with dew”, or le rossolis, from Latin “sundew”… Even a glass porch roof above an entrance or in a railways station which is called F. une marquise (marchioness) is simply called in En “glass porch”, and in G. das Sonnendach (sun roof).

And we still have En. Sunday, G. der Sonntag to indicate that the first day of the week is dedicated to the sun, when we for us it is to our Lord, to God! This is another way to consider things. Let’s not forget the common saying: F. Pas de dimanche sans soleil (no Sunday without sun).

77 – Lady

The French word la dame (lady) comes from Latin domine meaning “mistress”. In English “lady” has its origin in the “bread-maker”, said differently it is the mistress of the household in charge of making bread. When we use the word F. dame, lady, usually this is in honour of the woman. Thus we have the expression F. agir en grande dame (to act as a great lady), meaning both to act with nobility and delicacy, but also to be all lah-di-dah; F.la première dame de (the first lady of ) refers to the President’s wife in our Republic. We meet also F. les nobles dames, noble ladies, such as the Empress Mathilda, daughter of Henry I of England and wife of the Emperor Henry V of , acknowledged as Lady of England and Normandy in 1141. Her second husband was Geoffrey of Anjou. Rudyard Kipling gave a fanciful name to Canada: Our Lady of the Snows. However Lady-Day is 25 March, for us to commemorate the Announciation of Our Lady. Did you know that until 1752 this religious festival was the legal beginning of the year? From another point of view, what English call a lady of easy virtues is quite commonly a woman of the town, who is not very chaste…but not naked! Beware of nakedness, it can let discover strange things. Thus a naked lady is not a naked woman, but simply the meadow saffron also called F. colchique d’automne (autumnal colchicum), i.e. autumn crocus or F. tue-chien (dog killer). It is so called because the flowers are blooming before the leaves appear, said differently it is leafless! If we remain with the plants, we may mention lady’s mantle which is nothing else than alchemilla, a plant dedicated to the Virgin Mary – hence its name – that alchemists used to collect the dew of its leaves for their operations. We also have lady’s smock, a common name for the cuckooflower or bittercress, so called because the flowers are supposed to resemble linen exposed to bleach on the grass. To finish we have F. le jeu de dames (ladies’ game), En. draughts, but what is of interest is that we say F. aller à dame (to go to lady) when English of course make a king! F. la dame is also a paving beetle; in technical term F. la hie, also known in En. as earth-rammer. The French call it dame (lady) because the

paviour holds his tool like a dancer will do with his partner. The English word “beetle” refers both to the tool with heavy head and handle for ramming, crushing, and also to the insect of order coleoptera! The Germans call it die Jungfer (maid). In nautical we meet F. la dame de nage (swimming lady) or simply la dame, corresponding to the hollow receiving the oars, it is most commonly known as F. la toletière, En. rowlocks, receiving a pair of thole-pins, G. die Rudergabel (oar fork). In botany we know F. la dame-de-onze-heures (lady-of-eleven-o’clock), an ornithogalum plant genius umbel which flowers are opening at eleven o’clock in the morning. English name it star of Bethlehem. By the way Bethlehem in Jordan language means “bread house”. F. Le sabot de Vénus or de la Vierge (Venus / Virgin’s hoof) is called in En. Lady’s slipper. F. La dame-jeanne which is used as carboy is also called in F. une jacqueline from Jacqueline de Bavière who used that fat-belly sandstone pitcher named in En. demi-john and in G. quite simply die groβe Korbflasche (big basket bottle). F. Une dame d’honneur is said in En. lady-in-waiting, G. die Kammerdame (room woman) not to confuse with chamber-maid! When English speak of young lady they have to mind a saleswoman, and it should not be connected to my young lady which stands for my dear friend or my wife to come! And my lady used in this context means my boss which differs also from the lady of the house, as a matter of fact the housewife, G. die Hausfrau. In the same way F. une caissière (cashier woman) is said in En.lady cashier.F. Dame oui! (Lady yes), pour ma foi! (for my belief), pardi! (good Lord) are expressed in G. ei wahrlich! (eh truly), En. does it estonish you? Because they put on airs, F. ils font la grande dame (they do the great lady). In English a lady-killer it’s a male flirt, F. un tombeur (faller) slightly different from a lady’s man, one who is found of the company of women, F. un homme à femme(s). The title Your ladyship applies for F. Madame la Comtesse, i.e. My lady, nothing to do with the ship of your lady…When we are well educated, proper, in English we are ladylike…When French says votre dame (your lady), English says your good lady, adding “good” as if it was not sufficient. Notice that the Germans

exaggerate, when we say F. la dame de mes pensées (the lady of my thoughts), they say seine Herzenskönigin (his heart’s queen)! Hullo, that’s curious, they also have some characteristics, a dressing-comb, F. un démêloir, they call it der Dammenkamm (lady’s comb), and F. le boudoir – the women’s small private room – das Dammenzimmer (ladies’ room). Let them sulk! [Pun with F. boudoir and bouder: to sulk] It’s too stupid, G. dämlich, would it be the origin? Would stupidity come out of the boudoir? All this seems a bit F. foufou (foolish) you will tell me. Well, in Chinese, this stands for husband and wife: / fu1fu4! But the woman in her feminity it’s Ch. / nü3zi, and their literal expression F. les beaux plaisirs (the good pleasures), i.e. dissipation, Ch. / hao3nü3se4 (wfw: good coloured woman) means to womanize! Don’t be mistaken as well with a chaste, virtuous woman Ch. / zhen1nü3 and its contrary Ch. / nü3zhen1 meaning privet. Dare I say don’t confuse “private” woman and “privet”?

78 – Virtue

Virtue indicates chastity and courage. What are in fact the seven virtues? The first three are called the supernatural, theological or Christian virtues: charity, faith and hope; the remaining four are Plato’s cardinal or natural virtue: fortitude, justice, prudence and temperance. They are often opposed to the seven deadly sins: avarice, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, sloth and wrath. In English it is written with an “e”: virtue; the word without “e”, virtu, comes from the Italian language virtuoso and applies to art. The English term objects of virtu correspond to works of art! And a virtuoso is the expert, the lover in art. A woman of easy virtue is a woman of low morality, in F. une femme de petite vertu (a woman of little virtue). And when we say F. ce n’est pas une vertu (she is not a virtue), in En. they say “she’s no saint”. Only plants seems “to have healing properties”, F. la vertu de guérir. In G. we shall simply say heilkräftig (heal strong) or wirksam (efficacious). To translate F. de par ses fonctions, in En. we shall say by virtue of one’s office. F. en vertu de will be “in pursuance of” or by virtue of, in G. we will opt for aufs Grund (on basis of). As far as virtue is concerned, it is said in G. das Tugend for the morality and die Keuschheit for the woman virtue. Beware of G. das Keuschkraut (chastity wort) standing for the “mimosa”! Would it be a plant having specific properties? F. la vertu en parole (virtue in speech) is said G. die Kraft der Rede (strength of speech). You see that when we force a little bit things, we come to a lot of others.

79 – Strength

We have just seen that virtue in itself is a strength, let’s say F. une force de l’âme (a strength of the soul), i.e. fortitude, courage in pain or diversity. By the way, this word comes from Latin fortis meaning “strong”. But we still have a lot to learn, we have “to work with might and main”, F. travailler de toutes nos forces (to work with all our strength). We should note as well that F. vive force (living strength) is said in En. main force which means also “armed hand”. We all know the proverbial sentence F. la force prime le droit (strength sures right), En. “might is right”, G. Gewalt / Macht geht vor Recht (strength / power goes before right). Let be lulled with the music of words “might – main”, “might – right” even if it is “willy-nitty”? in F. de gré ou de force (with will or strength). In G. this latter expression is wohl oder übel (good or bad). Everything is said “in every sense of the word”, F. dans toute la force du mot (in all the strength of the word). You will finish to succeed “by dint of hard work”, F. à force de travailler (with strength in working). To come to this, you should “be determinated to do it”, F. vouloir le faire à toute force (to want to do it with all strength). For example “are you game for a ten kilometres walk?”, F. vous sentez-vous la force à faire dix kilomètres à pied ? (do you feel the strength to make ten kilometers on foot). If you arrive on the same time with somebody else, “you are equally matched”, F. vous êtes de force égale (you are of equal strength). English people are really playing, isn’t? We have “game” and “match” to name the strength! However French doesn’t use this word “strength” when English prefers it. So in strength of a colour, in F. it will be its intensité (intensity), in alcoholic strength, it will be F. la teneur (content), from this term comes the other strengthening, i.e. F. remontant (reviving). G. would say den Kräftigungsmittel (the means making strong). Strength is said in G. either die Kraft or die Stärke for the physical strength or die Macht usually for the moral strength. Note the French expression être à la force de l’âge (to be in the strength of the age) translated in En. “to be in the prime of life”, G. in seiner vollen Kraft (in all his strength) or in den besten Jahren sein (to be in the best years). Notice once more the music and the tune in

G. weder Kraft noch Saft (neither strength nor juice) to express F. manquer de force (to lack strength). To keep the same musical impression and balance the sentence should we not add a word? For example “nerf” (nerve): F. manquer de nerf et de force. Here I keep the « f », in En. we could say: “full of energy and vitality” using also two words and keeping the sound “y” as echo. We still have some music in G. kein Mensch muβ müssen (no man must ought to) to express F. on ne peut forcer personne (one can force nobody)! You need to take a “drastic remedy”, G. das Kraftsmittel (strong means) to follow, don’t you? Easier then the “motor car”, G. der Kraftwagen (strength car) commonly named PKW for Personal Kraft Wagen (strength car for person) to differenciate it from the lorry, the motor truck LKW, Last Kraft Wagen (strength car for load). To finish, let’s note that in F. une personne non-cadre (non-managerial person) is said in En. not on the strength implicating that strength stands for managerial staff, when in G. it is the contrary die Kräfte in einer Fabrik (strength in a factory) stand for the arms, the workers! The Germans have left us F. le papier Kraft, En. “Kraft paper”, a “strong” packing or wrapping paper. As a reminder, in Chinese, “strength” is said / li4 or / li4qi.

80 – Arm

This is a part of the human body which is reduced to the hand in other languages! We have just seen that workers especially are for us F. les bras (arms) and are becoming “hands” in English. F. Avoir qn sur les bras is said in En. “to have s.o. on one’s hands”. In German as well the hand replaces the arm. Thus to stay F. les bras croisés, crossed arms is translated G. die Hände in dem Schoβ legen (to lay the hands in the lap) And F. avoir bien des affaires sur les bras (to have a lot of businesses on the arms) becomes G. die Hände voll zu tun haben (to have the hands full to do). F. Avoir le bras long (to have the long arm), ie. he is long in the arm indicating that he has a wide influence is said G. lange Hände haben (to have long hands). If it is not the “hand” then it can be another part of the body, the skin or the neck! F. Tomber sur qn à bras raccourcis (to fall on sb with shortened arms) is said in G. ‘m auf die Haut rücken (to fall on the skin of sb), we would employ another expression for this: F. lui faire la peau (to make him the skin), to get his skin. For the former expression En. would say to give s.o. a good pummelling, which corresponds to an other French expression F. donner une bonne volée à qn, i. e. also to give s.o. a sound thrashing. F. Se jeter dans les bras de qn (to throw oneself in the arms of sb) becomes both in En. to fall on s.o.’s neck, G. ‘n um den Hals fallen, here the “arm” is changed into “neck”. In the same way F. avoir une affaire sur les bras (to have a business on the arms) will be said etw.auf dem Halse haben (to have sg on the neck) or even G. in der Tinte stecken / sitzen (to be / sit in the ink) where we would rather say F. être dans le pétrin (to be in the kneading-trough), i.e. to be in a soup. You have the choice between ink, kneading-trough and soup! Near the arm we find the elbow and if G. Arm an Arm (arm on arm) means F. coude-à-coude (elbow to elbow), i.e. side by side, G. Arm in Arm, En. arm in arm means F. bras dessus bras dessous (arm above arm under) Finally F. avoir les coudées franches (to have free elbows) En. to have elbow-room is closer in German of the other En. way to have a free hand, G. die Arme frei haben (to have free arms), just the “hand” becomes “arms”, but it still refers to a body part.

When we mention the “arm” sometimes the foreigners venture to withdraw this body part. Ex.: F. les bras m’en tombent (I got the arms which fall), En. I am dumbfounded. We also meet F. saisir à bras-le-corps (to seize the body with the arm) becoming En. to seize s.o. around the waist. Or, again F. les bras lui sont tombés (he got fallen arms), En. he was utterly discouraged. F. Tendre les bras (to stretch the arm) will be said in En. to ask s.o.’s help. Should they really need to amputate us the arm for this? And when we insist upon the limbs in adding the legs, it is worse. Thus F.couper bras et jambes (to cut arms and legs) becomes En. to be bowled over, G. ‘m vollständig lähmen (to paralyse sb completely). Or, like the English people do, they are once more marked off in calling F. le bras d’une cisaille (the arm of sheers), leg of sheers! For F. le bras d’une grue (the arm of a crane) they simply call it “jib”. Concerning F. le bras d’une pompe (the arm of a pump) they draw nearer to the “hand” since they mention the “handle” with “pumphandle”, the Germans simplify the term with der Schwegel (starting-handle). And if it is not F. le manche (handle), then it is la manche (sleeve):F. en bras de chemise (in arm of shirt) is said in one’s shirt-sleeves like in G. in Hemdärmeln. In the same context we have En armhole through which arm is put into garment sleeve, F. une emmanchure and the armpit corresponding to F. une aisselle, G. die Armhöhle (holes in the arm)

81 – Hole

Here is a word not arising sympathy; usually it stands for bad things, debts, death, mess, wilderness, short a “hole”! F. Boucher un trou (to stop a hole) is in En. to pay a debt. We used to say F. faire un trou à la lune (to make a hole at the moon), i.e. to leave a place without paying, English has suppressed the “hole” to keep “to shoot the moon”. If we study the nautical vocabulary, and especially the one used when rowing, F. il a fait un trou dans l’eau (he made a hole in the water) means that he is dead or dying. Here the English are rather surprising with “he’s gone for a Burton”. Indeed, Burton is famous for beer, then the dead, or presumed dead, went to have a drink. F. parti boire une bière, avant d’être mis en bière (gone to drink a beer, before being put in a coffin) [French pun with bière meaning both “beer” and “coffin”]; The English expression was widely used in World War II and said to have originated in the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force). In En. to be / find oneself in a hole means to be in difficulties, to be in a mess. And its contrary to get s.o. out of a hole, it is to help sb. The En. term to pick holes in means to find fault with. The older phrase was to pick a hole in one’s coat, such a “hole” is a blot on one’s reputation, like having a hole in one’s coat! Now as we can knock holes in an argument, we may also pick holes in it. Finally a hole may also refer to slum, shanty. In German auf dem letzten Loche pfeiffen (to whistle up to the last hole), means to be reduced to the last extremity. The “small hole”, G. das Löchelchen refers to dimple in cheeks! Beware not to confuse das Loch, the hole with das Arschloch (hole in the bottom) for the anus! And like F. mettre au trou (to put in the hole), G. ins Loch stecken means to put in jail, to lock up. Now we may change tune, G. am einen anderen Loch (in another hole) or En. a better ‘ole, to be in any better situation than the present one. For example, we find a foxhole standing in American for a hole in ground used as shelter, a slit-trench to hold one man. And when during World War II Father W.T. Cummings used the phrase there are no atheists in foxholes, he meant that no one can deny the existence of God in

the face of imminent death! That is what a “hole” may hide! Other holes are also worth ing, F. le trou d’air (air hole) called in En airpocket, and our F. nid de poule (hen’s hole) becomes with them a pothole to differenciate from pot-holer, the familiar name of the speleologist! Finally a hole-and-corner is something clandestine, underhand, and secret. In German we also find der Löcherpilz (the mushroom with holes) standing for the boletus! In Chinese, “hole” is said / kong3 …and Confucius‘name is Kong3zi3 / , an homonym - with different same t & w – / kong3zi3 means also “hole”. Let’s remind you that Confucius (551-479 BC) is famous for his Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch. Chun1-qiu1) changing a purely historical narrative in a moral and aesthetic treaty. He is also known for The Book of Changes (Ch. / Yi1jing1) and The Book of Odes (Ch. / Shi1jing1). Note that the three Chinese moral teachings have tried to show that they do not conflict each other. Buddhism is largely a way of understanding and coping with death; Confucianism fosters filial piety, and in general man’s life in society, life before death. Taoism treats of the position of the individual within the community. The hole, even the cave, the grotto is expressed with the same word Ch. / dong4; in this context / dong4fang2 (cave room) stands for wedding-room. In fact Chinese regard caves as places where good-natured supernatural beings dwell. As in legend they may also be the portal leading to another, more beautiful world. In the same way of thinking the “cinnabar cave”, Ch / dan1dong4 stands for the vagina. We must it, this is realy well depicted! We would like to be a butterfly to flatter from flower to flower…

82 – World

Here is an exceptional word, En. out of this world means wonderful, stunning. It covers life and death. Thus a woman F. met au monde (brings to the world) her child, En. she gives birth: it’s life. And then F. personne au monde (nobody in the world), En. no man alive: it’s death. We also meet the expression F. il ne fera pas de vieux os (he will not make old bones), En. he is not long of this world. On the contrary we could be in the best of care-free good health and have flourishing affairs to be on the top of the world. You will tell me, F. c’est vieux comme le monde (it is as old as the world), En. as old as the hills! Yes, F. tout le monde sans exception (all the world without exception) knows it; we would say F. tout le monde et son père (all the world and his father) where the English switch over to the “wife”: all the world and his wife! Short the “life”, F. la vie, is before us, and here again the English people say to have the world before one. To understand them, we really need F. se donner un mal de chien (to give oneself a dog’s ache) which they translate here to give oneself a world of trouble. The Germans more civilized will say with us F. se donner toutes les peines du monde (to give oneself all the world’s pains), G. sich alle erdenklichen Mühe geben (to give oneself all the thinkable pains). And when they don’t change our life, our dog’s ache in world, it is the country itself. F. Il a vu du pays (he has seen country) becomes he has seen the world. Yes, why not? But then to knock about the world, we are going to translate it with our own words as well in saying: F. rouler sa bosse (to roll one’s hunchback). With the following expression F. connaître des jours meilleurs (to know better days), En. to go down in the world, I am thinking to Aldous Huxley, famous English novelist (1894-1963) who wrote Brave New World, F. Le Meilleur des Mondes (The Best of Worlds). In this novel, he expresses his concern over the dangers of scientific progress, cloning, and the mastering of cell division, aso. We come F. au bout du monde (at the end of the world), En. the back of beyond! Is it not F. le monde renversé (the upset world)? En. It is preposterous! It is indeed contrary to nature, reason, or common sense, shall we say. And for F. vous vous moquez du monde! (You are mocking yourself of the

world) they just say you are jocking! When F.se moquer du monde (to mock oneself of the world), they say it is the height of impertinence! With these “heights”, my head is spinning, would it not be better to go down to earth, F. revenir sur terre (to go back on earth)? Ah! The Germans are watching us, they will come back for that expression to the “world” in saying auf der Welt! Heavens! Here, again, they still keep the world since they say in aller Welt! (In the entire world). But let’s come back to English people who consider the world, the flesh and the devil where “the world” is the material things of this world as opposed to the things of the spirit; “the flesh”, sensual pleasures; “the devil”, evil of every kind. Then if you have worldly interests, to solve them let the night and think to the world which belongs to those who get up early, G. Morgenstunde hat Gold im Munde (morning hour has gold in the mouth), what pleasant tune: Stunde – Munde! For English and Germans, the word “world” is often translated in French with siècle (century). We have G. der Weltgeist (the world spirit) in F. l’esprit du siècle, G. der Weltschmerz (the world evil), F. le mal du siècle, and to conclude En. world without end gives F. dans les siècles des siècles! Sometimes the word “world” is not translated at all in French, G. das Weltmeer (the world sea) names l’océan (the ocean), and G. die Weltstadt (the world town) to name la capitale (the capital). And the one who travels through foreign countries for sightseeing, G. der Weltbummler (the world trotter) is just the same in F. or En. a globe-trotter! As far as F. la mondialisation is concerned, this in vogue word becomes ungrateful in En. globalisation! I am thinking to the word “civilisation” which can be translated in G. by die Zivilisation which has an horrible sound in comparison with the more aesthetic word: die Kultur! You see that we need a lot of things to make a world! F. du beau monde (nice world), En. fashionable company and F. du petit monde (small world), En. the lower classes! In Chinese “world” is said / shi4jie4, composed of two characters: / shi4, meaning life, world and / jie4: boundary, world. To believe that the world has its boundaries in life. And without F. chichi, i.e. affected manners, Ch. /

shi4shi4 means the world business. And the Country of the Blooming Peachtree, Ch. / shi4wai4 tao2yuan2 corresponds to the Earthly Paradise. Is it not an Eden?

83 – Paradise

Originaly the Paradise denoted the extensive parks and pleasure grounds of the Persian kings. The translators adopted it for the “Garden of Eden”, and in the New Testament it was applied to Heaven. The word Paradise comes from Greek paradaisos meaning “enclosed” (ground), “edifice” (building), it is also the origin for “parvis”, the enclosed area in front of cathedral, church. With this word we immediately think to the Paradise Lost, John Milton’s epic poem published in 1667. It tells the story of Adam’s disobedience and Eve bringing the lost of Eden. Satan wants to create a new world; he enters the serpent to induce Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit. We meet also Baudelaire with his F. paradis articificiels (artificial paradises) belonging to narcotics and stupefacient drugs. But where is the famous Earthly Paradise, this Garden of Eden? It was usually located in China; others maintain that it was a circular island near India. That remains to be seen! It is probably The Paradise of Fools! Because fools are not responsible for their works, and could not be punished in Purgatory, and would not be received into Heaven as well. So they were destined to go to a special paradise. However in English to live in a fool’s paradise means to cherish an illusion. When a fool’s paradise is a state of contentment or insecure foundations. Anyway fool or not, F. il ne l’emportera pas en paradis (he will not take it into paradise), En. I’ll be even with him yet! F. Le paradis, En. Paradise, G. das Paradies, it is also En. the gods, G. der Olymp (Olympus), der Himmel (Heaven), F. le Ciel. Ciel que c’est beau! Heavens, that’s beautiful! We would almost be F. au septième ciel (seventh heaven), G. bis an den Himmel entzückt (delighted until the heaven) unless we are F. aux anges (be with the angels), i. e. En. to walk on air, G. wie im Himmel sein (to be as in heaven). Now the earthly paradise, G. das Eden, is it not just for Germans to sleep in the open, G. unter freiem Himmel schlafen? And when they play hopscotch, they play Himmel und Hölle (Heaven and Hell) when French pushes the stone into Ciel or Terre (Heaven or Earth)!

Of course we meet the bird of paradise, F. l’oiseau de paradis or paradisier, G. der Paradiesvogel. But what is hiding behind the En. paradise-shoots? The lign aloe! What a paradise for such a bitter plant! And what about the German word der Paradiesfeigenbaum (paradise fig-tree), naming the banana-tree? I would have rather thought to the Indian fig-tree, the banian-tree instead of the banana-tree. But you know sometimes the Germans are rather queer. A proof with das Paradiesapfel (paradise apple) which names this fruit but before anything else the tomato!! Note, we also play with words since in the theatre [F. serait-ce un coup de théâtre (will it be a theater’s coup) for sensational turn to events!], F. le paradis is also called le poulailler (hen-house) for the top gallery! Why the fowl should have no right to it? Don’t hens eat perhaps seeds of paradise F. graines de paradis? You know what we also call cardamom, rather spicy for these gallinaceae! Hey! I was going to forget F. le paradis fiscal (fiscal paradise), i.e. tax haven, you know these far away paradisiac islands such as the Cayman Islands! And the Chinese, what do they think of paradise? For them it is Ch. / tian1tang2 (heaven palace), even / le4yuan1 (happy garden). That is as nice as the “tax haven”, no? Well but the character / le4 meaning happy is also pronounced / yue4 to name the music. Here is may be the reason why the music makes happy!

84 – Happy

Here are some happy expressions: Bomb Happy describing a state of near hysteria during World War II. In Australia people say happy as Larry to indicate the happiness of one of them; it refers to a Mr Larry Foley (1847-1917), the noted boxer. In the States one prefers to say happy as a clam implicating “at high tide”, since clams are gathered only when the tide is out. So much, that to refuse to speak in American is said to shut up like a clam, we would say F. comme une huître (as an oyster)! With Herodotus, one could say call no man happy implicating “till he dies, he is at best fortunate”. Less happy is the Japanese / hara-kiri (from hara: “belly” and kiri coming from the verb / kiru: “to cut”) which is a method of suicide by disembowelling to save the Samourai’s honour – privilege granted by a law of 1870 - which English call happy-dispatch! To take one’s own life, or F. la mort (death)! se donner la mort (to take one’s death)! was not made in haphazard, En. to do sg in an happy-go-lucky fashion, it was done in a happy hour. Anyway to commit such an act, you should not have a blissful ignorance, we would say in F. une heureuse ignorance (a happy ignorance). As the proverb states happy is the country that has no history which implies that such a nation avoiding the wars, rebellions, is happy. Exactly when we are as happy as a sandboy, we would say in F. heureux comme un poisson dans l’eau (as happy as a fish in water). We could also be happy as the day is long, corresponding to F. être heureux et sans souci (to be happy and care-free). Happy phrase or in this connection, “happy” is said in G. glücklich, however F. avoir la main heureuse (to have a happy hand) is plainly translated es gut treffen (to touch it right / good). In the same way F. tout s’est bien é (all happenend well) will be said G. alles ist glücklich verlaufen (all has happened happily). F. Bon voyage! En. Pleasant journey! is said G. glüclicher Reise (happy trip), when G. das Glückspiel (happy game) corresponds to F. le jeu de hazard (game of

risk), i.e. En. game of chance, which may sometimes…be F. heureux or malheureux (happy or unhappy), G. sein Wohl und Weh (his good and bad). To win one must be a lucky devil, G. der Glückspilz (happy mushroom)! We have already met the word Ch. / le4 meaning happy, and in a colloquial way one could also say Ch. / le4zi1zi1. Are we not extremely glad and happy to see it? When you know that F. le zizi stands for the penis in children familiar language. After all it is not that ugly! Make yourself easy, it is just a mnemotechnic way like any other to garner vocabulary and expressions. This might bring you to bubble over with laughter, F. pouffer de rire.

85 – Pouf

We have just seen F. pouffer de rire, also in En.to guffaw, G.überlaut lachen. But did you know that the origin of “pouf” comes from Arabian meaning “cushion”? Thus a pouf (poof, pouff) became a small low seat without arm or back, a stuffed couch to absorb blows. In English it is also called “tuffet” which also stabs for a piece of false hair in shirt curls, F. chichis! Full of imaginery is indeed the German zum Puff gehen (to go to the pouf) meaning to go to the brothel or to turn a somersault with a girl on a pouf, thus damping the fall like a shock-absorber! This word gave us F. une pouffiasse, a floosie, unless it is the contrary? In Chinese it is said / gu1nü3 (girl of the moment) and their floating brothels in Hong Kong are nicely called Ch. / hua1chuan1 (flower boats). In German a bawd is called die Puffermutter (pouf mother). The cushion itself will be translated die Bettel (small couch / bed) whose origin is das Bett, the bed, or das Rundsofa (round sofa). To benefit of the charm of a prostitute one ought to show her the pouf in order to turn a somersault; children would say F. faire pouf (to make wallop!) to let her fall on the cushion and damp the sound and the impact on the pouf in showing her one’s small pistol, one’s small rifle, short one’s penis. Let’s not forget that G. der Puffer means either chock-absorber or small rifle! The word indicates also a thud, even a thrust! We just need to tell the place where this thump takes place! Note that for the English it is a bit the same thing, since tuffet stands for a bunch of grass or hair, we could think to the pubic hair, why not? To the tuft of hair! And to say that, English have chosen the offensive term pouf to openly design a homosexual! If the word pouf comes from Arabian, others speak of ottoman for a round pouf, which indeed is often a box with cushioned top. As far as the German word is concerned der Puffstaat, it is a buffer state! Don’t confuse it with a whore state! Their expression G. er kann einen Puff vertragen (he can endure a thump) means that he is a tough guy, we don’t know if it is by dint of struggling on a pouf or to learn to take a blow.

To finish I propose you in music the following rythmed verse:

Jeder Tritt, ein Brit Jeder Busch, ein Russ Jeder Stoss, ein Franzos

In keeping the tune, this gives in English:

Behind each pitch, a Brit Behind each bush, a Russ Behind each fuck, a French cuff.

A tough guy in French is a person having F. la peau dure (hard skin); this introduces us to a new word.

86 – Skin

The skin is of course the flexible continuous covering of the body, but since the 17th Century in it also names a whore, G. die Hure. F. Une vieille peau (old skin), En old hag, became an insult towards a woman. En. old hag gives in F. vieille taupe (old mole); moleskin, F. une peau de taupe however is said in G. englisches Leder (English leather)! When a Frenchman F. travaille pour la peau (works for the skin), it is a bit like a whore, he works for nothing, En. would say “to work for love”, when we could also say F. pour la gloire (for glory). Prostitution is called in Chinese pi2rou4sheng1ya2 / (skin and flesh career), we would say F. commerce de chair (flesh trading). You have guessed that skin is said Ch. / pi2, a good mean to it for French speaking people is to associate it to its translation: pipeau (Ch. / pi2 = F. peau), En. reed-pipe. In slang our word pipeau means nothing or in slang as well la peau! En. nothing doing! Ch. / mei2you3 or / bu4xing2 (no)! In this context it is common F. [de] se mettre à poil (to strip to the hair), En. to strip to the skin. And if everything goes well, we get out uninjured, safe and sound, or En. to come out of it with a whole skin, G. mit heiler Haut davon kommen (to come out with a healthy / sound skin). Otherwise we ought to F. prendre la personne par la peau du cou (to take the person by the skin of the neck), En. to take s.o. by the scruff of the neck, because F. il y va de notre peau (our skin is in question), i.e. our life is at stake, G. es geht uns an den Kragen (it goes on our collar). F. Je n’aimerais pas être dans sa peau (I would not like to be in his skin) is said in En. I would not like to be in his shoes, where the word “shoes” replaces “skin”, but this is also similar to the French expression: je n’aimerais pas être dans ses souliers. Now like the snake casting its slough, we can F. faire peau neuve (to make new skin) or to turn over a new leaf which corresponds also to another French expression tourner une nouvelle page. The Germans will either say sich häuten (to take out one’s skin) or eine neue Haut bekommen (to have / obtain a new skin) or – more stricking – einen neuen Menschen anziehen (to cloth a new man)!

F. de justesse, only just, or d’un cheveu, by a mere hair’s breadth, is also said in En. by the skin of one’s teeth. The phrase comes from the Bible, Job xix, 20:

“My bone cleaveth to my skin, and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.”

For this you ought not F. avoir la peau courte (to have the skin short) said differently you should not be lazy, G. auf der faulen Haut legen (to lay on the rotten [side of the] skin). F. Avoir la peau dure is said in the same way in En. a thick skin, or in G. ein dickes Fell. The Germans great amateurs of pork dishes may also say for it eine dicke Schwarte (a thick pork-rind)! With all these expressions, there is matter to lose one’s temper, G. aus der Haut fahren (to drive out the skin)! But look, when we say F. à fleur de peau (at skin level) what is on the surface becomes deep with English who say skin-deep. Don’t confuse the En. skin-deep, long [i] with the American skin-dip, short [i] which stands for the midnight bath, usually they bathe in the nude. And when F. on n’est pas bien dans sa peau (one is not well in one’s skin), i.e. one doesn’t feel well or at ease, it is because we are in a very bad way, G. man steht in keiner guten Haut (one is not in the good skin). When cooking potatoes F. en robe de chambre (in their dressing-gown), i.e. in their jackets, it is naturally with the skin, like En. potatoes boiled in their skins, G. Kartoffeln in der Haut, and when this has “a taste of skin”, G. det Hautgout, it means, the meat is hung… Note by the way the En. word skinful for a goatskin bottle or water-skin, and the expression he’s got a good skinful, where the “water-skin” has been exchanged for a “wine-skin”, which means, he get drunk. I also like the translation of F. la peau du requin (shark-skin) which is said in En. shagreen standing for F. peau de chagrin in sense of “rough skin” or F. galuchat from the name of the discoverer of the fish tanning process. We meet also En. to

skin a flint equivalent to F. tondre un oeuf (to shear / fleece an egg)! However, here the word “flint”is to be compared to “fleece”. Hence skinflint to qualify a pinch-farthing. The following German common saying is also of interest: die Haut ist mir näher als das Hemd (the skin is nearer to me as the shirt) which is expressed in F. on ne s’occupe pas de l’écurie quand la maison brûle (one doesn’t care of the stable when the house is burning)!

87 – To burn

Here is a verb with a negative understanding which breeds destruction by fire or other. Except some attractive words like F. la crème brûlée (burnt cream), i.e. caramel custard or F. brûler le café (to burn the coffee), i.e. to roast coffee. The short pipe F. le brûle-gueule (mouth-burner), i.e. cutt, whose tube of pipe is so short that you risk burning your face, this kind of pipe is making the jonction – should we say it is a t-pipe? - Between the pleasure to smoke, to warm up the face and to endure the pain it may cause. By the way, note the English slang phrase to have a burn, meaning to have a “smoke”. We find also F. le vin brûlé (burnt wine) which is rather a hot spicy wine as expressed by English: “mulled wine”. However, it is less pleasant when F. le lait est brûlé (the milk is burnt), i.e. the milk has caught. Then follow all the aches, F. les brûlures d’estomac (stomac burns), i.e. heartburns! F. La fumée me brûlait les yeux (the smoke burnt me the eyes), i.e. the smoke made my eyes smart. And the ache is becoming bigger with F. la tête brûlée (burnt head), i.e. daredevil. The ache still amplifies with the acid that burns into a metal. Or even when his money burns a hole in his pocket, it is not at all that pleasant! We could also say F. l’argent lui brûle les doigts (money is burning his fingers*)! Anyway, it is still better than F. brûler la cervelle de qn (to burn the brain to s.o.), i.e. to blow s.o.’s brains out, G. ‘m ein Kugel vor den Kopf schieβen (to shoot a cannon-ball in front of s.b.’s head). But let us not loose time in words or in the English way: to burn daylight! You know that, anyway, you should not F. manger la banane par les deux bouts (to eat the banana at both ends), i.e. you cannot burn the candle at both ends, where our “banana” has become a “candle”! When we pull him the leg, the English does not like it that much, from here I think F. ses oreilles doivent lui siffler (his ears must be whistling), i.e. his ears must be burning. Poor English, when his fingers are not burning, it is his ears…

which burn! This might as well be his hair. F. se brûler les cheveux (to burn oneself the hair), is En. to singe the hair ; German will say like French: die Haare brennen (to burn the hair) when he wants to curl it, or F. leur donner un coup de fer – et pas de feu! (to iron it, not to shoot it) [French pun with coup de fer: “to iron” and coup de feu: “gunshot”]. When the curling-tongs are called G. der Brennschere (burn-shears)! We could cite the French proverb: expérience e science (experience goes over science), or if you prefer chat échaudé craint l’eau froide (scalded cat dreads cold water), i.e. the burnt child dreads fire, G. gebrannte Kinder schauen das Feuer (burnt children dread fire) German and English both change the“water” into “fire”, but one is employing plural “children” where the other uses singular “child”, but both still refer to a human being, the child, where French names an animal, the cat. But is not the child a small cat, a kitten? I had the word on the tip of my tongue, G. das Wort brennt mir auf der Zunge (the word burns me on the tongue). Not only words “burn the tongue”, pepper too, G. der Pfeffer brennt auf der Zunge (pepper burns on the tongue), i.e. F. il pique la langue En. it pricks the tongue. Exactly like F. les orties (nettles): French and English use piquer, to sting where the Germans use “to burn”: die Nessel brennt (the nettle burns), so much that they call it die Brennessel, which we can even write with 3 n: “Brennnessel”!! (stinging nettle). We also meet the obsolete expression F. brûler ses vaisseaux, En. to burn one’s boats, G. alle Brücke hinter sich abbrechen(to break all the bridges behind oneself) in order to take an irrevocable step in foe’s field without being able to go back. Thus cutting oneself off from all chance of retreat. For the expression F. brûler la politesse (to burn politeness) I like the German equivalent better than the English one, G. sich polnisch empfehlen (to recommand oneself polish), En. to take French leave! We have our counterpart for the English in using the similar expression F. filer à l’anglaise (to take English leave)! It is extremely urgent is said G. das brennt uns auf den Nägeln (it burns on our nails)! F. Un buisson ardent (a fiery bush) is translated in En. a burning bush, but in

botany it is also the name of the false dittany or dictammus, this herb close to origanum, so called due to its reputation in medical use against…heats, F. brûlures (burns). In Chinese “to burn” is said / shao1 (F. oui, c’est chau- aud quand on se brûle!) [French pun made with the Chinese word having the same pronounciation as the French one, meaning: yes, its ho-ot, when one burns oneself] And contrary to what we may think of / shao1ji1 (burnt chicken) is a roasted chicken! F. poulet grillé (grilled chicken). All is a question of flavour and taste, isn’t?

88 – Taste

We have learnt that taste belongs to the five senses. However Ancient and Chinese recognized seven, influenced by the seven planets. They are: •Fire animates, and is symbol of life, •Earth gives the sense of feeling, •Water indicates speech, •Air amplifies taste, •Mist is manifestation of the sight, •Flowers are related to hearing, •South wind is symbol of the smelling.

Ancient Chinese astronomers knew only five Planets, Ch. / wu3xing1, which are: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Sarurn and Venus. Later were added the Moon and the Sun. The Earth was not taken into consideration at that time. Chinese symbols remain very strong and part of daily life. Mars is red and associated with fire, it indicates the South. It is also called “Fire-Star” or even “Punishment of Heaven”. Mercury belongs to the North and water, and its symbolic colour is black. It is a symbol of the Empress. Jupiter is associated with the Earth and with the element wood. Saturn is associated with the yellow colour. Lastly Venus is associated with the male principle. In Western countries it would rather be the “female” principle! It is the star of the West having white as symbol, reason why Chinese call it / Tai4Bai2Xing1: “Big White Star”. Only much later was the Moon considered as feminine principle and as the representation of the Empress. The Moon-goddess, Chang2-é2 / / Chang2-e2, is supposed to have been the wife of the archer Hou4-Yi, / Hou4yi who had received the herb of

immortality. His wife ate the herb, achieved immortality, and ascended to the Moon. Hou-Yi tried in vain to follow her, and thereafter took up residence in the Sun. Thus the Sun became the representation of the Emperor and of virtue. In the old Chinese calender, China holds on the 15th day of the 8th month the Feast of the Moon. To this occasion “moon-cakes”, round in shape like the full moon, are presented to guests and to the family. In the Bible, Eccl. xvii, 5 these senses are mentioned: “He shaped a mouth, a tongue, eyes, ears; he gave them a heart to think.” Note that five, Ch. / wu3 is one of the most important numbers in Chinese mysticism. It is associated with five odours and five tastes. One big Chineses dictionary lists twelve meanings of the character wu3: 5. Being concerned with taste, we will only mention the 5 flavours, Ch. / wu3wei4 which are: sweet – / tian2, acid - / suan1, bitter - / ku3, spicy - / la4, salty - / xian2. By the way, let’s note that the Chinese word / wu3wei4zi3 (five flavours) stands for the Chinese schizanthus seeds. This herb is well-know to herborists, since it helps to increase the physical energy as well as the emotional, mental and even the sexual ones. It is very useful as a tonic against stress – this illness trend of our time. Together with ginseng it is a wonder to increase speed-reflex, to improve lucidity, to purify blood and to strengthen the nervous system. This plant is thus very good for the health and the libido. It is found in the Yi1chuan1 / forest, in the Hei1long2jian2 / / Province and East of Ji1lin2 / , in the Chang2bai2 / Mountains. F. Le goût is in En. taste or even sense of taste. F. Avoir le goût fin (to have fine taste) is translated “to have a fine palate”, where Germans say eine feine Zunge haben (to have a fine tongue). The difference of taste is made for the ones with the palate, for the others with the tongue. This is just a question of F. papilles gustatives, i.e. taste buds. As for the Chinese, we also have our F. plats de haut goût (high taste dishes), En. highly seasoned dish, G. scharfer Geschmack (spicy taste). We have in the same way F. contes de haut goût (high taste stories), En. spicies stories, we would say F. histoires corsées, broad stories. In my opinion, dishes must be spicy or must have F. un goût de terroir (soil taste), En. native tang, G. Geschmack nach dem Boden (taste according to the ground). We clearly see the differences between languages soil, native, ground, but finally everything is tasteful.

F. Sans goût, En. tasteless, G. weder Saft noch Kraft (neither juice nor strength) is rather insipid. Note the tune between Saft-Kraft which we cannot express in French, although “Saft” means both “flavour” or “juice”, and “Kraft”, the “strength”…and in French la force électrique (electric strength), i.e. electric power is known in slang as F. jus (juice), i.e. electric current! Would it be F. une plaisanterie de mauvais goût (a joke of bad taste), i.e. a bad joke, G. schlechter Spaβ (bad joke)? Not at all. Then let us come back to F. le goûter (snack), the 4 o’clock light meal in which is En.to take a snack, between the meals or simply snack, even tea! British culture complies to it, and from 4 o’clock we jump to 5. For the Germans it is straightout das Vesperbrot (vespers bread) which takes place a bit later, to-day after nones, about 3 pm and before compline (7 pm). Here again we meet hours discrepancies like in the religion. Trappist and Benedictine monks do not place nones or compline at same hours. We will keep to what is presently in force, i.e. nones about 3 pm, vespers between 5 and 7 pm and compline before sunset. In Chinese, “snack” is said dian3xin1 / (something / a little heart); of course to eat a little always pour balm into a wounded heart! It is for sure better than to give sb a taste of one’s bad temper, only because he had not tasted food for three days. But, finally, once his hunger satisfied, he has tasted happiness. You see that we must F. avoir goût à la vie (to have taste for life), enjoy life, G. die Lebenslust (life -joy) rather than F. un goût de solitude (a taste of loneliness), G. eine Neigung zur Einsamkeit (a propensity to loneliness). We ought to remain F. au goût du jour (taste of the day), En. the reigning fashion, G. der neueste Geschmack (the neuest taste).

89 – Day

Here is the best example showing the difference between peoples. As everybody knows, day indicates the beginning of the daytime, but it varies according to believes and countries. Thus for the Chinese, the Christian Church and the Jews in their “sacred year”, the beginning is at sunset. For the Babylonians, modern Greeks, Persians and Syrians, it is at sunrise. For the modern astronomers and Egyptians, it is at noon; and for Europa as a whole (England, , , the Netherlands and Romans) it is at midnight! So beware when you are making an appointment in a country, since the end of the day is entirely different from one place to the other. As the common saying foretells: F. à chacun son heure de gloire (to each his glory hour), i.e. En. every dog has its day! For example you have in , the Day of the Barricades. There was indeed several days. The first, 12 May 1588, when Henry of Guise returned to Paris in defiance of Henri III. The term “barricade” comes from the block up of a street with barrels full of stone and earth. Then we had one during the Fronde on August 5th 1648; another day on July 27th 1830, for the abdication of Charles X, followed on Februar 24th 1848 with the abdication of Louis Philippe. Later the barricades built up for Louis Napoleon III’s coup d’état, on December 2nd 1851 before the ones of the Communards during the second siege of Paris in 1871. In French history we also meet on November 11th 1630 the Day of Dupes, when Marie de Medicis sought the overthrow of Cardinal de Richelieu, at the time Louis XIII’ minister. It failed and the cardinal’s foes were duped, hence the name given to the Day of Dupes. When speaking of king, one could say F. aujourd’hui roi, demain rien (today king, tomorrow nothing), i.e. today a man, tomorrow a mouse! F. Le jour, the day is also F. la lumière du jour, daylight. For the bar-attenders in English it is the light seen between the wine and the rim of the glass. Thus toastmasters used to cry out: Gentlemen, no daylights nor heeltaps to simply say bottoms-up! In English a daylight robbery it is a flagrant over-charging at someone acting red-handed; daylight saving time is what we commonly name Summer Time, advancing the clock of one hour. Benjamin Franklin introduced this idea of

changing hours as from 1907. Finally daylights are the pugilists’ slang for eyes. However to let daylight into him is to pierce a man with sword or bullet! Thus one may F. perdre la bataille (to lose the battle), i.e. to lose the day or F. remporter la victoire (to win the victory), i.e. to win / gain the day. F. Tenons-nous en là (let us stay here), i.e. let’s call it a day! Because F. à chaque jour suffit sa peine (to each day its pain suffices), i.e. sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof or F. demain il fera jour (tomorrow it will be day), i.e. tomorrow we shall see more clearly into the matter. G. morgen ist auch ein Tag (tomorrow is also a day) or jeden Tag hat seine Plage (each day has its pains). We may also show our happiness, G. seine Freude an den Tag legen (to lay one’s joy at daytime). In this case it is better to avoid talking slightly or to tell all what you have in mind, G. in den Tag hineinschwatzen (to have a chat the whole day) in ing the good old days. Anyway one day it finally came out, G. es kommt doch alle an den Tag (it comes then all in the day). Everybody knows that F. Paris n’a pas été bâti en un jour (Paris has not been built in a day), G. von einem Streiche fällt keine Eiche (an oak is not cleared in a stroke), i.e. with a stroke falls no oak. We have also a French expression: vivre au jour le jour (to live one day to the other) which is translated in En. to live from hand to mouth, G. von der Hand in den Mund leben as if it was enough to live to bring the hand to the mouth when we are hungry. And what do you think of our F. quinze jours (fifteen days) which are brought down to fourteen with En. a fortnight (it would rather be fifteen). F. du jour au lendemain (from the day to tomorrow), En. over-night, G. über Nacht? And we need F. se mettre à jour, i.e. to bring up to date, G. auf den Laufenden sein (to be on the course of events) ? All this seems to me F. clair comme le jour (clear as the day), i.e. as clear as daylight, G. sonnenklar (sun clear)! But a day will come, G. es wird eine Zeit kommen (a time will come), one day or another, G. früh oder spät (early or late), eventually über kurz oder lang (over short or long) when we will see the end of our work, En. see the day through a piece of work, which means to come to an end. For this we ought to work F. toute la sainte journée (all the holy day), G. den lieben langen Tag (the dear long

day), i.e. the whole blessed day! Some persons imitate animals like the owl being day-blind, G. tagblind, i.e. they are F. nyctalopes, nyctalopic, coming from Greek nux meaning “night”, and ops for “sight”. Thus, in French it is the one who sees the night, when in En. or in G. it is the one who is blind the day! In law or in the building we meet F. un jour de souf (a day of suffering), i. e. a light on sufferance overlooking neighbour’s property, which is there just to let daylight come in, the Germans translate it der Zwangsfenster (the constraint window). We can also note the following German words: •Der Tagblume (the day flower) naming the asphodel, •Der Tagdieb (the day robber) corresponding to the lazy-bones!

In Chinese, the day is said either sky: / tian1 or sun: / ri4! This must depend of the weather forecast, if it is cloudy or bright, sunny.

90 – Rice

The word rice comes from Tamili arisi. This is a cereal plant of 0.50 to 1.50 m height growing in paddy-fields, F. les rizières. The rice-bowl is located in the monsoon Asian countries where we can obtain up to 3 harvests. The three leading producing countries are: Central and South China main supplier with 200 millions tons, followed by India and Indonesia. Behind them we find Bangladesh, Viet-Nam, Thailand and Japan. This cereal supplies food to half of mankind. The Emperor Shen2-nong2 / is supposed to have performed the solemn ceremony of planting the first rice. There were extensive irrigation schemes along the river Yangtse for the rice fields. A rice-field had to be proportionate in size with human dimensions. Among the Lisu, a minority in Yunnan, there is a legend that the dog brought rice to mankind, but, as he had to run through water, he lost most of the grains on the way, and only the tops of the stalks showed. In another legend it is the rat that is bringer of rice. However wasted rice could expect to get smallpox or be struck by lightning. Today it is used to cure those possessed of evil spirits*. Thus, the Taoist Zhang1 Lu3 / made a habit of asking for five measures of rice to proceed with the exorcizing ceremony. This custom gave its name to the religious and political sect of the “Five-Measures-Rice”, Ch. / wu3dou3mi3. The rice is cultivated from May to October during the monsoon. To cultivate we need the association of heat, water and work. In May and June, the ploughing takes place means of a water-buffalo and a primitive wooden tiller. The soil is so heavy that only this prehistorical tool can be used. From July to August the rice grows, the young roots are planted out exclusively with the hand and using a cheap labour; the water level in the small dikes is constantly watched over. Planting out is extremely laborious and worning out, this process first appeared as from the 2nd century. As early as October the harvest may start. It is done means sickles, and the rice is fanned on the spot on straw mats in order to separate the husk from the grain. At this moment the rice is called rough rice or paddy, and is improper for consumption, it has to follow three manufacturing processes. The first consists in taking off the glumes. Each stalk or panicle wears

50 to 200 grains which have to be husked. The second operation is the husking; we thus obtain a brown rice or cargo rice. The final step is the whitening in polishing it. Rice is very rich in starch, easy to digest, but does not content any vitamin. Hence it is a source of deficiency. To avoid scorbut Asian people eat it with garlic and onion stalks, it is often presented with fish. The rice is a staple food for Asia and “to eat” is said in almost all languages: to eat rice. Chinese call it / dao4 when speaking of the paddy, and / mi3 to indicate the cereal. Edible rice or to eat rice is said Ch. / mi3fan4. The word / mi3tang (rice soup) is interesting since it stands for the water of the cooking rice – / tang1 is a very light and clear soup- or for the rice-water, but also for flattering words! Note that rice-water is an excellent remedy for convalescent patients. They have got a succession of words rather funny: Ch. / mi3zhu1xin1gui4 (rice, pearl – firewood, cinnamon) which means indeed: rice is as precious as pearls, and firewood as expensive as cinnamon. In this style we have the French nickname given to F. les soldats de l’Intendance (Intendent’s soldiers) les riz-pain-sel (rice-bread-salt) translated in En. by “The Commissariat”, the department led by officers for food supply, the German term is der Mehlwurm (flour worm) which is close to the French term. In Western countries, the custom of throwing rice after bride and bridegroom comes from India, rice being an emblem of fecundity for the Hindus. The bridegroom throws three handfuls over the bride, and vice-versa. With Latin people, the bridegroom had to loosen the bride’s girdle. In the Hindus marriage ceremony, it is the contrary; the bridegroom knots a ribbon around the bride’s neck. Before the knot is tied the bride’s father may refuse consent, but immediately it is tied the marriage is indissoluble. The Parsees, they, bind the hands of the bridegroom with a sevenfold cord, seven being a sacred number. This rite is to be found also during Buddhist marriage ceremony. One speaks also of rice Christians, consisting in converting people to Christianity, the priests supplied them first with rice, and the faith came later… or not. F. Le riz is En. rice, G. der Reis, plural die Reise, not to be mistaken with der Reis, plural die Reiser which means small branch, twig, scion. F. Le riz en paille

(rice in straw) is En. paddy; F. la rizière, En. paddy-field; F. le riz décortiqué is the husked rice to be differenciated from rice with husk standing for F. le riz dans sa balle, i. e. non décortiqué (unhusked)! F. Le riz au lait (rice in milk) is En. rice-pudding, G. der Reisbrei (mashed rice), F. le gâteau de riz (rice cake) is said En. rice-shape, G. der Reiskuchen like in French. In German, we of course meet der Reisbranntwein (rice brandy) standing for arrack, rice alcohol obtained in a ferment, one Japanese variety beeing sake to be drunk warm. Some call it beer-rice. You already have heard of F. le papier de riz, rice-paper, also called in F. papier de Chine (China paper), contrary to what you may think, it is not made from paper but from the sap of a Formosan (Taiwanese) plant: Fatria papyrifera.

91 – Milk

Milk is a complete nutriment. In Chinese / nai3 stands both for the breast and the milk. Mother’s milk is supposed to give you physical strength and sexual stamina, and to prolong your life. The repetition of the ideogram: / nai3nai means grand-mother. Whereas / nai3tou2 (breast head) is of course the breast teat, the nipple and beyond this the rubber teat of feeding - bottle. When children cannot be nourished with mother milk, Chinese give them a kind of milky drink called / su4, which has given later the adjective “soft, flaccid”. A teenager whose bossom is still growing has flaccid teats, white as milk; from her we would say that she has a soft white breast: Ch. / su4xion1! F. suçions (let’s us suck it), sweet to suck and kiss! We know the Milky Way, F. la Voie Lactée, G. die Milchstraβe. In Chinese it is most known under the name / Han4tian1he2, heavenly river Han or more simply / tian1he2, heavenly river. When a land is absorbing in all good things, or of extraordinary fertility, it denotes the blessings of heaven, for French people such a land is called F.le pays de cocagne (Cokaign Land), for English it is a land of milk and honey. Indeed they get inspired from the Bible,

“I am come to deliver them out of the land of Egyptians, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exod.iii, 8:

For Shakespeare, the milk of human kindness is just sympathy or comion. This is what he wrote in Macbeth, I, V:

“…Yet do I fear thy nature It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”

With him, we could say: it is useless lamenting what has happened, it will not change, which is better expressed in En. to cry over the spilt milk. A milksop person is an effeminate or babyish one, we would say in F. une poule mouillée (wet hen)! With the English we could say: so that s for the milk in the coconut! said when a sudden discovery of the reason for some action is made, it is similar to F. le pot aux roses (roses pot), when the secret is found out! When English speak of milk-run, this is an allusion to an expression used by the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) during World War II for any sortie against easy target on which unexperienced pilots could be used with impunity – as simple as delivering milk. Their expression: to come home with the milk does not mean to come back home after having bought the milk, but to come back home when day arises, or more familiar with the cat, i.e. when the milkman has finished his delivery, or when the cats have lapped up their milk. By the way, F. le laitier is said En. milkman, G; der Milchmann not to be mistaken with F. le laitier des métaux, En. slag, G. die Schlache. It is also interesting to note that in English, the French la vache à lait or vache laitière draws inspiration from the German word instead of English one: milchcow, G. die Milchkuh or die milchende Kuh. If the Germans speak like us of der Milchbruder, F. un frère de lait (milk brother), English say foster-brother! As F. le cochon de lait (milk pig) is concerned, English call it sucking-pig. We could also F. être soupe au lait (be milk soup), i.e. in En. to flare up very easily, G. leicht aufbrausen. Note that F. la soupe au lait (milk soup) is in En. bread and milk, in G. they say like us eine Milchsuppe. F. Le lait de poule (hen milk) is in En. egg-flip or egg-nog, it is made with eggs stirred in milk or beer or

wine. The Germans call it die Hühnermilch (hen milk) or die Eiermilk (eggs’ milk). Note also that the Germans use the word Milch (milk) for the fish-milt, and also to name sweetbread! And in a green-horn, a callow youth or down on chin is called der Milchbart (milk beard)! As far as das Milchgesicht (milk face) is concerned it is either a ninny or a washed-out face! I would end with botany: F. le laiteron thus called due to its milky juice, which we also call lait d’âne (ass’ milk) is called in En. sow-thistle or milk-weed, whereas the Germans call it die Gänsedistel (goose-thistle)! The “sow” has been changed in “goose”! Up to you to choose your animal: ass, goos or sow… unless you prefer the Chinese name ku3qu3cai4 / (bitter vegetable as the nasturnium or chicory or endive) or again Ch. Dian1qu3cai4 / (Yunnan bitter plant)! Let it be nasturnium, chicory or endive, it is six of one and half a dozen of the other.

92 – To chew

F. Le papier mâché, chewed paper is G. der Papierteig (paper paste) or quite simply das Papiermaché. Note that English also prefer the French term. It is indeed paper pulp mixed with glue or several layers of paper glued together and folded to be put in a mould. Papiermâché articles were greatly in vogue in Victorian times. It is probably of ancient Chinese origin, but the name is due probably to the export from to UK. In Chinese it is called / hun4ning2 zhi3jiang1 (concrete paper paste) reason why Chinese find it rather strong, as hard as concrete! In their language “to chew” is said / jiao2, and / jiao2she2 (chewed tongue) stands for backbiter! This should not be confused with the homonym Ch / she2. meaning snake. Although a backbiter is also called in F. une langue de vipère, and in En. a visperish tongue. “Adder” is in Ch / kui2she2. Usually F. mâcher is in En. to chew, G. kauen except F. le cheval qui mâche son mors (the horse that chews his bit) or ronge son frein (gnaws his bridle) which is said in En. to champ the bit, G. mit dem Gebiβ spielen (to play with the bit). In English, the expression: to chew the fat, the rag means to grumble, to harp on an old sore, and even to hold familiar conversation ; we could say F. parler chiffons (to speak rags) to come closer to them. F. Je ne vais pas lui mâcher les mots (I am not going to chew him the words) is said En. I shall not mince a word with him. The German is more poetic in saying: kein Blatt vor dem Mund nehmen (to take no leaf in front of the mouth), i.e. to speak frankly. They also say von der Leber weg reden (to speak away from the liver*), instead of the “liver”, En. and F. will use the “heart”: F. dire ce que l’on a sur le coeur (to say what one’s has on the heart), En. to speak freely, with open heart*. F. Mâcher la besogne à qn (to chew the work for sb) is said in En. to half-do s.o.’s work for him. In En. to chew – tobacco, G. Tabak kauen means of course F. chiquer – du tabac. Beware the German word die Kaue; it is not a quid, but an open-shed or a sailor’s berth! Whereas an den Nägel kauen (to chew on nails) really stands for to bite one’s nails. In En. to chew over sg means F. ruminer…une idée (to

ruminate about…an idea). At that rate we are not yet out, G. uns wird noch lange daran zu kauen haben (we shall still have much time to chew on this)!

93 – Nail

The English word “nail” is similar to the German one der Nagel, Fr. ongle. To bite one’s nails is said in Fr. se ronger les ongles (to gnaw one’s nails). In En. nail as in G. der Nagel means also Fr. clou. Nail was formerly a measure of weight equals to 8 pounds used to weigh wool, hemp, etc. as well as a unit of length equivalent to 2 ¼ inches, about 6.50 cm. The English poet George Herbert (1593 – 1633) belonging to the metaphysical school wanted to the Government, but instead at the death of James II, he took up the orders and became an Anglican priest. He is the author of several proverbs. He wrote in Jacula Prudentum those singing words: For want of a nail, the shoe is lost For want of a shoe, the horse is lost For want of a horse, the rider is lost This could be translated in French:

A vouloir un clou, on perd la chaussure et son fer A vouloir un fer, on perd un cheval A vouloir un cheval, on perd un cavalier

In English I nailed him means I pined him, F. je l’ai coinçé. Here again, English people have been inspired by the Bible

“I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place” –Is. Xxii, 23

Our expression payer rubis sur l’ongle (to pay ruby on the nail) is translated in En. by to pay on the nail, G. die Nagelprobe machen (to make the test of the nail). Indeed, here nail means something completely different as the today’s meaning, it comes from the mediaeval word standing for a shallow vessel; one had to pay immediately when going on board. When we say mettre le doigt dessus (to put the finger on it), English and German people say the same En. to hit the nail on the head, G. den Nagel auf den Kopf treffen! In English, nailed to the counter doesn’t refer to a person spending his life propping up the bar, but it was a warning that false money was given to shopkeepers. To inform their clients they nailed, hung it above the counter. Speaking of hunging, one can also say to pin up, Fr. épingler. This has given us a pin-up girl, Fr. pin-up, the picture of a pretty girl more or less clad, even naked that soldiers used to pin up in their bedroom. Of course the contrary of the military use to pin up is to pin down, Fr. rester cloué au sol, be unable to take off. Le clou de la journée (the nail of the day), En. The chief attraction, G. der Attraktionspunkt (the point of attraction) or in the French way der Klou, it is coarsely speaking when the pin up is nailed on the wall, the soldier has first his cock up (Fr. la pine up) and then his cock down (Fr. la pine down)! This brings me to the expression rester cloué sur place (to stay nailed on the spot), En. to stand stock-still or rooted on the spot; the German translation is close to the En. wie an / ein-gewurzelt (to be fest sitted as if roted) or more hardly angemauert (walled up)! In En. to drive a nail into one’s coffin means to hasten one’s death usually by annoyance or frustration. In the same way coffin nail stands for a cigarette since it may seriously harm the health and bring us near cancer-producing death. Our expression avoir bec et ongles (to have beak and nails) is said in En. with tooth and nail; in G. we simply say sich wehren wissen (to know how to defend oneself) when the contrary to defend oneself not very vigorously is translated sich mit stumpfen Nägel wehren (to defend oneself with blunt nails)!

The proverb un clou chasse l’autre (a nail drives the other) is said in the same way in En. nail drives out nail, when in G. we prefer the woodcutters’ term ein Keil treibt den anderen (a wedge drives the other). Fr. mettre qch au clou (to put sg on the nail) i.e. au mont de piété (on the Mount of Pity) is said in the same way in En. to hung on the nail, or more simply to pawn, Fr. mettre en gage. Rogner les ongles à qn is said in G. ‘m die Flügel beschneiden (to cut the wings to sb) or even ‘m den Korb höher hängen (to hold the basket higher to sb) to which I prefer our expression Fr. tenir la dragée haute à qn (to hold the sugared almond high to sb). Finally Fr. un homme aux ongles crochus (a man with crooked nails) is either a miser, G. der Geizhals (a misery neck) or a thief, G. der Dieb. In G. es brennt mir auf den Nägeln (it’s burning me on the nails) means I am like a cat on hot bricks, Fr. être sur les charbons ardents (to be on burning coals), and blaue Nägel haben (to have blue nails) means fingers are numb with cold due to the fact that icy cold gives bluish hands! All is but a question of feeling of warmth cold or colour! Beware the G. word das Nagelbein (the nailed bone) meaning the lachrymal bone! Indeed in Fr. it’s l’unguis, from Latin nail, this bony strip of the fore part of the eye-socket. This has nothing to do with das Bein, the leg! As far as the expresson Fr. flambant neuf (burning new) is concerned, in G. it’s nagelneu (new nail), in En. brand new! In Chinese (iron-) nail is said / ding1 and (finger-) nail / zhi1jia (nail of the finger). An interesting word / zhi1jiahua1 (flower of the finger’s nail) stands for balsam, Fr. la balsamine, coming from le baume, balm, this yellow flowering plant which we better know under the name impatiens, Busy Lizzie since its cap is opening when we touch it; to the point that the wood balsam is also named noli me tanzere, from Latin don’t touch me.

94- To touch

Here is a word affected to senses, the feeling, F. le toucher, but also the pleasure. To wink at a lady or at a gentleman, F. la touche, G. das Augeln, this hit is also pleasant… F. la Sainte Touche (the Holly Touch), En. pay day or G. der Lohnungstag, is also pleasant, let it be in nature or with a cheque: F. toucher un chèque (to touch a cheque) is English to cash a cheque. When fishing also F. une touche may be pleasant except in English since it’s a bite! For some touch, F. attouchements (strokes) is becoming pleasant or unpleasant according to circumstances. J’en ai la plume légère (with it I got a light feather), En. to write a light touch. If disliked, better to say hands off! G. Hande weg, equivalent to our F. bats les pattes (beat the legs)! N’y touchez pas! (Don’t touch it!). For this we could also say G. drei Schritt von Leibe (at three steps from the body). Its contrary being touchez-là! (Touch here!), En. your hand on it, G. schlag ein (bet concluded), it’s a deal or den haben sie meine Hand drauf (take off your hand from it). All this to hit the mark. At this moment we risk to be touched. Yes, but beware, touched is also to be slightly mad, touched in another meaning! That much that when he’s slightly touched, a bit mad, we could also say he is struck or cracked! If this is the case I am cut to the quick, F. je suis touché au vif, G. das geht mir auf die Nieren (this gets on my kidneys). Well! On the kidneys? This let me think to the renal pelvis, F. le bassinet and to the warming pan, F. la bassinoire, in G. das Brettwärmer (bed warmer) or figuratively die lästige Person (the boring person). Don’t we have our expression Quelle bassinoire! when speaking of a person being a pain in the neck, to clarify that she is importunate? And tu me bassines equivalent to you are boring! This is striking us as well! You may be astonished and we to shout Quelle touche! (What a strike), En.what a sight! G. seht mir das Gesicht! (Look at this face!) Not to say have you seen your shit-head! English people will better say he’s a queer-looking fish. But I notice that our minds are meeting, G. das berührt sich mit meinen Gedanken (this strikes with my thoughts). And if he touched you for a fiver? You would say without doubt, it was a near touch.

Then you are becoming touchy, full of touchiness. We have seen that stroke could be slight touch, but when we have got some fever, English have also a touch of fever! And since we are in the shade of meanings, we could say that we have a touch of bitterness in his reply. But that is not a reason not to keep in touch. I shall mention it to him, F. je lui en toucherai un mot, G. ein Paar Wörter sagen (to tell some words). Now our German people are using the plural –some words – in place of our individuality – a word -? That’s another sign of human behaviour and of our differences. In the life one ought to be touche-à-tout (touch everything), a Jack-of-all trades or a busybody, in G. der Allwisser (the all knower) or der Guckindentopf (lookinthepot). Here we face vivid imagination that men may have. But we have got some other surprises with En. touch pieces standing for the King’s Evil, scrofula! (F. la scrofule). The Kings of were accustomed to touch the inflammatory buboes of sick persons and to give them silver or gold coins to care them. The English Kings have introduced this custom from , proof that we can interest them. What about the expression touch and go translated in Fr. Il était moins cinq? (It was five – minutes – less) although I prefer moins une (less one)! It seems that it is a metaphor deriving from two vehicles touching another one without damages and going on their way. We also have a touchstone, F. la Pierre de touche, G. das Probierstein (the test stone) as the German word indicates it is a kind of jasper or basanite, the lapis lydies of the ancients, so called because it was used as comparative standard to measure gold. To finish in Chinese, to touch is either / chu4 or / mo1 or / peng4 according to the way of touching. We could keep in mind / peng4peng4che1, bumper car as well as the expression / peng4 yi4 bi2zi hui1 (to touch a beak [and fall] in the ash) which means to hit a snag or more commonly to suffer a rebuff. With another ideogram we could say / chu4 mei2tou2 (to touch the mould of the head) which means to have rotten luck or more simply to be overwhelmed with misfortunes.

95 – Bill

A bill is a bird’s beak, these bird’s horny projecting jaws. We consider it as part of the mouth. In English, in its figurative meaning, beak stands for a hooked nose, except for the bird where bill is preferred especially when slender, flattened or weak. The derivative billy means of course a little nose, but more frequently in slang, it is used for a pocket-handkerchief. In German, it is der Schnabel. In Chinese, it’s / zui3. We have F. un fin bec (a fine beak), En. gourmet, G. ein Feinschmecker (a fine taster) which should not be mistaken with qn qui a un bec fin (s.o. who as a fine beak), G. ein mageres Gesicht (a meager face). We all know the expression F. ferme ton bec! (shut your beak!), En. shut up! G. halt’s Maul (keep your mouth / face!), may be this comes from the fact that they use their mouth too much that in English this also means schoolmaster! Or also the magistrate with whom we got F. une prise de bec (a beak’s catch), En. squabble, G. der Zank (dispute, quarrel). Note that English people when they F. se prennent le bec avec qn (they take beak with s.b.), say a age at arms with s.o. This is more dangerous than F. tenir qn le bec dans l’eau (to keep s.b.’s beak in the water), En. to keep s.o. in suspense, where the German simply say mit leeren Versprechungen hinhalten (to hold s.o. breathless with empty promises). Sometimes they are harder since they could say j’n an die Wand drücken (to press s.o. against the wall). We could also say in En. to have s.o. in the lurch (F. laisser qn en plan). For the French people it’s water, for the English’ one it’s also from naut. lee-lurch, F. un plan…d’eau! (a stretch of…smooth water)! Rather le cahot, En. the ups and downs. As far as F. avoir bon bec (to have good beak) is concerned (to differentiate from bonbecs [good beaks] meaning sweets), this doesn’t mean a gourmet but to have the gift of the gab, F. avoir la langue bien pendue (to have the tongue well hung) or a glib tongue. German will say eine feine Zunge haben (to have a fine tongue) which should not be mistaken with F. avoir le bec bien affilé (to have a beak well sharpened), to have a sharp tongue, G. eine scharfe Zunge.

As far as F. manger à belles dents (to eat with good teeth) is concerned or in a vernacular way F. se caler les joues (to settle the cheeks), En. to have a good feed, to stuff oneself, they just say schnabelieren – if not schnabulieren. When we are F. bec à bec (beak to beak), they are G. unter vier Augen, F. entre quatre z yeux (under four eyes), expression which we also use meaning face to face, in private. And to tell things as they occurred to us is said in a very imaginative way: G. er schwatzt wie ihm der Schnabel gewachsen ist (he chatters like his bill has grown)! We still have other beaks F. le bec de plume (the beak of the feather), En. pennib, G. der Schnabel; le bec de théière (the beak of the tea-pot), En. tea-sprout, G. die Tülle (the socket); le bec Bunsen (the Bunsen’s beak), En. Bunsen burner as in G. der Bunsenbrenner. Now here is a list of several compound words: •Le bédane or bec-d’âne (the ass’ beak), En. mortise chisel, G. der Lochbeitel (the hole apparatus) •Le bec-de-cane (female duck’s beak), En. level handle, G. der Türgriff (door handle) •Le bec-de-corbeau / corbin (crow’s beak), En. bill-headed instrument, G. die Drahtzange (thread pliers) •Le bec-de-grue (crane’s bill) – like in En. – G. der Reiherschnabel (heron’s bill, our wader takes the name of another) which is the vernacular word for geranium.

To finish, we have the name of a congenital malformation occurring from a fissure of the upper lip which we call F. bec-de-lièvre (hare’s beak), En. hare-lip, G. die Hasenscharte (hare’ s opening). The German word der Schnabelschuh (beak of the shoes) is well dreamed up to describe the poulaine, this long pointed toe of the 14th century.

96 – Herb

F. l’herbe is said in En. herb or grass, weed, in G. das Grass and das Kraut, plural die Kräuter, in Ch. / cao3 means both herb and plant. Of course, the Chinese speak also of herb of immortality: / zhi3, symbolising longevity and fertility. It is often represented in the mouth of a deer or in the beak of a crane. But as we are considering herbs: a lot of plants are appearing: •L’herbe aux ânes (donkeys’ herb) from the Latin word oenithera, gives in F. oenithère, more commonly known as onagre or anagraire. But beware F. onagre is as the En. or G. translation indicates wild ass, wilder Esel, F. un âne sauvage. In botany, in En. it is known as evening primrose, in G. as die Nachtkerze (night candle) and in Ch. as / yue4jian4cao3 (herb appearing with the moon). It just goes to show that everybody is more or less entitled to say, it is an evening herb, except the French, unless asses eat it at night? •L’herbe-à-chat (aux chats) (cat’s herb) whose Latin word nepeta mussini gave us népète, En. nepenthes, and from which one variety with strong smell is F. le cataire, En. catnip and another one F. la valériane, En. valerian, from the Roman province of Valeria, a plant with pink and white flowers. Its root is used as antispasmodic or febrifuge. Of course F. cataire has probably its origin from En. cat, F. le chat, so much that some French people have named it chataire! In En. it’s catmint and in G. die Katzenminze, like in En., or again der Baldrian. In Ch. it is called / jia3jing1jie4, i.e. false thistle (tasting) mustard! •L’herbe à éternuer (herb to sneeze) also called bouton d’argent (silver button) or achillée (achillea) from the name of Achilles who discovered its healing property against bleeding. A genus of plants l’herbe d’achillée (Achillean grass) or millefeuille (thousand leaves) having jagged leaves is also named herbe aux charpentiers, carpenters’ wort or herbe aux coupures (cuts herb) and again saigne-nez (bleeding nose). You will understand its use and characteristics.

This ranunculus (From Latin meaning little frog) has white flowers. There exist two kinds: one found in water and the other on land. The English call it sneeze wort from the verb to sneeze. The German prefer die Achillea or das Achillenkraut (Achillean herb) and much better die Schafgabe (sheep’s sheaf). In Chinese it is simply / shi1, not to say / shi1cao3 for the musky achillea or wormwood (F. génépi). The kind mille-feuille (thousand leaves) is said / duo1ye4shi1 (achillea with numerous leaves). •L’herbe de la Saint-Jean (St John’s wort) is also called by some herbe de la Saint-Pierre (St Peter’s wort)! In En. it’s St John’s wort and in G. das Johanniskraut. However the names of flowers are proliferating! We have other names for the same flower or plant. Here, F. l’armoise, En. wormwood, in G. der Beifuss (one foot more), l’artémise, En. artemisia, coming from Greek, also known in F. as génépi du glacier (glacier’s wormwood) or de haute montagne (high mountain’s wormwood), absinthe and even tarragon (the kind draconculus artemisia, said to be snakeroot). In En. it is simply artemisia. It is also called F. millepertuis (St John’s-wort). Since its leaves are covered with holes, some have given it the name of l’herbe à mille trous! (thousand holes’ herb). Its oil is a vulnerary used for healing of wounds. In G. it is again called das Hartheu (hard hay)! In Ch. it’s / huo2xue4wan2, the pill to activate blood or again / lian2qian2cao3, the money herb that units! •L’herbe au(x) chantre(s) (bard’s herb) against hoarse voice called sisymbe, En. sisymbrine, F. tortel or velar. In Ch. / da4suan4jie4 (the big garlicmustard). To think these condiments are healing the hoarse voice, I would have preferred to classify them with the sneeze-wort! •L’herbe sacrée (sacred herb) or à tous les maux (for all pains), En. all-heal would rather be the valerian; l’herbe sacrée is also called vervaine, En. vervain, G. die Verbene or das Eisenkraut (iron’s herb)! We call it also herbe au(x) sorcier(s) (witch’s herb) against all stomach pains or herbe de sang (blood’s herb). In Chinese vervain is called / ma3bian1cao3, horse riding crop’s herb! From the genus onagrariaceae see above wild ass. In En. it’s also called divine

weed, Latin herba rara, its healing bites. It stands for smelling vervain or lemon grass, in F. mélisse meaning bee’s leaf, one kind the wood lemon balm, mélisse des bois is also called mélitte (bee)! We still have the false vervain: sage.

You notice that with the various names of plants, all tastes, all colours and all animals are concerned. Note that En. herb of Grace corresponds to F. la rue (rue), meaning street, not the one where cars are ing! But la rue commune (common rue) or rue odorante (smelling rue) which is the symbol of repentance. As far as l’herbe de la Trinité, En. herb Trinity, Latin herba trinitatis, is concerned: it is the pansy, F. la pensée. Beware to the English word meaning both the garden plant with flowers of various rich colours, symbol of remembrance and also an effeminate man, male homosexual! If the F. word pensée stands also for thought, we can this meaning as well! This flower has also a lot of names according to the virtues that we may give to it. I was on the point to forget an amusing plant: l’herbe à loup (wolf’s herb) that English people call monk’s hood! If we come to the expressions, F. sur quelle herbe avez-vous marché? (On which herb have you walked?) This is said in En. what’s the matter with you? F. couper l’herbe sous le pied de qn (to cut herb under s.o.’s foot) is said in En. to cut the ground under s.o.’s foot, and in G. auf eines anderen Wiese grasen (to graze in another meadow)! You must confess that it’s very colourful. We have to say that I am looking for subtlety; in G. ich höre das Gras wachsen (I hear the grass growing)! As a child you have played in the grass paying attention to grass-snake (F. couleuvre) and catching grasshoppers (F. sauterelles) as in G. der Grashopfer, but the German they design it with a much funnier word: das Graspferd, the horse’s grass! You should know to finish that F. les mauvaises herbes (bad herbs), En. weeds, G. die Kräuter are becoming in singular tobacco, if not a cigar, in G. of course it is das Kraut. Yes, but in English weed is a lanky and weakly person… may be because she smokes too much? Note that F. un poète en herbe (poet in herb) is said in En. a budding poet which

is much more poetic that in French; however un diplomate en herbe (diplomatist in herb) is said a diplomatist in embryo, which is not too bad either. And when in G. we say darüber ist längst Gras gewachsen (the grass has grown over it since long) this means let’s forget all about it. F. er l’éponge (to wipe with the sponge)! If I give you all these expressions F. pêle-mêle, En. any old how, G. wie Kraut und Rüben (like grass and turnip) it’s to show you the diversity of designations in the different languages. Look at the expression F. manger son blé en herbe (to eat one’s wheat in grass), En. to spend one’s money before one gets it, G. seine Einkünfte im voraus verzehren (to spend one’s revenue/income in advance); in Ch. it is / yin2 chi1 mao3 ling2 which means to eat between 3 and 5 a.m. in the morning the (harvested) grain between 5 and 7 in the morning. We would say to eat the grain before it has been harvested. The German expression for F. mordre la poussière, to bite the dust, is im Gras beissen (to bite in the grass), this seems much more pleasant although the result is the same. We could say in case of death F. manger les pissenlits par la racine (to eat the dandelions by the root), En. to be pushing up the daisies. And everybody knows that the grass is green, but in G. grünes Kraut (green grass) in the South means green cabbage! Of course G. der Grasaffe (grass ape) it is a baboon, but it is also a sprite, exactly like der Grasteufel (the evil in grass) is a goblin. If you come back home caked with mud, you will say in G. wie ein Grasteufel aussehen (to look like an evil in grass / a goblin) and on top of it you will be scolded. G. die Grasmücke (the grass fly) is our gentle F. fauvette des bois (hedge sparrow) which is also called F. mouchet, En. warbler, Ch. / ying1 (oriole). In Chinese, the expression / ying1ge1-yan4wu3 (the oriole’s song and the swallow’s round dance) it is indeed a prosperity scene.

97 – Round

A round is a dance in a ring, F. la ronde, c’est une danse en rond (the round is a dance in round!), G. die Runde or der Rundtanz. In German however to dance a round is particular, we say den Reigen tanzen, Reigen instead of Runde! which means also dance, ball. Goethe sagte auch zu Runde und Reife kommen (to come to round and ripe) is meaning to reach full bloom. Notice the sonority Runde-Reife which we could translate round and ripe, F. rond et rose (round and pink) to keep the “r” or F. sûr et sage (sure and wise) to keep the meaning of blooming. In Ch. it is / yuan2wu4. / Yuan2 standing for a circle and the plural / yuan2zi standing for glutinous rice ball. Among the expressions, we have F. un empêcheur de tourner en rond (a person preventing to turn in round), En. spoil-sport, G. der Spielenverderber (spoilgame) which we could consider as a trouble-maker or a killjoy. Naturally from round, the dance, we could jump to round, the circle. We have The Round Table made by Merlin at Carduel for Uther Pendragon (King Arthur’s father). Uther gave it to King Leodegraunce of Cameliard, who gave it to King Arthur when the latter married Guinevere. It was a circular table to prevent any jealousy. 150 knights could seat around and a place was left in it for the Holy Grail. Other round tables existed, Roger Mortimer established one during the eighth year of Edward I which could it 100 knights and their ladies. 70 years later, Edward III erected at Windsor a table having 200 ft. in diameter. Of course around The Round Table were seated the Knights of the Round Table. According to Sir Thomas Malory, a famous English novelist, 150 knights could be seated when at King Leodegraunce’s one only 100 had a seat. This custom to sit around a table has lasted since it gave its name of round table to a conference’s one. It was first used in 1887 in the house of Sir William Harcourt when trying to reunite the Liberal party after the split occasioned by Gladstone’s advocacy of Irish Home Rule, the famous Home Rule wished by Irish people. Late came in 1931-1932 the Round Table Conferences on Indian government

held in London. We have F. les ronds-de-cuir (leather rounds), En. chair cushion or better the stick-in-the-mud which in my opinion would rather be caked with ink rather than mud! In G. it is das Bürokratentum (bureaucracy) or better der Federfuchser (the unofficial broker’s feather), F. le coulissier de plume. We have to remind you that the unofficial broker was in charge of real-estate business at the Exchange, short a pen pusher! In Ch. chair cushion is said yuan2pi2dian4 / for the organization’s employee, we have to understand the istration’s employee. This is worth F. une salve d’applaudissements (applause’s salvo), En. a round of applause. What do you think, the daily round, the humble routine of everyday life? F. le train-train quotidien, is for something, and this story went F. de bouche en bouche (from mouth to mouth), En. the story went round. For this some are making a petition signed in a circular form, a distortion of the French word ruban (ribbon) that English people have borrowed from French sailors who used a long list to hide the name heads, the chief. Of such a chief we could say F. il n’est pas dans son emploi (he is not in his job), En. He’s not a square peg in a round hole, i.e. one who is doing a job for which he is not suited. Chinese would say in the same way / yuan2zao4fang1rui4 meaning quite simply be incompatible. In UK lawyers in the hope of being hired for a witness used to walk the Round, waiting the decision in turning round a church or a temple. By dint of turning round, F. ils pouvaient devenir fous (they could became mad), they will go round, En. to go round the bend. All this exceeds my thoughts, G. das ist mir zu runde (it’s too round for me)! Of course every round thing is circulating as the news on the radio, G. die Rundfunk (the round sparkle), in the same way the circular trip turns out to be an excursion, G. die Rundfahrt or die Rundreise; only because the Earth, G. der Rund (the Round) is round! F. n’ayez pas de grands yeux (don’t have big eyes), En. Round-eyes in reading these so well known expressions.

Do you know that F. le manège is said in En. roundabout? But this stands also for the circuitous way, the road junction where all traffic has to follow a curve course in one direction round a central area; those that French have integrated to withdraw the traffic lights on the roads are an English import. We had to F. prendre le chemin des écoliers (to follow the schoolboys’ path), En. to take a roundabout way, G. Umwege machen, to adopt it in . With the English we could say: what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts, which means what you lose on one venture, you recover on another. As far as the expression is concerned: F. avoir le dos voûté (to have a bent back), we say in En. to have round shoulder!

98 – Back

F. Le dos is said in En. back, in G. der Rücken, in Ch. / bei4 (down tone) and to carry / bei1 (flat tone). A scapegoat is said in Ch. / bei1 hei1guo1, to carry the black pot! F. la colonne vertébrale (vertebral column) is in En. backbone as in G. der Rücken or das Rückgrat. The G. expression Rückgrat haben means to submit. F. le gratte-dos, En. back-sctracher is said in Ch. / sao1zhang4, usually it consists of a bamboo handle to which the scratcher itself shaped like a claw or a hand is fastened. The instrument seems to have another function as well, that of a talk-stick, Ch. / tan2zhu4 (help to speak). The teacher placed it in front of him; the student wishing to initiate a discussion picked it up and began to speak. The term / tan2zhu4 became the equivalent of a topic. A fairy, sometimes called a goddess, Ma1gu1 / carries a bamboo staff with a basket hanging from it. She is accompanied by a boy carrying a peach of immortality. She is often depicted with unusually long nails which she uses for scratching her back, her hair are tightened in a bun or may be down to her waist. She is supposed to have lived at the time of Emperor Xiao (147-68 B. C.). During a banquet, her host became obsessed with the idea of how nice it would be to be scratched by her long nails. For these unseemly thoughts he was thrashed by an invisible whip. Since the expression “as delightful as being scratched by Magu” caught on and entered the language. By the way, let’s notice that to scratch is said in Ch. / sao1 with the ideogram of the hand, and its homonym / sao1 with the ideogram horse means licentious! The game F. saute-mouton (leap-sheep) is funny since it is translated in En. with leap-frog and is, naturally, a game in which player vaults with parted legs over another bending down, he does the “sheep”, En. to make a back. Not very far from it, for the younger, it is necessary to F. faire la courte échelle (make a short ladder), En. to make a back for s.o. Yes, this could be done with the back or with the hands shaped like a spoon. Anyway we should be careful not to break one’s back, F. se casser les reins (to break one’s kidneys).

If you don’t succeed to play with this kind of expression, it is because you are a back number, F. vous êtes vieux jeu (you are an old game), En. you are behind the times, or F. un croulant, En. crumbly. Indeed the En. expression refers to old back numbers of newspapers which carry news that is no longer current. We can also F. mettre tout sur le dos de qn (to put everything on s.o.’s back), in En. to make sb shoulder the responsibility for sg, in G. this person is called der Packesel (pack mule), En. packsaddle. This let me think that in En. a horse back should not be confused with the back of the horse, where back stands for a bet on an horse-race! To back having the sense of to bet. F. faire le dos rond (to make the round back) is said in G. die Schultern biegen (to bow the shoulders) and F. faire le gros dos (to make the big back), En. to arch one’s back: G. einen Katzenbuckel machen (to make a cat’s bump) exactly when the cat feels attacked by a dog or other. In En. it is said to get one’s back up that means also to be furious. But we have to defend oneself and F. ne pas se laisser manger la laine sur le dos (don’t let sb eat the wool on your back), G. sich die Butter von Brot nehmen lassen (to let sb take the butter on your bread), En. Don’t let people walk over you, without falling on one’s back, G. auf den Rücken fallen. When we use the French expression ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuiller (don’t go with the back of the spoon on it), En. don’t go in for half-measures, it is ruthless, pitiless or not to mince one’s words! In En. avoir qn sur le dos (to have s.o. on the back) is said to be saddled with s.o. and to be fed up with sg, F. en avoir plein le dos (to have a full back of it) is in G. etw. bis an den Hals satt sein (to have sg up to the neck), to be disgusted! The back it is also the back face, the hidden face. Thus an English man who says he knows London like the back of his hand, this means he knows the capital very well, F. comme sa poche (like his pocket)! And therefore that he knows all the back streets, i.e. the seedy parts of the town. In the same way F. la Forêt Vierge d’Amérique du Nord (the Virgin Forest of North America) is called The Backwoods. But you should not be backbiter! Otherwise we may have a back fire kick which

could be a real fire as the flames leapt out, speaking of combustion. But here it’s back chat, unless, of course, if we are protected by a private influence especially at Court, in such a case you will benefit of a backstairs influence not stopping to make sure clandestine intrigue in backstairs gossip. We could only keep the souvenir of scientists and technicians at the back during the Second World War that Lord Beaverbrook called in 1941 the backroom boys! English people like to stay behind a lot of things, especially at The House of Common where ordinary do not hold office and occupy the back bench! And French have their F. verlan, this particular kind of back slang extremely popular in consisting in inverting the syllables of words. The word verlan itself comes from the expression F. à l’envers (back to front). When we have F. une arrière-saison (back-season), especially in the North of England, they have the Back-end, i.e. The Autumn.

99 – Season

We know that seasons are four in number, F. les quatre saisons, En. the four seasons, G. die vier Jahreszeiten (the four times of the year) or in the French way: die vier Saison. In Ch. it is said / si4ji4 (four seasons) or / si4shi4 (four times), even / shi2jie2 (feast of time). You should also know that in Ch. / ji4feng1 (season’s wind) corresponds to the monsoon. However in the old time there existed five seasons in line with the five colours, the five elements, Ch. / wu3xing2 and the five metamorphoses. •Water said to soak and descend, black being its colour. •Fire said to blaze and ascends, having the red as colour. •Wood said to curve or be straight is represented with blue. •Metal said to obey and change which colour is corresponding to white. •Earth said to take seeds and give crops, associated to yellow.

Only recently earth has been withdrawn to leave four seasons. This fifth season was a short one, interposed between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Now the Chinese divide the year as we do into four seasons, each corresponding to an age as in Europe. We have F. le printemps, En. spring, G. der Frühling (früh meaning early), Ch. / chun1 with the green colour as symbol and the peony as representative flower. Up to 15 years of age it was common to wear green garments. We should not forget that for the Chinese the spring pictures, / chun1hua4, correspond to erotic pictures. They do not regard this sort of thing as pornography, but rather as a form of instruction by means of which a virgin can be introduced to the Art of Love. In Europe spring starts on 21st March, when the sun enters Aries. For the Greek people it was associated to Mercury. F. l’été, En. summer, G. der Sommer means spring in poetry! Ch. / xia4 has as

emblem the lotus flower. Human life corresponding to this period goes from 16 to 29 years of age.We have to notice the funny translation of Eva in Ch. / Xia4wa2 (the Small / Baby of Summer); in G. fliegender Sommer (flying summer) it is the Virgin’s thread! The sun enters Cancer. At that time Greeks were worshipping Apollo. F. l’automne, En. autumn, G. der Herbst, notice by the way the verb herbsten meaning to harvest grapes, Ch. / qiu1. The Chinese associate autumn to the white colour. White is the colour of dying and death, the executions took place in this season as well. The flower of the season is the chrysanthemum as in our countries at All Saints’ Day. The ages range from 30 to 39 years. Interesting the Ch. metaphor / qiu1lao3hu3 (the tiger’s autumn) indicating a period of heat…and of rutting at the beginning of autumn. The picture of the autumn’s wave, Ch. / qiu1bo1 standing for a seductive look, a wink at sb. In Europe the sun enters Libra; it is time to gather grapes during which Bacchus was worshipped. Finally, F. l’hiver, En. winter, G. der Winter; note that in G. der Winterkönig (the winter’s king) stands for the wren, F. le roitelet! Ch. / dong1 (For us dingdong would rather be Eastern time!). The corresponding period of ages goes from 40 to 60 years. The winter’s symbol is the plum-tree which blooms in winter, i.e. from April to May. You should know that in China the seasons have 2 months’ gap with western’s ones and a newly born child is already a year old. The sun enters Capricorn. The Greeks worshipped Hercules. We have just been through the four seasons, we should not forget our F. marchand des quatre saisons (four seasons’ merchant), En. costermonger or barrow-boy, G. der Gemüsehändler (vegetables’ merchant) or der Grünkramhändler (the retailer of green odds and ends) who is selling his vegetables and early fruits when F. les fruits sont en pleine saison (fruits are in full season), En. fruit in its prime and which are sold until F. la morte saison (dead season), En. slack-season, G. die Sauregurkenzeit (the time of bitter cucumbers)! Those are not F. propos hors de saison (talks out of season), En. ill-timed remarks. If there exists a time of heat at the beginning of autumn which corresponds probably to the tigress’ heat, the F. une jument en chaleur (a mare in heat) is said in En. a mare in season, this may last some time, En. last for a season. Anyway it shall be done in due season.

In England the silly season is an expression for the part of the year when Parliament and the Law Courts are not sitting, during August and September, when, through lack of news, the financial papers are not published. In , especially in Paris, the month of August is about just the same. We should not be mistaken with this English time called The London Season going from May to July and which we call in la saison mondaine de Londres (London’s society season). It is the part of the year when the Court and society are in town.

100 – Court

The F. word cour, Court, comes from Latin cohors, cohortis, meaning farm-yard. Originally it was an enclosure for sheep or cattle. In En. we put a “t” at the end, in G. it is der Hof. Later cohort was an enclosure where as many soldiers as could be cooped together in such an enclosure. The cattle-yard, being the nucleus of the farm, became the centre of a group of farm buildings and cottages, then a hamlet, town, fortified place, and lastly of a royal residence, hence the word. The En. word town comes from the G. der Zaun: enclosure, hedge. It was really a group of houses circled by a hedge or a wall. Of course when thinking to Court, we are also evocating the Court fools, G. der Hofnarr. From mediaeval times until the 17th century they were kept at court. We may cite some of them: •Miton and Thévenin de St. Léger were fools of Charles V, •Haincelin Coq belonged to Charles VI, •Guillaume Louel to Charles VII, •Triboulet was the fool of Louis XII and Francis I, •Brusquet, of Henry II, •Sibilot and Chicot, of Henry III and IV, •L’Angély, of Louis XIII and XIV.

At chess the French name for the bishop is le fou (fool). At cards game called in En. Court cards they are the representatives of clothed or coated figures, deviation from court! This had nothing to do because the figures belonged to a court.

Thus the French cards represent following Kings: •David, the King of Spades for the Jewish Empire, •Alexander, the King of Clubs for the Greek Empire, •Caesar, the King of Diamonds for the Roman Empire, •Charles, the King of Hearts for the Frankish Empire.

To these Kings correspond following Queens: Pallas (Spades) representing wisdom, Judith (Clubs) symbolising fortitude, Rachel (Diamonds) personifying piety and Juno (Hearts) is standing for royalty. These Queens were embodying in respectively Maria d’Anjou, Isabeau–The Queen-mother -, Agnès Sorel, the royal mistress and Jeanne d’Arc. There existed other famous courts, especially F. la Cour d’Amour, the Court of Love, G. der Minnehof, a judicial court for dealing affairs of heart. It was established in Provence during the days of the Troubadours. Following case was submitted to their judgement: “Ladies listened to one irer, squeeze the hand of another, and touched with her toe the foot of a third. Which of these three was the favourite?” F. la cour des pieds-poudreux (powdered-feet Court), En. piepowder Court from a deviation of our word was a judicial court of the same kind hold at fairs to deal with disputes between buyers and sellers. Finally, in the 16th century, there was the story of F. la Cour du Roi Pétaud, King’s Pétaud’s Court, where so much trouble and confusion occurred that it gave its word to F. la pétaudière, it’s a bedlam, G. die polnische Wirtschaft (the polish economy), a Court where everyone was King! More serious, we have in UK the Court of St James’ which is nothing else than the Queen of England’s Court! Its counterpart in G. die Hofkanzelei (the chancellery’s Court), F. la chancellerie aulique. The French word comes from Latin aula meaning Court and indicates the Tribunal of the German Court.

Other are used for Court, especially in En. The law Courts, court-house, hall where the justice is istrated. We have already seen that this term applied to the cattle-yard, but in English court stands also for a lane, a dead-end. And people can be no suited, out of court or settled in amicable agreement, settled out of court. In G. this is expressed with der Abweichungsbescheid (the decision of rejection), we would say F. une fin de non-recevoir (a non-receivable end), En. a request point-blank. Outside the Court we meet in En. porous cement tennis court which – by a strange fate – French people are calling with the En. word le quick! Hence court is coming from old French. In G. we have some expressions with court. For example: to be well established is said er hat Haus und Hof (he has house and court) – note the balance of the words difficult to render in French: why not in édifice sur un espace clos in keeping éd / es to imitate Hau and Ho? With the same words, we have von Haus und Hof treiben to say to evict…implied out of the court and out of the house. Still of interest, G. der Mond hat einen Hof (the moon has a court) to describe a halo of moon. Of course the word der Hof (court) in law and right language has given höfflich (of the court) meaning courteous, civil, and polite. Finally we have F. la cour martiale, En. Court-martial, G. der Kriegsgericht (war trial). Indeed it comes from Mars, the God of War. The first who used this exceptional military court was the US President Lincoln, on April 1863; he has established the rules of this counsel in The General Rules N° 100. In Ch. Courtmartial is said / jun1shi4 fa3ting2 (Tribunal of Military Affairs). In Ch. court is said / gong1ting2 (palace, court) or / fa3ting2 (laws’ palace) to simply design the court, or even / chao2ting2 (Imperial Court). You all know that China is the Middle Kigdom: / Zhong1guo2 (middle country), you have to note that / fa3 means law, and is said / Fa3guo2 laws’country), we are close to F. L’Esprit des Lois (The Spirit of the Laws) from Montesquieu. In Ch. a forensic scientist is said / fa3yi1 (law’s doctor).

101 – Law

This term refers to justice, to right. It is the reason why in G. we may call it das Gesetz or das Recht; F. la loi, in En. it is simply law, but this word encomes many other things. We have got a general survey with in-laws, the abbreviation of in canon law that let me think to the religious term canon law, F. le droit canon, G. das Kirchenrecht (the right of the Church). We have another reference for example F. la belle-mère (beautiful mother) standing for mother-in-law. All this is done thanks to legal texts called in En. law Latin a pretended or mongrel Latin that the English people call dog-latin, a real mongrel dog! In En.you should not be mistaken with law Latin standing for legal matters and low Latin for mediaeval Latin. If we stay in the Church’s , we have to speak about The Law of Moses, F. les Lois de Moïse, also known as Mosaic Law, F. la loi mosaïque, an adjective to differentiate from the name F. la mosaïque, En. mosaic kept for the different pieces of a work making a picture and better known as the Ten Commandments in the Pentateuch of the Bible. If the Commandments are 10 in number, those for the possession of the law are 9, En. possession is nine parts of the law, which are: a good deal of money, a good deal of patience, a good case, a good lawyer, a good counsel, good witnesses, a good jury, a good judge and good luck! And this status is unfairly like in En. the law of the Meds and Persian… Among these laws, we have also in En. Law Merchant assimilated to the Common law, but much more fascinating is the Law’s Bubble sometimes called Mississippi Bubble. In 1716, a Scottish financier with a prophetic name: John Law, obtained permission to establish a General Bank, F. Banque Générale in and the following year he set up the Compagnie de la Louisiane ou d’Occident (the Louisiana or Western Company) to control the mint and the farming of the revenue. His aim was to soak up the national debts. The result and consequence of this brought the crash in 1720. The English people have the equivalent with The South Sea Bubble which ended disastrously in the ruin of many in 1720. The Company was settled in 1711 and

was given the monopoly of trade with Spanish America in return to take over the whole national debt. The crash put an end to it. There exist also the Devices of Cepola. This was the law-quirks of the Italian lawyer Bartholomew Cepola teaching how to elude the most express law and to perpetuate lawsuits in definitively. For this it was necessary to know all the tricks from the law, G. der Rechtskriff (the string/the craftiness of right) also called G. die Rechtsverdreherei (the bying of right) what we call in judicial term F. la chicane, En quibble! Of course what is dominating it is F. la loi du plus fort, En. the law of the strongest, G. das Recht des Stärken. But some persons are F. sans foi ni loi (without faith nor law), En. fearing neither God nor man, G. ohne Treu und Glaube sein (to be without trust and faith). The German people also say weder Gott noch den Gesetzen gehorchen (not obeying God or laws). And when one is F. hors la loi, En. out-law, in G. vogelfrei, he is free like a bird! We have seen that law may be said in G. das Gesetzt, not to be mistaken with the past participle of setzen (to put): gesetzt which means grave, be at maturity or in a figurative sense stale. We find it again in calm attitude: ein gesetztes Wesen (a settled being) or in gesetzt, dass…(assumed that…). Note that codification is said Feststellung der Gesetze (law’s stipulation). F. une loi cadre (environment law) is said in En. outline law. We have got another interesting English expression: to be under s.o.’s thumb which means in F. subir la loi de qn (to undergo s.o.’s law), in G. j’n unterwerfen sein (to subjugate). When English refers to thumb, we are relating to the head. Thus to be a law under oneself means in F. n’en faire qu’à sa tête (to make it only in one’s head), En. to do exactly as one pleases. As far as to give one law is concerned, it belongs to a sporting term, law meaning the chance of saving oneself. Thus a hare or a stag is allowed law, obtaining a certain start before any hound is permitted to attack it. The same expression is used in the trade allowing a certain time to the seller to find his legs! F. will say his sheep (ses moutons).

102 – Hunt

Originally hunt is the pursue of wild animals chase for food. For some it became sport, especially in UK where F. un fusil de chasse (hunting gun) is called sporting gun, but when animals are killed, is it really hunting? Here is not my intention. But F. le droit de chasser (right to hunt) is well said in En. licence to kill game! We find in history some well known hunters: •Actaeon who was transformed by Artemis into a stag – lately identified by the Romans with Diana, the goddess of hunting – since he surprised her bathing. Acteaon became since the representative of men whose wives are unfaithful, reason why in UK to wear the horns means to be a cuckold; this term is connected with the horned stags fighting during the rutting season to select several females. •Adonis, beloved by Venus, slain by a wild bore while hunting. •Nimrod, the mighty hunter in the Bible considered as the King of Babel and the Founder of Nineveh.

He was a “mighty hunter said Yahweh” (Gen. x, 9) The meaning seems to be a conqueror. Jeremiah said:

“I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and out of the holes of the rocks.” (Jr xvi, 16)

F. la chasse is said in En. hunt, in G. die Jagd. But the English word hunt let me think to the En. proverb Like Hunt’s dog, he would neither go to church nor stay at home. A labouring man called Hunt kept a mastiff that was barking and disturbing the whole congregation as his master went to church. The next Sunday he decided to take him to church, but the dog refused to enter. This proverb applies to a self-willed person, who will neither be led nor driven. In hunting we find F. faire bonne chasse (to make a good hunt), avoir un beau tableau de chasse (to have a good hunting table), En. to make a good bag, and F. louer une chasse (to rent an hunt), En. to rent a shoot. If in un pavillon de chasse (a hunting pavilion) looks more or less big and beautiful, in UK it seems rather small since it is associated to a box: a huntingbox, for it is delusions of grandeur, it is bluntly the paradise, since they speak of castle; das Jagdschloss (hunting castle)! Speaking of paradise, the collector’s one in En. is said a happy hunting-ground for collectors. This is quite normal since F. un dénicheur d’antiquités (s.o. good at finding rare antiquities) is said a curio-hunter. By the way F. un chasseur is in En. a hunter, but it is also a watch with hinged cover protecting glass or outer part of it, the one called in old times F. une montre à savonnette(s) (a soap watch), today we would say une montre à double boîtier (a double box-case watch)! And F. courir les magasins (to run the shops) is said in En. to hunt through the shops, in the same way we have la chasse aux soldes, En. bargain-hunt. In G. hunter is said der Jäger, but please do ire the equivalent of the word F. chasseur tyrolien (Tyrolean hunter) which is in G. der Kaiserjäger (the Imperial hunter)! Everyone knows that F. chasser le naturel, il revient au galop (hunt the natural, it comes back at gallop), En. what’s bred in the bone comes out in flesh, in G. die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht (the cat doesn’t leave the mouse)! Of course our proverb bon chien chasse de race (good dog hunts of race) indicating that s.o. is good for hunting since his birth is said in G. Art lässt nicht von Art (the kind/the race leaves no race), En. like father like son!

Remaining with the hunting , we have F. la fermeture de la chasse (hunting closure) which is said in G. die Schonzeit, we could think it is schon: already, i.e. it’s already the hunting season, indeed it stands for the abbreviation of die Schonung, forest preserve, the G. term would mean time of preserve. We also have G. das Jägerrecht, F. le droit du chasseur (hunter’s right) which is but the quarry, the disembowelment. Thus to give the quarry to the hounds is said den Hunden das Jägerrecht geben. Of course, in a figurative meaning F. courir après l’argent (to run after money) is said G. nach Geld jagen (to hunt after money), En. not be desperate for money. Interesting as well their expression G. sein Vermögen durch die Gurgel jagen (to hunt one’s own through the throat) which French could say manger et boire son bien (to eat and drink one’s own), En. to eat one’s money. We finally have an expression F. chasser qch de son esprit (to hunt/chase sg out of one’s mind), in G. sich etwas an dem Kopf schlagen (to knock one’s head)! En. to dismiss/to chase away that idea from one’s mind. In Chinese, hunt is said / lie4, to go hunting / da3lie4 or / shou4lie4, the huntsman is more commonly said / lie4ren2 (hunting person), it could be / lie4hu4 (hunting family) or also / lie4shou3 (hunting hand). The huntsman’s seat / lie4hu4zuo4 stands for Orion, the giant hunter of Greek mythology noted for his beauty. He became Artemis’ companion. Since he did violence to her, the goddess send him a scorpion to punish his vanity and it stung Orion to death. Orion and Scorpion were then changed in constellations for ever.

103 – Spirit

The word spirit, F. esprit, comes from Latin spiritus meaning breath of life. Like it is indicated in the Bible, Gen. Iii, 7 it is the life principle: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became living soul.” Hence spirit is life, is soul, F. l’âme, G. die Seele. A disembodied soul gave way to the apparition of a ghost, F. un fantôme, G. der Geist or to an immaterial being without body as a gnome, an elf, a fairy, a sylph…The breath of life was animated by the disposition of mind. The Swiss Paracelsus considered four elements as being the elemental spirits:

Salamanders with the fire, Gnomes with the earth, Sylphs with the air, Undines with the water.

In religion, F. le Saint-Esprit is represented as a dove, En. The Holy Spirit, but also The Holy Ghost! G. der Heilige Geist. Indeed the word esprit is impossible to translate, just as its equivalent in En. spirit or in G. der Geist which have a quite different impact in each culture. This could be F. la pensée (the mind), En. to be easy in one’s mind to say F. avoir l’esprit tranquille (to have a quiet spirit). This could be F. le caractère (character), le tempérament (temper) as in En. to have an awkward temper for F. avoir l’esprit de travers (to have a wrong /

crooked spirit), G. querköpfig (with crooked head). This could be F. l’âme (soul) if we believe in the proverb: les grands esprits se rencontrent (big spirits are meeting), En. great mind think like, G. schöne Seele finden sich (good souls meet each other)! We also use the term un esprit sain dans un corps sain (a healthy spirit in an healthy body), En. a healthy mind in a healthy body, G. eine gesunde Seele in einen guten Körper. This could also be F. qch de mauvais (something bad): l’esprit malin (tricky spirit), En. the Evil one, G. der böse Geist (wicked spirit), i.e. the devil. This could also be: F. le sens (the sense / feeling), venir à l’esprit, En. to come to mind and in G. in den Sinn kommen (to come to sense). F. la tête (the head), un esprit lucide (a clear spirit), En. clear-headed is also in G. ein heller Kopf. F. l’intelligence, G. die Klugheit which corresponds to a subtlety of mind. Everything is happening according to a certain F. état d’esprit, a state of mind, G. die Stimmung (atmosphere). And if everything goes well, F. à la bonne heure! (to the good hour), En. That’s the spirits! Let’s know how to be witty, F. avoir de l’esprit (to have spirit), G. geistreich (rich spirit) or ein Mann von Geist (a man of spirit), even ein Mann von Verstand (a man of comprehension). With all these descriptions, we should keep up one’s spirit; F. Il ne faut pas perdre courage (one ought not to loose courage) and we should F. faire un effort cérébral (to do a cerebral effort), En. a mental effort, G. die Geistesanstrengung (a spirit’s effort), so it is with the intellectual culture, G. die Geistesbildung (the spirit’s formation). Let us know how to F. avoir l’esprit d’entreprise (to have the spirit of enterprise), En. to be an enterprising mind, G. der Unternehmungsgeist and let’s have a high opinion of people like Montesquieu (1689-1755) or rather Charles de Secondat, baron de la Mède et de Montesquieu who acquired the fame of bel esprit (good spirit), En. to show off one’s wit for his Lettres persanes. He knew how to use the spiritual remarks to be quite witty in his works.

Let’s pay a tribute to the German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), the leader of the phenomenology – i.e. in philosophy and metaphysics the description of acts of perception – who had much influence on the existentialists, especially Jean-Paul Sartre. He wrote in 1922 Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie (Thoughts Toward a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy) in which he describes the phenomenology of mind, F. la phénoménologie de l’esprit. In Chinese, spirit is / shen2, i.e. god, wonderful, spirit, magic, air or / shen2ling2, / ling2 meaning fine, genuine, intelligent; the soul is / hun2 or / shen2hun2; the state of mind is said / shen2si1 (thought of mind) and China of course / Shen2zhou1, the Continent of spirit! Note that air could also be translated / qi4, and the practice of breath exercises well in trend nowadays it is / qi4gong1. The practice of Japanese meditation originating from China, the Zen is close to / shen2, to the spirit. You see that the spirit is the breath of life, the principle of life, and that everyone is leading his own life as he wishes F. dans l’air du temps (in the air of time), En. it’s part of the current climate. You have just discovered a collection of expressions in four languages. Behind these old and recent words, these familiar and polite ways of mind, the soul of people of different cultures is cropping up all over. The culture of a world is awaking. Our German friends call to mind several levels of culture: die Kultur, die Zivilisation, die Bildung, die Geistesbildung. No way to translate these words, we need first to become soaked with the word’s tune, then the richness of words endows them with a certain mind, only then can we get into the heart of meanings and have ones’ thoughts right. Men in with nature have studied its metamorphosis. They have built their language from their observations. They have followed the seasons; they have watched the animals and the flowers of their countries to notice As Confucius said:

“Between the four seas, all men are brothers” Analects XVII, 5

Like Maugham, know how to convert these words into life’s benefit; Like Guan-Zhong, let be taken away by the water until reaching a bank of overflowing life; Like Goethe, let be soaked with the colour and the sonority of words. And to conclude, like the Zen spirit, know that sometimes silence is stronger than words. To enjoy this silence first of all do some noise. Like the Chinese proverb reminds us: “The bell is in the monastery, but the noise comes from outside.” The collection “Wonderful Winding Words” had as aim to initiate you, to transcend you, to show you what some words may hide or reveal. Then “shush!” – Listen to the Silence!

ANNEX I

1 – Hanuman (p 4 - monkey)

He is the son of the wind and of a woman changed in monkey. He thus possesses the magic power of flying, to become a giant or a dwarf, to weigh a lot or to be as light as a feather. At his birth he had so much hunger that he took the sun for a fruit, and he flew in vain after it until Indri’s paradise. He was chased away from there and became immortal. He became the monkey-god due to his achievement. He is the most worshiped deity in India and in whole Asia. For all he became the symbol of friendship, courage, devotion, fidelity and loyalty.

2 – The Pilgrim Monkey (p 4 - monkey)

Also called “The Journey to The West”, sometimes “Monkey-King”, the story of this Chinese legend recalls the walk of the monk Hiuan Tsang at the beginning of the 7th century. He goes to India to look for the Sacred Writs of Buddhism. Wou Tch’eng En takes over to his advantage the legend of the monk named Tripikata. Monkey-King implements 72 polymorphic transformations and learns immortality. For example he changes his hair into a brush to show tracks of his ing, or his fingers into five elements. Condemned to death, he is confined in the Five Elements Mount until repent. The monkey has to accompany Tripikata up to India. Tripikata arrives in the Buddha’s Kingdom, receives the Holy Writs that he handles to the Chinese Emperor. Both of them, the Monkey and Tripikata become Buddhas.

3 – The German Romantic (p 30 - dog and p 120 - God)

The main authors of the German Romantic are among the writers Novalis, Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Ludwig Tieck, among the philosophers: Johann Gottlieb Fichte and August Wilhelm von Schlegel and the theologist Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher. It is Novalis (the pseudonym of Friedrich, Freiherr von Hartenberg) who created the symbol of the blue flower expressing Romantic love and longing. Indeed the German Romantic Movement may be divided in 4 periods: 1)Iéna 1798 – 1802 also called the Weimar area with the brothers Friedrich and August Schlegel 2)Heidelberg 1804 – 1808 with Ludwig, Joachim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, Joseph von Görren, Joseph, Freiherr von Eichendorff and the brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm), famous for their fairy tales. 3)The Berlin group, area of Realism with E.T.A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus), Friedrich, Heinrich, Karl, baron de La Motte Fouqué, Aldebert von Chamisso, Heinrich von Kleist, and always Arnim and Brentano. 4)The Swabian School 1815 – 1848, the Biedermeier with Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Uhland, Justinus Kerner, Nikolaus Lenau, Wilhelm Hauff and Gustav Schwab.

Of course other writers such as Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang Goethe were famous for their opposition in the Sturm und Drang, Thomas Mann, Stefan Georg and Maria Rilke have a great input on this literary trend. Among philosophers we have to cite as well Kant, Hegel, and later, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. The Romantic Movement would also be noted by the musicians’ works like those of Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn. Short, this area was very prosperous for the German civilisation.

4 – The 8 Immortals – Ch. / ba1xian1 (p 57 - straw)

Cao2 Guo2jiu4 / shown in Court dress, often holding an official sceptre or castanets; he is the patron saint of actors.

Han Xiang1zi / could make flowers grow and blossom at will. His symbol is the flute.

He2 Xiangu1 / the only woman depicted with a lotus or a peach. She had sworn never to marry; she cooks and holds a ladle in her hand.

Lan2 Cai3he2 / a hermaphrodite; his emblem is a basket of fruits or flowers or, less frequently, a flute or a bowl. He wears a ragged blue gown, sometimes only one shoe; he is the patron saint of minstrels

Li3 Tie3guai3 / depicted with his iron crutches and his bottle gourd from which a bat is seen escaping; he is the sick beggar.

Lü3 Dong4bin1 / depicted with a sword. He had to paint a bar to pay his debts; he is represented with a well known to produce wine and with two dancers or two dancing cranes.

Zhang1 Guo3lao3 / depicted as a bat, a white ass, holding a long bamboo cane or two drumsticks with a phoenix’ feather or a peach.

Zhong1 Li2quan2 / depicted with a fan (or a feather duster) to bring the dead back to life, his stomach bare; he discovered the philosopher’s stone.

5 – The 5 sacred mountains – Ch. / wu3yue4– of China representing the 5 directions (p 98 - stone)

/ Tai2shan1 in / Shan1dong1 for the East / Heng2shan1 in / Hu2nan2 for the South / Song1shan1 in / He2nan2 for the Centre / Huang2shan1 in / Shan1xi1 for the West / Heng2shan1 in / Shan1xi1 for the North

6 – The 5 elements (p 105 - fire)

Wood

= East

= Blue

Fire

= South

= Red

Earth

= Centre = Yellow

Metal

= West

= White

Water

= North

= Black

7 – The 12 Gods of Olympus (p 120 - God)

Roman

Greek

God / Goddess

Apollo

Phoebus

God of the Sun, Parnassus and Arts

Ceres

Demeter

Goddess of ploughing

Diane

Artemis

the Moon, Goddess of hunting

Juno

Hera

the Queen

Jupiter

Zeus

God of the Kings, Father of men

Mars

Ares

God of war

Mercury

Hermes

God of science and trade, of thieves

Minerva

Athene

Goddess of wisdom

Neptune

Poseidon

God of the sea

Vulcan

Hephaestus

God of fire and metal

Venus

Aphrodite

Goddess of beauty and love

Vesta

Hestia

Goddess of the hearth

ANNEXE II

Abbreviations

*

See the article showing this sign

Ch.

Chinese, according to the pinyin alphabet or Chinese Phonetic Alphabet

Cor.

Corinthian (Bible)

E.

English

Eccl.

Ecclesiastes (Bible)

Etw.

Etwas = something

Ex.

Example

G.

German

Gen.

Genesis (Bible)

i.e.

Id est = that is

Is.

Isaac (Bible)

Jr

Jeremiah (Bible)

J’m/n Jemandem, jemanden = somebody Mal.

Malachi (Bible)

Nomb. Numbers (Bible) Prov.

Proverbs (Bible)

Qch

Quelque chose = something

Qn

Quelqu’un = someone

S.o.

Someone

Wfw

Word for word

Brief bibliography

Brewer’s dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Cassell, London 1981 Chinese – French dictionary, Editions du Centenaire, Beijing 1991 French – German Dictionary, Bertaux & Lepointe, Hachette 1962 German – French Dictionary, Bertaux & Lepointe, Hachette 1962 Harrap’s shorter dictionary French – English, English - French, Bordas 1980 Jerusalem Holy Bible, Editions Desclée De Brouwer 1970 Times dictionary of Chinese symbols, Wolfram Eberhard, Federal publications 1996