INGUSH AND PROVERBS ALPH. MARTETTE Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN Ex Libris K. OGDE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS WITH CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES ALPHONSE MARIETTE FELLOW AND EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF FRENCH LITERATURE AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON J FORMERLY FRENCH EXAMINER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (LOCAL BOARD), TO ETON COLLEGE, QUEEN'S COLLEGE LONDON, THE CHARTERHOUSE, CHELTENHAM COLLEGE, ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL, ETC. ETC. ; EXAMINER TO THE SOCIETY OF ARTS Xate jfrencb 'Cutoir to TEbeu- 1Roy>al IMgbnesees an& H>ucbe0s of IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I LIBRAIRIE HACHETTE ET C IE LONDON: 18 KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. PARIS . 79 BOULEVARD ST. GERMAIN 1896 [All rights reserved] Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. At the Ballantyne Press BY SPECIAL GRACIOUS PERMISSION TO THEIR T{OYAL HIGHNESSES THE ^UKE AND T)UCHESS OF YORK In grateful remembrance of much condescension and kindness received, and as a humble token of the gratitude and profound respect of their most loyal servant ALPH. MARIETTE. 105065O PREFACE AN Italian proverb declares that a man has lived to no purpose unless he has either built a house, begot- ten a son, or written a book. I have not fulfilled the first of these requisites, and hope never to do so, although I have unfortunately done, several times over, the next most foolish thing, buying a house for other people to live in. As to the second qualification that constitutes a useful life, I am thankful to say I have done my fair share of parental duty ; nor am I a novice in book-making. Here I am again, how- ever, anxious to fulfil once more the third requisite of the Italian axiom, once more trying to make myself useful in my generation within my very humble means. Having for many years acted as examiner in several of the highest and largest schools and colleges in England, and having been privileged to conduct for no less than forty years without interruption the French examinations of that most excellent institution, the Society of Arts, whose educational work, to say no- thing of its other high pursuits, supplies one of the noblest specimens of English self-government, I have naturally had ample opportunities of noticing the utter ignorance of the English student in the matter of French idioms and proverbs an ignorance which is more than equalled, I grieve to say, by that of nearly the whole of the French community as to the niceties I had almost said the most simple features of the English language. Vlll PREFACE I have therefore thought it right to do my best in the way of helping to fill up such a gap, and to create an interest in that practical direction. And I may add that these little volumes are emphatically a work of love, prompted by a genuine desire to contribute their small share to the more complete understanding be- tween the two countries for which they are intended. Whatever friction, under the baneful impulse of that unamiable lady, Madame la Politique, may now and then arise on trifling matters, which can hardly be altogether avoided between two countries that have so many points of contact, it is my fervent prayer that there may never again occur any serious outbreak of hostility between the land of my birth and deep affec- tion on the one hand, and, on the other, the home of most of my kindest friends, that glorious land of liberty, where I have had many opportunities, during a very long residence, of admiring a matchless sense of virility, and the steadfast pursuit of all that makes life honourable, and social intercourse genial and healthy. I am satisfied that to bring about a closer feeling of mutual respect between these two great nations, now that their destinies happily rest with themselves, and are no longer in the hands of arbitrary rulers, there is no agency so potent or so direct as a thorough know- ledge of each other's language, and of that national idiosyncrasy which is chiefly manifested in the popular dialect. I therefore consider the supply of any contri- bution to such knowledge as worthy of one's best efforts. And here I would remark that I have fre- quently noticed on either side of the Channel that an acquaintance, however imperfect, with the language of the people " over the way " was uniformly accompanied by a tendency to judge fairly and kindly of that people. Many of the barriers that formerly divided the PREFACE IX nations of this world have long ago been partly, when not altogether, removed, so as to facilitate an inter- course profitable to all. But the ignorance of one another's language still remains a most serious obstacle to a full and free intercourse. It therefore behoves all friends of peace and progress to do their best to diminish such ignorance every man according to his means. It is time, indeed, considering the material improvements accomplished on all sides, that the per- nicious effects of the Tower of Babel were less keenly felt. This little work of mine is, so to speak, a stone which I venture to throw with my feeble hands at that historical monument of too long standing. That the idiomatic knowledge of a living language is of paramount importance no one will deny. Indeed, it is so self-evident that there is no need for me to dwell at length on the subject. But it must be ad- mitted, at the same time, that this idiomatic phraseo- logy is fraught with difficulties, and that its perfect mastery can only be the reward of a long and laborious study. As long as the same thoughts are clothed in the same forms in both English and French, it is an easy matter to pass from the one to the other, by simply exchanging the corresponding terms supplied by the dictionary ; but the difficulty begins the moment the plain, straight highroad common to both is left, and the two part company to deviate into different bye- paths of their own, along which they are driven by their national genius farther and farther away from each other. Then it is that the difficulties begin, and that the perplexed learner requires guidance. As a matter of fact, the two languages tend more and more to assume special forms of their own in other words, to be idiomatic. Certain it is that in the last century to go no farther back they ran in much more parallel lines, and resembled one another in their general con- struction much more than has been the case throughout X PREFACE this nineteenth century; and I well recollect that on my first visit to England, a great many years ago, I was struck by the marked contrast between elderly people and the younger generation in the character of their respective forms of speech, by which I mean the turn of their phrases and the words they used. To my foreign eyes and ears the older school wrote and spoke a plain, straight language, thoroughly " classical," and therefore easily intelligible to an educated outsider a language which reminded me of Hume, of Gibbon, of Johnson, and that generation; whilst, on the con- trary, the younger writers and speakers affected the Saxon tongue, and aimed at a form of style more graphic, at all events more sui generis shall I say more insular ? A similar movement, with at least equal intensity, has taken place in France, and it is not too much to say that the English readers would naturally be more at home with such authors as Fenelon, Bernardin de St. Pierre, Montesquieu, Buffon, and Chateaubriand than with Michelet, Hugo, About, and the contributors to the Revue des Deux Mondes. Now I cannot help feeling that both languages have been the gainers by this change, being thereby more lifelike and more true to their time. But this very progress has created new difficulties in the comparative study of the two languages, especially owing to the multiplicity of technical expressions that have sprung from the various new channels of human activity which continue to distinguish our age. Such considerations point forcibly to the need of special study and of special guidance. It is a guidance of this kind that I venture to offer in the present work. If it should contribute, in ever so slight a degree, to check the ignorance I have made bold to allude to, I shall be deeply thankful. But the " modern " teachers on either side must put vigorously their shoulders to PREFACE XI the wheel. Let them bear kindly with an experienced veteran of their own honourable army who ventures to remind them that the modern language they undertake to teach is not like a placid, lifeless lake, confined for ever within its narrow banks, but an overflowing river, full of life, of motion, and of change. They should feel at home in both countries in point of spirit they should feel at home in both languages in point of idiomatic knowledge. No man can teach at all what he does not know thoroughly, and no man can teach well what he does not love sincerely a twofold truism which I am sure the great Dr. Arnold of Rugby would have cordially endorsed. This leads me to mention a small episode of my personal experience bearing on that very point. Several years ago, a valuable French mastership be- came vacant in a London Public School. No less than 253 candidates of different nationalities presented themselves, and no wonder : the post was relatively excellent, the salary high, the work easy and pleasant under the model of headmasters. The letters of appli- cation and the testimonials in support formed a huge pile. The governors appealed to me for help. I was bold enough to consent at all risks to examine the titles and credentials of these 253 applicants, with a view to recommending for the governors' final choice the three whom I should consider the most eligible. I may observe here, en passant, that nowhere out of liberal, high-minded England could a foreigner receive so flattering a mark of confidence, in striking contrast with the modus operandi of the fussy, self-sufficient, autocratic Continental officials; whilst, in justice to the 250 rejected candidates, it is only fair to state that not one of them entered a protest against my verdict, and, in fact, I am yet alive to tell the tale. But I come to the main point. Among many curious samples of Franco-English composition that this laborious inspec- Xll PREFACE tion brought to light, I was struck by the English wording of a testimonial written on behalf of a certain candidate. It was signed by a French gentleman who has lived all his life in England, and has even obtained high distinction from the French Government, presum- ably for his services in the propagation of the French language among English people ! " I know Mr. ," the testimonial stated, " since he lives in Eng- land " (sic), which, of course, was intended to translate : " Je connais M. depuis qu'il habite 1'Angleterre/ i.e., " I have known Mr. since he came to live in England ; " but the worthy linguist nai'vely declared, " I know Mr. , because he lives in England." Here we have a distinguished teacher who was sadly at fault in a simple matter of idiom. One might well tell him, " Doctor, first cure thyself." I venture to give it, as an incontrovertible axiom, that no Frenchman can teach French properly to English people, nor can an Englishman teach English successfully to French people, unless each of them knows both languages idiomatically; for the teaching of either language must be a matter of constant comparison. While on this subject, I might also allude to that worthy English lady who one day accosted me at the Botanical Gardens with this exclamation : " Oh, M. M., nion mari vous regarde partout." A very comical confusion between to look for and to look at. But I think I have suffi- ciently proved my point, and have so far shown the necessity of special attention to the niceties of idiomatic construction. The present little work, however, whose raison d'etre I believe I have so far justified in the matter of idioms, deals also with proverbs. Now, I am sure the introduction of proverbs into its pages requires no apology at my hands ; they are uni- versally popular from our Western countries to the far East, and have ever been so from the days of Solomon PREFACE Xlll and Aristotle downwards. It may be said that they stand by themselves, and so far differ from idioms, as not only are they older, but they have a more international and more cosmopolitan character, although doubtless their special wording may occasionally bear the stamp of the idiosyncrasy of a special people. Many of the greatest writers have used them freely ; they are the embodiment of popular philosophy, and, on this account, the special favourites of moralists. Philosophy, it is true, may be said to have, like medi- cine, more drugs than remedies ; and I readily concede that, for instance, Job-like resignation, under the strokes of adversity, is a matter of innate temperament rather than the result of training. But still the fact remains that the timely apposite quotation of a time- honoured maxim or popular saying is calculated to point a moral or adorn a tale. Anyhow the graphic preciseness of a proverb imparts at once force and colouring to the spoken or written language ; whilst in many cases, as it has been judiciously remarked, its peculiar form or turn affords an interesting insight into the characteristic features of the nation that has originated such a proverb, or dressed it up in a fashion of its own ; and, from this point of view, an intimate knowledge of our neighbours' favourite sayings paves the way to a more perfect acquaintance with their manners and tone of mind. Nor can it be honestly contended, as some have presumed to do, that proverbs are an ungenteel form of speech ; for without venturing to bring in the most sacred authors, it is enough to say that proverbs have found favour with such master-minds as Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rabelais, Montaigne, Moliere, and La Fontaine. The most genial writers have certainly proved the most inclined to use them. It is true Malherbe denounces the use of proverbs as rather too familiar. But Malherbe, we know, was a stickler for XIV PREFACE nobility of language, and we naturally find in the same school Ronsard and his friends of the Pleiade, who would, of course, shun any form of popular expression. They can boast, however, of a multitude of champions arrayed on the opposite side. From an early period our trouveres and troubadours were very partial to proverbs, as were our most serious-minded writers of the Middle Ages, moralists or chroniclers. We even find the dignified Chancellor Gerson, in the time of Charles VI., making occasional use of them. As much may be said of the graceful and amiable Duke Charles of Orleans. Villon, under Louis XL, introduced them freely in his light verses, and they fully maintained their popularity in the next century the sixteenth under the court poet, Clement Marot, and his imitators, until the movement got checked by Ronsard, the Pleiade, and Malherbe, who, as I just remarked, showed themselves too anxious, on the morrow of the Renaissance, for the classical dignity of the French language to admit of so popular an element as pro- verbs. Rabelais, however, in the first half of the sixteenth century, had frequently quoted popular say- ings, and Shakespeare in his turn gave many of them the sanction of his genius, whilst Cervantes (who, by a strange coincidence, died the same day as his English rival in glory, the 23rd April 1616) also regarded proverbs with special affection. Again, Montaigne, another master-mind and most original thinker of the same period, may be mentioned as among their warm partisans. Nor have Corneille and Racine scrupled to introduce them in their famous comedies of Le Men- teur and Les Plaideurs. As to La Fontaine, MolieYe, and Boileau, I have quoted them freely in the course of this work, and, coming near our time, I have also largely borrowed from Destouches, about whom I remember reading not long ago a statement from M. Francisque Sarcey, that from his Glorieux alone one PREFACE XV could count more than fifty lines that have become everyday proverbs. Surely the favourable verdict and practical approval of such an array of wise men and profound thinkers of all ages and nations may well outbalance the ostracism of a few pedantic reformers, and the hostility of a flippant eighteenth - century Chesterfield. And now I must leave these little volumes to plead their own cause, and make their way into the world. Should they prove themselves useful, and tempt the public on both sides of the Channel to turn their leaves frequently over, my object in launching them will be fulfilled. Happily for them, they have the rare good fortune of coming out under the most kind and gracious patronage of two noble representatives of an illustrious House, who do honour to the mighty Empire over whose destinies they will in due time, under the ordeals of a Divine Providence, be called upon to preside. ALPH. MARIETTE. Villa Mariette- Pacha, RUEIL-PARIS, January 1896. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS A. // ne salt ni A ni B = He is a rank ignoramus. C'est un homme marque a VA * = He is a superior man, out of the common. Renvoyer quelqu'un a FA, B, C=To accuse some one of ignorance. Oetait a soixante ans nous mettre a FA^ B, C : Voyez pour tout un corps quel affront c'eut etc ! = [REGNARD, Le Legalaire.} It was tantamount to sending us back to school at 60 years of age. You may judge what an insult it would have been to the whole corporation. JV'en tre qu'a t'A, B, C (Tune science = To have only very elementary notions of a science. Un arbre a fruit A fruit-tree. Une machine a vapeur = A steam-engine. Un chapeau a larges bords = A hat with broad brims. Un homme a etroits prejuges ; a r intelligence cultivee = A man with narrow prejudices; with a cultivated intellect. Dhumanite n'esf pas le bauf a courte haleine, Qui trace a pas egaux son si lion dans la plaine, Et revient ruminer sur un sillon pareil = [LAMARTINE, Harmonies.] The human race is not the ox with short breath, * C'est tin homme marque a /'//=An old proverbial expression, less commonly used at the present time, conveying an allusion to the coinage of French money which in the Paris mint is marked A, and is supposed to be of better metal than any other. VOL I. A 2 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS who with ever equal steps cleaves his furrow in the plain, and returns to ruminate over a like furrow. Un mot a nous deux = Now, to business. Let us settle that matter between us. C'est a vous aparler=\\. is your turn to speak. [To be distinguished from : C'est a vous -DKparler=\t is your duty to speak.] C'est a vous d'etre prudent = It behoves you to act with caution. Vous avez encore une bonne heure a vous You have still a full hour before you. A r entendre = By what he says. De la Grece deja vous vous rendez rarbitre : Ses rots, a vous ou'ir, m'ont pare d'un vain titre = [RACINE, Iphigenie.] Over Greece you sit already as an arbiter; Her kings, if we are to listen to you, have adorned me with a shallow title. A ce queje vois - By what I see. C'etait a qui en aurait = They all wanted to have some. C'est d qui lui fera le meilleur accueil r =They all vie in welcoming him. C'est a d'esesperer= It is enough to make one despair. C'est a croire que la betise humaine a des profondeurs encore insondees = It would lead one to believe that human stupidity remains unfathomable. ' Abattement // etait dans rabattement= He was much depressed. Abattre. Cela abattra son orgueil=\i will humble his pride. Cela lui abattit aussitot son caquet = That silenced him at once. // abat de la besogne = He gets quickly through a great deal of work. Petite pluie abat grand vent = Little strokes fell great oaks. Abois. tre aux abois To be at bay, to be reduced to extremity. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 3 Mais souvent dans ce style, un rimeur aux abois Jette la, de depit, la flute et le hautbois = [BoiLEAU, Art Poetique.} But often, in this kind of composition, a rhymer at his wits' end throws aside in disgust the flute and the hautboy. Abondance. Berry er parlait generalement d'abondance Berryer generally spoke extempore. Abondance de biens ne nuit pas= Store is no sore. En ai-je bu de Fabondance en pension, je ne vous dis que fa /* = Didn't I drink weak wine-and-water at school, that's all ! Abonder. -J' abonde parfaitement dans votre sens = I share your opinion unreservedly. Abord. II est d'un abord difficile = He is not easy of access. D 1 abord; tout d' abord; de prime abord = At first ; from the very first. Aborder. // faut aborder la question de front = The question must be entered into boldly. Les memes affaires, selon qu* elles sont Men ou malabordees, peuvent egalement finir par une collision sanglante ou par un eclat de rire = The same affairs, according as they are well or badly met, may equally end by a bloody collision or a burst of laughter. Aboutir. Ou aboutit cette route 1 = Where does this road lead to ? Ou aboutit tout ce que vous dites ? = What is the drift of your discourse ? Les pourparlers riont pas abouti=T\\Q parleys came to nothing. Abri. Mettez-vous a l^abri-Goi under shelter. Personne n'est a I'abri des coups de la fortune = No one is proof against the strokes of adversity. Abstraction. Abstraction faite des frais preliminaires = Putting aside the preliminary expenses. * Abondance is a technical term applied by French schoolboys to their customary beverage of wine and water, possibly intended to ex- press the abundant proportion of water in that innocuous mixture. 4 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Abuser. C'est vraiment abuser de la bonte des gens = It is really to take advantage of people's good nature. s' Abuser. Vous vous abusez = You are mistaken. Accornrnodernent. Us en vinrent a un accommodement = They came to terms. Un mechant accommodement vaut mieux que le meilleur proces = A bad arrangement is better than the best lawsuit. s'Accommoder. // s'en accommode trls-bien = It suits him very well. Ilfaut s'accommoder aux circonstances = One must bend to circumstances. Accornpagnernent. Accompagnement a grand orchestre = A full accompaniment. Accompagner. Permettez-moi de vous accompagner chez vous Permit me to see you home. Accord. -fen demeure d''accord= I grant it. D'un commun accord= By common consent. D' accord, soit= Granted, be it so. Sommes-nous d 1 accord = Is it a bargain ? Votre violon riestpas d' accord = Your violin is not in tune. Mettez, pour me jotter, vos flutes mieux d 1 accord = [MOLIERE, L 1 Etourdi.] Concoct your plans together better if you want to take me in. De tous nos defauts, celui dont nous demeurons le plus aisement d' accord, C'est la paresse = [LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.] Of all our faults, idleness is the one that we most readily acknowledge. s'AcCOrder. Us s'accordent comme chat et chien - They lead a cat and dog life. Accouchement. Hopital des accouchements = Lying-in hospital. Accouchement avant terme = Premature confinement. Accroc. Us ont fait un accroc aux reglements = They have taken liberties they have played fast and loose with the regulations. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 5 Accroche-cceur. Un accroche-cxur = A heart-breaker. s'Accrocher. Un homme qui se noie s'accroche a tout= A drowning man catches at a straw. Accroire. Lui en fait-on accroire 1 = Don't they impose on his credulity? Ce petit monsieur s'en fait j aliment accroire = That little gentleman is dreadfully conceited. Accueil. On lui fait toujours bon accueil= He is always kindly received. Acculer. Us Font accule a une demission forc'ee = They drove him into an unwilling resignation. Accusation. // a etc mis en accusation devant un tribunal special= He was arraigned before a special court. La cour a prononce la mise en accusation The court found a true bill. Accuse. Un accuse de recep tion = An acknowledgment. Traits bien accuses, contours bien accuses = Well marked out features, outlines in striking relief. Albert Sorel est un historien qui excelle a representer les grandes scenes d'un trait vigoureux et d'un relief accuse = [H. MICHEL.] Albert Sorel excels as an historian to bring out great scenes with a vigorous portraiture' and a bold relief. Accuser. -J'ai fhonneur de vous accuser reception de votre lettre et de la pihe qui r accompagnait ~ I have the honour to acknowledge your letter and its enclosure. s'Acharner. // s'acharne a la musique =~K.Q, is mad for music. A r e vous acharnez pas tant - Do not be so fierce. Acheter. Si tu achetes ce dont tu n'as pas besoin, tu ne tarderas pas a vendre ce qui fest necessaire = If you buy what you don't want, you may not be long to sell what you cannot do without. Je Vai achete a vil prix I bought it for a mere song. Je ne veux point acheter chat en poche = I will not buy a pig in a poke. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Vous etes-vous mis dans la tete que Leonard de Pour- ceaugnac soit un homme a acheter chat en poche 1 = [MOLlfcRE.] Did you take it into your head that L. de Pour- ceaugnac was a man to buy a pig in a poke ? Achev. C'est un comedien acheve = 'He is a consummate actor. C'est une beaute achevee She is a perfect beauty. Achoppement. Pierre d* achoppement = Stumbling-block. A-COUp. Ce n'esf ni par la "violence, ni par de brusques a-coups quon a chance d'ameliorer le monde, si mal fait qdil puisse paraitre = [F. MAGNARD.] It is neither by violence nor by abrupt jerks that one may perchance improve the world, let it appear ever so ill-conditioned. Acquis. Un point acquis a la discussion = A point so far settled, out of dispute. Cefait est acquis a I histoire = That fact is acknowledged by all historians. Bien mal acquis ne profite jamais = Ill-gotten goods never thrive. Acquit. Par maniere d' 'acquit = For form's sake. Pour f acquit de ma conscience = For the satisfaction of my conscience. Pour acquit = Paid. Acte. -Je prends acte de votre promesse = I take note of your promise. Nos innombrables fonctionnaires se contentent trop souvent de faire acte de presence a leurs bureaux = Our innumerable officials are too often satisfied with merely putting in an appearance at their offices. Expedition d'un acte = Copy of a deed. Acte de bapteme, de mariage = An official certificate of baptism, of marriage. Actif. // a d'excellents etats de service a son actif= He holds to his credit the record of an honourable career. He holds excellent certificates. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 7 Actuel. Le gouvernement actuel = The present [not actual] government. Actuellement. // est actmllement en voyage = He is travelling just now [not actually]. Addition. Garfon, I' addition / = Waiter, the bill. Adieu.* Sans adieu, jusqrfau revoir I shall soon see you again. Ilfaut que faille leur faire mes adieux = \ must go and take my leave of them. Adieu mes nourrissons, si vous les rencontrez = If you come across my babes, it is all over with them. Adieu paniers, vendanges sont faites = \\. is all over, all is gone to wreck. Admirer. Je vous admire - 1 like your coolness. Adresse. Le paquet est d votre adresse = The parcel is addressed to you. Ce trait etait a votre adresse = The shaft or, hint was intended for you. Tour d' adresse = Legerdemain. s'Adresser. Vous vous adressez mal= You mistake your man. Advenir. Advienne que pourra Happen what may. Affaire. 11 est Men dans ses affaires = He is in good cir- cumstances. II fait de trh bonnes affaires He is doing very well. Les affaires ne vont pas, ne marchent pas = Trade is dull. // est dans les affaires = He is in business. II fait des affaires d?or= He is making a fortune. Au point ou en sont les affaires - As matters stand. Ce n 'est pas une affaire It is a very simple matter. * Adieu = A. cordial, felicitous word, which was formerly written A Dieu I and stands for : " Je vous recommande a Dieu ! " It generally, however, breathes a spirit of sadness. " Adieu ! mot qu'une larme humecte sur la levre ; Mot qui finit la joie et qui tranche 1'amour ; Mot par qui le depart de delices nous sevre ; Mot que 1'eternite doit effacer un jour ! " LAMARTINE. 8 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS C'est mon affaire. J'en fats won affaire = Leave that to me. A demain les affaires s'erieuses * Let us enjoy our- selves to-day ; business to-morrow. J'ai votre affaire - I have the very thing for you. Cela ne fait pas mon affaire = That does not suit me; that's not what I want. // est homme a se tirer d* affaire = He is one to get on, to succeed. Le medecin esp^re qu'il se tirera d 1 affaire = The doctor hopes he will pull through. Voila une affaire faite, badee = r T\&.\. is something done. Vous avez fait la une belle affaire I - You have got into a sad scrape. Melez-vous de vos affaires = Attend to your own business. // a son affaire - He is in for it. Son affaire est claire = It is all over with him. He is done for. // fa menace de lui faire son affaire = He threatened "to do "for him. Cela fera-t-il votre affaire ? = Will this do for you ? Vous vous attirerez une mauvatse affaire = You will get into trouble. La belle affaire ! = What of that ? Is that all ? Qui est-ce qui a encore touche a mes affaires ? = Who has again been meddling with my things ? Les chefs veulent surtout que leurs subordonnes evitent les affaires The chiefs are above all anxious that their subordinates should keep clear of scrapes. * A demain les affaires serieuses = This is an historical saying that has become proverbial. We read in Plutarch that Pelopidas and some of his friends having laid a plot (379 B.C. ) to rid their native Thebes of the tyranny of Archias and Leontiades, unexpectedly rushed into that city while the hated "polemarchs" were indulging in a feast, and easily murdered them. Archias had been warned of the impending danger by an Athenian friend who sent him a special message in due time. But being already heavy with wine, he would not even unfold the letter, and throwing it under his pillow : Let us put off business till to-morrow, he exclaimed. His fate was soon sealed, and Plutarch tells us the phrase became frequently quoted among the Greeks. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 9 Ce scandale sera V affaire de huit jours = This scandal will just last a week. // aura affaire a plus fort que lui= He will find his master, more than his match. Mais le moindre grain de mil Serait bien mieux mon affaire = [LA FONTAINE.] But the least grain of millet would answer my pur- pose much better. Voulez-vous qu 1 avec lui je me fasse une affaire ? = [MOLIERE.] Would you have me quarrel with him ? Cest convenu, regie. Done, point d 1 affaire = [COPPEE.] It is agreed, settled. And so, no more about it. Afficher. Afficher du mepris pour . . . = To make an ostentatious show of contempt for ... // a tort d'afficher ainsi ses opinions [or, de s'afficher atnsi]=He is wrong to make such a show of his opinions. Defense d'afficher - Stick no bills. Affront.* Avaler, boire, essuyer un affront '=To pocket an affront. // fait affront a sa famille = He is a disgrace to his family. Sa memoire lui a fait un affront = His memory be- trayed him. Affut. Que de gens sans cesse a I'affiit de la nouveaute ! = How many people are incessantly on the look-out for anything new ! * Essuyer un affront. Apropos of the oddities of the French lan- guage, I have met with this question : " Pourquoi essuie-t-on un affront, et lave-t-on une injure ? " I may add : Why do we say indifferently, and in a like spirit of praise, of a departed man, that he leaves behind him, or that he carries away universal regrets? "II laisse des regrets universels," or "II emporte des regrets universels." Surely, what is " left behind " cannot be said at the same time to be " carried away." To the same class of anomalies belongs the apparent inconsistency of " Chercher a prendre le gibier que 1'on chasse." 10 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Age. Bas dge = Infancy. Un homme entre deux ages A middle-aged man. Lafleur de I* age = The prime of life. Tirer sur I' age = To be elderly. // est d'dge a [or, il est en age de~\ savoir se conduire = He is of an age to know how to behave. Le Moyen-Age = The Middle Ages. Agir. Us en ont trh mal agi avec moi ' They used me very ill. s'Agir. De quoi s'agit-il ? = What is the matter? Ce nt est pas de cela qu'ils ) agit= That is not the question. // s'agit d'une forte somme = A large sum of money is at stake. // s'agit de ne pas avoir peur= r T\\Q thing is not to be frightened. Agonie. Elle est a Vagonie = She is on the point of death. Agre"able. Et je vous supplierai d* avoir pour agreable Que je me fasse un peu grace sur votre arret, Et ne me pende pas pour cela, s'il vous plait = [MOLIERE, Le Misanthrope.'} And I shall beg of you not to take it amiss that I should deal leniently with myself regarding your sentence, and [should not hang myself for that, if you please. Agr^ments. Les arts d'agrements se patent a part = Accomplishments are charged for separately. AguetS. Nous etions aux aguets = We were on the look-out. Aider. Aide-tot, le del t'aidera = [LA FONTAINE.] Aydez-vous settlement, et Dieu vous aydera = [REGNIER.] Just help yourself, and God will help you. Aigre. La discussion menafait de tourner a Vaigre = The discussion threatened to become bitter. Aiguille. De fil en aiguille = From one talk to another. Disputer sur la pointe d'une aiguille = To quarrel about a pin, about a straw. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS II Aile. Us ne battent plus que d^une aile = They are almost done for, ruined. // en a dans I' aile = He is caught // en tirera pied ou aile = He will get a snack out of it. // peut maintenant voler de ses propres ailes He can now shift for himself. Aimer. Qui aime bien chcttie bien = Spare the rod and spoil the child. Celui qui bien faict a quelqvtun Vaime mieux qu'il rien est aime = [MONTAIGNE.] He who does good to some one feels more love for him than he gets back. Quand on ria pas ce que I' on aime, il faut aimer ce que I'on a - When we have not what we like, we must like what we have. Aimez qu'on vous conseille, et non pas qu'on vous loue = [BOILEAU.] Prefer advice to praise. Air. Elle a /'air aimable = She looks amiable. // ne fait pas d'air aujourd'hui = It is very close to-day. Un discours en Fair Idle talk. Vous etes dans un courant d'air = You are in a draught. // a cinquante ans, mat's il n'en a pas Fair= He is fifty, but he does not look it. On a I' age qu'on a Fair d } 'avoir = One is just the age one looks. Cela en a tout Pair=\\. looks uncommonly like it. Us ont tous un air de famille = There is a family like- ness in them all. // a un faux air de son cousin = He has a slight re- semblance to his cousin. La maison etait tout en l'air= The house was in con- fusion. D'un air entendu = With a knowing look. Aise. Vous en parlez bien a votre aise = It is easy for you to speak so ; it is all very well for you to say so. Nos administrations publiques en prennent vraiment trop a leur aise avec les contribuables qui les patent : = Our 12 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Civil Service people are really too much off-hand with the tax-payers who support them. Us ne sont pas riches, mats Us sont a leur aise = They are not rich, but they are in easy circumstances. Vous fumerez a rotre aise, quand vous serez dans la rue You will smoke as much as you please when you are in the street. Allemand. Une querelle d* Allemand* = A quarrel without rhyme or reason. * Une querelle d' Allemand. The students of German universities are notoriously quarrelsome, and there is a more or less well-grounded impression that the German people are apt to be noisy, and perhaps bellicose in their cups. But for aught I have seen in Germany, they are not worse than other nations, and the only fault I for one would presume to find with them on the score of temper is that they are rather apt to misunderstand a joke, and to take offence at imaginary wrongs. For the rest, they certainly are a very great and honourable community, and they have nobly played their part in the cause of civilisa- tion. I am fully satisfied that the expression Une querelle d'-Allemand is an unmerited aspersion, and, as a matter of fact, I side with those who see a mere corruption of language in this popular phrase, the origin of which is plausibly accounted for as follows: During the 1 3th and I4th centuries, there lived in the Dauphiny, about the mountainous tract that extends between the rivers Drac and Isere, a very powerful and extensive family of the name of Alleman. These mighty and closely-united feudal lords formed among themselves a very strong confederacy, and woe to any one who was rash enough to pro- voke and molest any member of the clan. At the call of the offended party, the whole force of the Alleman family, with their numerous retainers, would be brought to bear against the assailant, and from the ardour with which they resented and avenged any family wrong, no matter how trifling the subject, there arose the expression Une querelle d* Alleman an expression as foreign in its spelling as, I trust, in its raison d'etre, to our neighbours across the Rhine. Apropos of this, I would add that international amenities of the kind are but too common. Thus, our English friends are not above using the phrase, "To take French leave," by way of ascribing to us the free and easy practice of doing things without asking the requisite permis- sion a practice which I must say I have never noticed as a feature of the French national character. On the other hand, in the way of retaliation, " Partir a 1'anglaise," i.e., to sneak out of the way, is an expression rather frequently met with in France. Many other samples of such international charity and sense of justice might easily be adduced. Indeed, even between the fellow-subjects of the same commonwealth, as, for instance, between the English on one side and the Scotch or Irish on the other, there is no lack of unamiable innuendoes which have FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 13 Aller. Comment allez-vous ? = How are you ? Je ne vais pas du tout = I am not at all well. Allons ! allons / du courage ! = Come, come, be brave. Tant va la cruche a reau qu'a la fin elle se casse The pitcher goes so often to the well that it gets broken at last. It is a good horse that never stumbles. Allons done! vous plaisantez Nonsense ! you are joking. Allons ! qdon s'apprete Now, let every one get ready. Mais allez done ! = Do go on. Je ne ferai qu'aller et venir = I shall be back presently. Comme vous y allez 1 = You go on at a fine rate. S't'J allait venir / = If he chanced to come ! Vous rty allez pas de main morte = You hit pretty hard. You don't do things by halves. Je n'y vais pas par quatre chemins = I don't mince matters. Le mal va grandissant = The evil keeps increasing. 1} affaire va son train = The affair is progressing. Votrefeu va-t-il Men ? = Does your fire burn well ? II y va de tout cceur = He is very frank and hearty. J' irai aux renseignements = I shall make inquiries. Je ne vais pas contre = \ say nothing to the contrary. Cela va sans dire; cela va de soi=\\. is a matter of course. Cela ne me va pas = That does not suit me. Si cela vous va, nous partirons demain = If agreeable to you, we shall set off to-morrow. Va pour demain = Let it be to-morrow. II y va de votre honneur = Your honour is at stake. Ces deux tableaux vont bien ensemble Those two pic- tures are a good match. Le jaune va bien aux Prunes, et le bleu aux blondes = Yellow suits the dark women, and blue the fair ones. left their mark on the popular language. But I think that with regard to that objectionable form of chauvinism or jingoism, the "record" to use a familiar sporting term of the present day must be conceded to the Spaniards, who convey their contempt for their peninsular neighbours in this emphatic, and I should think most unfounded, utterance : ' ' Take from the Spaniard all his good qualities, and there remains a Portuguese ! " After this, we may, as we say, tirer Vechelle. 14 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Au pis-aller=L,e.t the worst come to the worst. ' Un billet d' alter et retour A return ticket. Qui va doucement va surement = Slow and sure. Allonger. // sait allonger la courroie = He knows how to make small things go a long way. He knows how to make the most of his situation. Allumer. // n'est bois si vert qui ne s'allume = [CLEMENT MAROT.] Where there is a will, there is a way. There is nothing like trying. Allure. Ses allures ne me conviennent pas = His ways do not suit me. Les chases prennent une mauvaise allure = Things do not look promising. Aloi. C'est debon aloi=\\. is of good quality, of the right sort. Alors. Alors meme = Even though. Alors meme que Paris ne serait plus le centre politique, diplomatique et administratif, il res ter ait Paris, c.-a-d. la ville geante, dont la puissance financiere, indus- trielle et commercial depasse celle de beaucoup de nations independantes = Even though Paris were no longer the political, diplomatic, and administrative centre, it would remain Paris, that is to say, the giant-city, whose financial, industrial, and com- mercial power surpasses that of many independent nations. Alors comme alors = M\ in good time. Wait to see what is to be done. Alouette. Ne vous figurez pas que les alouettes vont vous tomber toutes rbties dans la bouche = Don't imagine that larks are going to fall ready roasted into your mouth. Don't expect that a fortune will drop into your mouth. Ambre. II estfin comme rambre=~R& is a shrewd fellow. Ame. -Je n'ai pas trouve ame qui vive = I did not find a living creature in the place. C'est Fame damnee duprefet= He is the prefect's tool. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS I 5 Amende. // a etc mis a I' amende = He got fined. // a du faire amende honorable = He had to make an apology. Amener. Us ont amene t aussitot leur pavilion = They lowered their flag at once. // a toujours le mauvais gout d'amener la conversation sur la politique He has always the bad taste of introducing politics into conversation. Ami. Les amis sont comme les parapluies : On ne les a jamais sous la main quand il pleut = [BANVILLE.] Friends are like umbrellas : You never have them at hand in bad weather. Amiable. Vente a r amiable = Sale by private contract. Un arrangement a V amiable = An amicable arrange- ment. Amitie. Mes amities chez vous = My kind regards to your people. // Va pris en amitie = He took a fancy to him. Amortissement. Caisse d'amorttssement= Sinking fund office. Amour. Amour! amour! quand tu nous tiens, On peut bien dire : Adieu, prudence I = [LA FONTAINE, Fables, iv. i.] When love gets hold of us, one may well say : Fare- well, prudence ! Amuser. // a le talent d'amuser le tapis = He has a peculiar gift of talking the time away. Je vous reponds que je ne me suis pas amuse en route = I lost no time on the way, I can tell you. An. Lejour de Fan = New Year's day. Lan de grace = The year of Our Lord . . . Anno Domini. Bon an, mal an = One year with another. Service du bout de Van Religious service (in Roman Catholic churches) on the anniversary of a death. Je m!en moque comme de Van 40 = I don't care a straw about it. 1 6 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Ancre. -Jeter r ancre ; Lever r ancre = To cast anchor ; To weigh anchor. Chasser sur ses ancres = To drag the anchors. s'Ancrer. // s'est ancre dans cette maison He got a firm footing in that house. Ane. // y a plus d'un ane qui sappelle Martin = There are more Jacks than one. Pour un point [ou, "faute d'un point "] Martin perdit son ane * = A miss is as good as a mile. C'est le pont aux anes = A thing easy to do. A fool knows that. * Faute d"un point Martin perdit son dne. Hereby hangs a strange tale wherein figures a Pope, with a conundrum besides. It is a warning to people who may lose much by want of attention to trifles. This truism is forced on our minds by many proverbial sayings, but the one now before us is perhaps the most direct in its wording, and the most popular to the purpose. It takes us back to the early days of the Church. Abbot Martin, the prior of the Abbey of Azello a place not far from Rome who was a very hospitable man, had instructed a painter to inscribe over the entrance-gate this Latin line Porta, patens esto, nulli claudaris honesto. I assume that all my readers, down to the very youngest, know Latin, but perhaps one or two might say, like Monsieur Jourdain in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, " Oh ! yes, I know Latin, but just do as if I didn't know it, and tell me what it means." Well, it means, " Gate, stand open, and be closed against no honest man." The painter un- luckily made a mess of it, and transposed the comma to the other side of nulli, so that the well-meant hexameter ran thus Porta, patens esto nulli, claudaris honesto. It must be admitted that Abbot Martin was singularly remiss not to have controlled the work of his unclassical painter. Now, it happened that the Pope, being out for a drive, passed that way, and noticing the inscription, was so shocked at its unchristian spirit that the moment he got back in his palace he dismissed the poor prior. Here again, I cannot help feeling that His Holiness was unduly hasty. But then, had Abbot Martin been more careful, and the Pope less hasty, we should have missed a very good story, to which the very name of Martin, and especially that of "Azello" i.e., a donkey gives a peculiar colouring ; for there is no donkey in the case, and one has crept into the saying through a double entente suggested by the twofold meaning of Azello. We are further told that Martin's successor, whilst altering the place FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 17 Conte de Peau d'dne = A child's story. Nul ne salt mieux que fane oft le bat le blesse = Every one knows best where his shoe pinches. Lane de la communaute Est toujours le plus mal bate = One neglects the common interest to attend to one's personal welfare. Ce sont les armoiries de Bourges, un ane dans une chaise = An ignorant man sitting in an arm-chair. // ressemble a Vane de Buridan - He cannot make up his mind. [See BURIDAN further on.] Ange. Elle en etait aux anges = She was in raptures about it. // ecrit cotnme un ange * = He has a splendid hand- writing. Anglais. Partir a Vanglaise = r Vo leave abruptly. \See note on ALLEMAND.] Anguille. // y a quelque anguille sous roche = There is a snake in the grass. Echapper comme une anguille = To slip away like an eel. Ecorcher une anguille par la queue = To begin a thing at the wrong end. Vous voulez rompre V anguille au genou = You attempt an impossibility. Toujours pate d'anguilles = Qr\Q gets tired of repetition, even in the best things. // ressemble aux anguilles de Melun : il crie avant qdon recorche t = He cries before he is hurt. of the obnoxious comma, thought it right to commemorate the event by this additional line Pro puneto solo caruit Martinus Azello. So much by way of showing, as Franklin's " Poor Richard " says, that " a little neglect may breed great mischief." * crire comme un ange. A certain Angelo Vergecio of Corfu made himself famous in the i6th century by the excellence of his Greek cursive writing. Hence this expression, which was extended by analogy, in a flattering sense, to other performers, to wit : "Jouer, parler, danser, chanter ' comme un ange. ' " t // ressemble aux atiguilles de Melun. It is said that a young man of Melun, called Languille, once, in the days of "Mysteries" (1402- VOL. I. IB 1 8 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Annoncer. -Je me suis fait annoncer= I sent in my name. La vendange s'annonce bien = The vintage is very promising. Anse. Cette cuisiniere fait j aliment danserTanse du panier = That cook swells her perquisites most dishonestly, makes dishonest profits out of her purchases. Antan. Les neiges d'antan = The snow of last year [literally, of the year before this]. Je m'en soncie comme des neiges d'antan = I care not in the least for it. Aplomb. II ne manque pas d 'aplomb = He has plenty of assurance. Apothicaire. Un ?nemoire d' apothicaire = A preposterous, extortionate bill. Un apothicaire sans sucre = A chemist with an incom- plete stock. Ap6tre. Nefaites done pas le bon apotre = Don't you pre- tend to be so very good. Tout Picard que fetais,j'etais un bon apotre, Et je faisais claquer mon fouet tout comme un autre [RACINE.] A Picard as I was, I was a jolly good fellow, and I cracked my whip as well as any one else. Apparence. Selon toute apparence=\i\ all probability. Appartenir. A tous ceux qu'il appartiendra \legaf\ = To all those whom it may concern. Appel. // a interjete appel= He has lodged an appeal. 1548), undertook to act in a public performance the part of St. Bar- tholomew, who, as is well known, was skinned alive. When the executioner, however, approached him with a knife in his hand, pre- tending to be about skinning him, Languille got frightened and started off shrieking, a great deal too soon. This caused the spectators to roar with laughter, and the incident would have immortalised the youth, who would have come down to us as the prototype of people who cry before they are hurt, were it not that his name was stript very soon of its identity, and his notoriety got transferred to the eels of his native city even as early as the days of Rabelais, as evidenced by this passage (Book i. chap, xlvii.), " Bren, bren, dit Picrochole, vous semblez les anguilles de Melun : vous criez devant qu'on vous escorche ; laissez les seullement venir." FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 19 App^tit. L'appetit vient en mangeant=Qne shoulder of mutton drives down another. The more one has, the more one wants. // riest chere que dappetit= Hunger is the best sauce. Nous demeurames sur notre appetit^No. stayed upon our appetite ; we had not our fill. Apprendre. a vous apprendra pour une autre fois = It will teach you to know better in future. Je leur apprendrai qui je suis = I will let them know who I am. Ce qu'on apprend au her [i.e. "berceau"], on le retient jusqu'au verWe keep unto our grave the impres- sions and habits of our childhood. Apprenti. Apprenti n'esf pas mciitre = One must not expect perfection from a beginner. You must spoil before you spin. Appui. -Une balustrade a hauteur d'appui=K breast-high balustrade. A Her a I'appui de la boiile = To support an associate's argument [as one would support or push on a part- ner's ball at a game]. Appuyer. Inutile d'appuyer sur cet incident = There is no occasion to lay a stress upon that incident. Aprs. Eh bien ! apres ? = Well then ! what next ? Portrait d* apres nature = Picture to the life. Elle est toujours a crier apres eux = She is perpetually scolding them. Apres la pluie, vient le beau temps = The darkest cloud often has a silver lining. Apres la panse, vient la danse = After feasting, they want to amuse themselves. . Elle a une araignee dans le plafond '= She has a bee in her bonnet Les lois ressemblent a des toiles d' araignee que les grosses mouches crevent, tandis que les petites s'yfont prendre = Justice's net like a spider's web is wrought : Big flies break through, but the little ones are caught. Ses pattes d' araignee sont indechiffrables There is no making out his scrawling hand. 20 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Arbre. II faut plier I'arbre, pendant qu'il est jeune = The tree should be bent while it is but a twig. Ne mettez jamais le doigt entre I'arbre et l'ecorce = Never interfere between man and wife. L'arbre ne tombe pas du premier coup = Everything takes time. Rome was not built in a day. Par le temps qui court, que de gens ont pour maxime de ? attacker au gros de I'arbre / = In these days of ours, how many people make it a rule of conduct to side with the strongest ! 77 s'est toujours tenu au gros de Parbre = The vicar of Bray is the vicar of Bray still. Arc. // a plusieurs cordes a son a?r=He has more than one string to his bow. Argon. // estferme dans les arfons=He sits firm on horse- back. Figuratively : He is true to his principles. // a eu vite vide les arsons = He was soon thrown out of the saddle. Argent. 11 faut qrfil paie argent comptant= He must pay ready money. // ne faut pas prendre tout ce qrfil dit pour argent comptant = You must not take everything he says for gospel. Us depensent un argent fou = They spend no end of money. Oest un bourreau d? argent = He is a spendthrift. Money burns in his pocket. L } argent est court chez eux ; Us sont a court d 'argent '= Money is a scarce commodity with them. II faut que je fasse rentrer cet argent =\ must call in that money. Elle y va bon jeu, bon argent = She is setting about it in earnest. Us sont cousus d' argent = They roll in riches. Argent comptant porte medecine = ~R.ea.&y money is a remedy. Point d'argent, point de Suisse, et ma porte etait close [RACINE, Les Plaideurs.] No money, no Swiss, no paternoster; and my gate was closed. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 21 des armes. Tirer des armes To fence. Arme blanche Bayonet, sword. Arme se chargeant par la gueule = Muzzle-loader. Arme se chargeant par la culasse = Breech-loader. Portez armes I = Shoulder arms ! Presentez armes I Present arms ! Compagnon d* armes = Brother officer. Les armes sont journalieres = The fortune of war is fickle. Arme*e. Les arm'ees de terre et de mer=The land and naval forces. Arpenter. // arpentait le terrain = He was making rapid strides. d'Arrache-pied. -Je travaille d*arrache-pied=\ work in- cessantly. s'Arracher. On se rarrache = tie is extremely popular. It is in great demand. Arracheur. II ment comme un arracheur de dents = He lies like a mountebank. s' Arranger. Arrangez-vous comme vous pourrez,je ne m'en mele plus = Settle the matter between yourselves just as you can, I will not have anything more to do with it. // ne sait pas J arranger = He does not know how to set to work. Arret. Arret de mort= Sentence of death. Mandat darret= Warrant. Mettre aux arrets = To place under arrest. Lever les arrets = To release from arrest. Arreter. Ilfaut arreter des mesures energiques = We must resolve on energetic measures. Le marche est arrete = The bargain is concluded. J 'at arrete un domestique = I have hired a servant. fat arrete ma place = I have secured, booked, my place. S* Arreter. Ne vous arretez pas a ce que disent ces gens-la = Don't pay any attention to what those people may say. Arriver. // arrivera = He will make his way in the world. 22 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Arrive que pourra = Come what may. Que cela ne vous arrive plus = Don't do that again. En arriver la, c'est Men trtsfe = r Tha.t matters should come to this is very sad. Un malheur n arrive jamais seut=One misfortune never comes alone. Article. // est a r article de la mort= He is on the point of death Jn articulo mortis. Elle sait faire V article = She knows how to puff her goods. Assaut. La citadelle fut emportee d'assaut=The citadel was carried by storm. Us ont fait assaut de prevenances = They vied with each other in kind attentions. S* Assembler. Qui se ressemble s'assemMe= Birds of a feather flock together. Assez. En voila assez = This will do. Suis-je assez tracass'e ! Could I be more worried ! On ri*en a jamais assez = Much would have more. Assiette.* -Je ne suis pas dans mon assiette aujourd'hui= I feel out of sorts to-day. 1} assiette des impots = r Yhe assessment of taxes. Cest un pique-as siette = He is a parasite, a sponger. Cela fait pitie de voir comme quoi presque tout le monde * Assiette has no etymological connection with asseoir, and, accord- ing to Diez and other high authorities, it is not primarily derived from ad situm, as stated by Littre, who defines the word, " Une maniere de se poser, d'etre pose." Like the Proven9al assieto, arrangement, and the Italian assetto, adjustment, it is to be traced to a verb assettare, to arrange, to distribute, to place one's guests round a table ; and in fassiette de I'imp8t y the assessment of taxes, the word is used in its literal and original sense. Subsequently it expressed situation, and then it came to designate the plate or plateau which marked the place assigned to each guest at a banquet. Assettare, which in Italian also means to carve, i.e. to do the honours at table, is probably derived from assecare (supine, assec(uni), to cut up ; this etymology is supported by the old spelling assiecte. Let us add that this connection between assiette and the idea of a plateau or tailloir is corroborated by the analogy between the Dutch word for plate, taljoor, teljoor, and the French verb tattler, Low Latin taliorium, Italian tagliere. MARIETTE'S Edition of COFFEE'S Le Tn'sor, p. 41. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 23 maintenant veut sa part de I'assiette au beurre = It is lamentable to see how nearly every one nowadays wants his share of the good things in the gift of the Government. Assoupir. E affaire a etc assoupie = The affair was hushed up. Attacher. Attacker le grelot=To bell the cat. Atteindre. // esf atteint (fun eresfptte = H.e suffers from an erysipelas. Atteinte. La mort n'a pas porte atteinte a fxuvre si heureusement commencee = Death has not interfered with, has not compromised, the work so happily begun. Atteler. Faites atteler= Have the horses put to. Attendre. Nous attendons du monde = We expect com- pany. No us les attendons = We are waiting for them. Ne vous faites pas attendre =\}QV?\. keep people waiting. Je P attends la - I'll have him there. Tout vient a point a qui sait attendre = Patience brings all things about. s' Attendre. -Je ne nUattendais guere a cela = I hardly expected that. On peut s 1 attendre a tout, surtout a I'inattendu = One may expect anything in this world, especially the unexpected. Ne f attends qrfa toi seul, c'est un commun proverbe Rely only upon thyself, that is a common saying. s'Attirer. Vous vous attirerez des affaires, des desagrements = You will get yourself into scrapes. Attraper. Bienfin quipourrait Fattraper It would take a sharp fellow to get the better of him. Attrapel c'est bien fait = Well done ! take that; serves you right. Aubaine. C'est une fameuse aubaine = \i is a wonderful piece of good luck. Audience. Audience a huis clos = K sitting with closed doors [in old French, huis\ 24 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Aujourd'hui.* Aujourd'hui en huit, en quinze = This day week, this day fortnight. Aujourd'hui en chere, demain en Mere = To-day feasting, to-morrow dying. Aujourd'hui chevalier, demain vacher = r To-&a.y up in the world [as a knight], to-morrow down in a stable [as a cowkeeper] ; to-day powerful and honoured, to-morrow poor and despised. Aujourd'hui marie, demain marri To-day full of joy over the wedding, to-morrow full of disappointment with the bad choice made. Aujourd'hui en fleurs, demain en pleurs = To-day in a shower of flowers, to-morrow in a flood of tears. Un bon aujourd'hui vaut mieux que deux demain = One to-day is worth two to-morrows. Aune. Chacun sait ce qu'en vaut I'aune = Every one knows all about it to his cost. // mesure les autres a son aune = He measures other people's corn by his own bushel. Les hommes ne se mesurent pas a I' aune = One must not judge of a man's merit by his stature. Au bout de I'aune faut (manque} le drap = Everything has an end ; there are limits to things. // a toujours dix aunes de boyaux vides pour feter ses bons amis He can always raise an appetite to feast with his friends. He is ever ready to eat. Tout du long de I'aune = Excessively. Oest v'eritablement la tour de Ba,bylone ; Car chacun y babille, et tout le long de Faune = It is truly the tower of Babylon ; for they all chatter away there, " by the yard." Auprs. // estfort bien, dit on, auprh du ministre = They say he is in favour with the minister. * AujourcThui, a compound of au, jour, a#/= You go too far ahead. II va cranement de V avant = He goes pluckily forward. Avant peu = Before long. Avec. Avec fa ! [familiar] = I dare say. Avec fa, que ses menaces me font peur = Rubbish ! do you think his threats frighten me ? Avec fa, que les autres rien font pas autant=]ust as if other people did not do the same. Avenant. Le reste etait a ravenant=The remainder was in keeping. s'Aventurer. Qui ne Javenture perd cheval et mule = Nothing venture, nothing have. Qui trop s'aventure n'a ni cheval, ni mule = Venture all, lose all. Averti. Un bon averti en vaut deux Forewarned, fore- armed. Aveu.* Des gens sans aveu = Vagabonds. * In feudal times a new vassal had to make an avowal by which he acknowledged having received such or such lands from the lord of the manor. This was called " Rendre un aveu." Hence the disparaging expression, Un homme sans aveu, which was applied to a man who had not the means of holding such property ; and in the course of time, this expression, originally purely legal, became opprobrious. 28 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Aveilgle. Vous criez comme un aveugle qui a perdu son baton = You cry like a child who misses his rattle. Avis. Deux avis valent mieux e='H.e was laughing in his sleeve. Je le lui at dit a sa barbe=\ told him so to his face. II faut que je me fasse la barbe = I must shave. Je n' at pas voulu qitil me fit la barbe=\ did not wish to be outdone by him. Barbier. Un barbier rase t'autre = C\a.w me, claw thee. Barque. // conduit adroitement sa barque = ^e manages his affairs very well. C'esf elle qui conduit la barque She it is who manages the concern. Barre. C'est deToren barre = It is as good as ready money. Je ne ferai que toucher barres = 1 shall not stop at the place. J'at barres sur lui= I have an advantage over him. Je lui tiendrai bonne barre I shall resist him stoutly. Bas.* II est parti T oreille basse = He went away crestfallen. // traite son monde de haut en bas= He has a contemp- tuous way of addressing people. * Bas. Low Latin bassus; whence bassesse, baseness ; basse (music), bass ; has, stocking, an abbreviation of bas-de-chattsses, as opposed to haut-de-chausses. It is interesting to note the difference in the relative positions of the adjective has towards the noun to which it is attached. Thus we say: Marcher F oreille basse, tete basse ; faire main basse, to take possession of; parler a voix basse; une messe basse, a low mass (not chanted); inaison basse ; Ante basse, sentiments bas ; terme has ; plaisanterie basse ; avoir la vue basse, to be short-sighted ; la chambre basse, the House of Commons, &c. On the other hand, the adjective comes first in the following : Ce bas monde, this lower world ; basses terres, low lands ; le bas boiit Je la table, the lower end of the table ; basse mer, low tide ; le Bas-Empire, the Lower Empire ; la basse Infinite, the low Latin of the Lower Empire and the Middle Ages ; la basse classe, le bas peuple ; les basses cartes, the small cards ; vendre a bas prix ; etre en bas Age, to be an infant, &c. [MARIETTE'S Edition of COFFEE'S Le Tresor, p. 39.] VOL. J. C 34 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Us firent main basse sur tout= They got hold of every- thing. Us ontmis bas les armes = They surrendered to the enemy. .A bas le tyran != Down with the tyrant ! Chapeau bas I chapeau bas ! Gloire au marquis de Carabas ! [BERANGER.] Hats off ! hats off ! Glory to the Marquis of Carabas ! II y a des hauts et des bas dans la vie There are ups and downs in life. // est bien bas perce = Things are very low with him. He is hard up. Le bonheur ne se trouve nulle part ici-bas = Happiness is nowhere to be found here below. Bas-bleu.* Cette demoiselle est un vrai bas-bleu = This young lady is a regular blue-stocking. Bat. Chacun sait ou le bat le blesse Every one knows best where his shoe pinches ; every one knows the weight of his own burden. Bataille. Bataille rangee Pitched battle. Cest la son grand cheval de bataille = That is his main argument. Bateau. Votre serviteur Gille . . . Arrive en trois bateaux, expris pour vous parler. [LA FONTAINE.] Your servant Gille is coming in great state on pur- pose to speak to you. * Bas-bleu is a nickname commonly given to ladies of exclusively intellectual tastes and pursuits, who are also ungallantly called " strong- minded females." The word bas-bleu originates from England, being a literal rendering of blue stocking, an expression that dates from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1690-1760). This celebrated lady is com- monly credited with its first introduction into the English language, whether she really said, in allusion to a custom she had found at Venice, that any distinguished visitor was welcome to attend her learned reunions even in blue stockings as worn in a certain Venetian circle or whether the name came, as related by the late Professor Philarete Chasles, a great French authority in all English literary matters, from her being once denounced by Alexander Pope (whom she had cruelly snubbed), as wearing blue stockings. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 35 Je me suis vite aperfu qu*il m'avait monte un bateau = I soon perceived that he had told me a story. Baton. -Je travaille a batons rompus= I work by fits and starts. // met toujours des batons dans les roues = He is always raising difficulties, always putting a spoke in the wheel. Tour du baton = Perquisites, illicit profits out of an office or a situation. Batonnier.* 11 est batonnier de I'ordre des avocats = He is the president of the Order of Barristers. Battant. Porte a deux battants= Folding-doors. Tout battant neuf= Spick and span new. // les mene tambour battant = He carries it with a high hand over them. Us sont partis par une pluie battante = They went away in a pelting rain. Battre. Venez au fait sans battre la campagne Come to the point without beating about the bush. Void trois ans qrfil bat le pave = He has been loafing about this last three years. Les cartes sont-elles battues ? = Are the cards shuffled ? Us ne battent plus que d'une aile = They are almost done for. Us ont cte battus a pleine couture = They were thoroughly beaten. La fievre typho'ide bat son plein - The typhoid fever is raging. // faut battre le fer pendant qu'il est chaud We must strike the iron while it is hot; pursue a thing well begun. On a battu le rappel de tous ceux sur lesquels on croyait pouvoir compter= r T\\ey looked up all those whom they thought they could rely upon. * B&tonnier de I'ordre des avocats is the title still worn by the elected head of that most conservative fraternity, the Order of Advocates. The name is derived from the staff of the banner of St. Nicholas, the patron- saint of the members of the Bar, which the president of the Order was wont to carry in all processions and ceremonies. 36 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS On pent dire avec trop de raison gu'en fait de colonies, nous autres Fran$ais nous battons les buissons, pour laisser prendre a d? autres les oiseaux It may be said with too much reason that in the matter of colonies, we French take all the trouble and make all the sacrifices for the benefit of others. Us me battentfroid= They give me the cold shoulder. Le coeur me battit tres-fort= My heart went pit-a-pat. SC Battre. Us se battent les flancs pour dire ou faire du nouveau = They strive desperately to say or do some- thing new. // dit qu'il s'en bat Pail [familiar] = He says he cares not a straw for it Battu. -J'en ai les oreilles battues et rebattues=\ have heard that story over and over again. Vous avez les yeux battus = You look tired about the eyes. Autant vaut bien battu que mal battu = Over boots, over shoes. In for a penny, in for a pound. Baume. -Je n!ai point foi en son baume \ have no con- fidence in his promises. Bavettes. Elles taillent des l>avetfes = They gossip. Beau. Tout beau, riallezpas si vite = Gently, don't go so fast. Au beau milieu = In the very middle. Vous voila dans de beaux draps I = Here you are in a fine mess ! Elk voit tout en foa = She sees everything on the bright side. Le temps se met au beau = The weather is clearing up. Le barometre est au beau fixe ^^o. barometer is at set fair. La belle plume fait le bel oiseau = Fine feathers make fine birds. Mon petit chien fait j aliment le beau = My little dog has a very pretty way of begging. Le beau monde = The fashionable world. Chaque oiseau trouve son nid beau = Every one thinks his own geese are swans. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 37 // fera beau quand Us me reverront - It will be a long time before they see me again. Un bel esprit = A wit. La propriete a ete vendue a beaux deniers comptants = The property was sold for hard cash. A beau jeu, beau refour=Qne good turn deserves another. Oest la le beau de r affaire = That is the beauty of the thing ; the best of the joke. Tout cela est bel et bon ; mats je rien crois rien All that is very fine, but I don't believe a word of it. Nos voyageurs ont du coucher a la belle etoile Our travellers were compelled to sleep in the open air. II en fait de belles He behaves nicely, he is going on at a nice rate. J'en entends de belles, il m'en revient de belles, sur votre compte I hear fine tales of you, nice doings of yours. EHe I'a echappe belle = She had a narrow escape. // recommencera de plus ^//\\Q is a goose. B^nit. C'est pain benit que de faire coffrer un pareil gredin It is a satisfaction to get such a scoundrel locked up. J'ai bien assez de son eau benite de cour I have quite enough of his promises. Berceau. // faut etouffer le monstre au berceau = r T\\e monster must be stifled at its birth. Bercer. Je suis berce de cette histoire - I have heard that story from my cradle. // nous berce de sornettes = He amuses us, he puts us off with frivolous tales. Berlue. -Je n'ai cependant pas la berlue = And yet I am not blind. Besogne. Vous nous avez taille une jolie besogne = You have given us a deal of trouble. Besoin. On connait le veritable ami dans le besoin = A. friend in need is a friend indeed. Qu'est-il besoin . . . 1 = What need is there . . . ? Au besoin = If need be, if need were. Bete. Morte la bete, mort le venin = Dead dogs cannot bite. * To prevent goslings from getting through hedges into the en- closures beyond, a feather is passed through the two apertures in the upper part of their beak. Hence the proverb : Faire passer la plume par le bee. Very often, a stick is fastened to the bird's neck for the same purpose. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 39 Ilestremonte sur sa bete = He has got on his legs again. C'est une bete brute = He is a brute. C'est une bonne bete - He is a good-natured simpleton. Quand Jean bete est mort, il a laisse bien des heritiers When John the idiot died, he left plenty of posterity behind him. Allans ! ne faites done pas la bete Come, don't pre- tend not to know what I mean. Pas si bete ! = Not so foolish ; I know better. Qui se fait bete, le loup le mange = Confiding people are sure to be imposed upon. Le concierge est la bete noire du Parisien The hall- keeper is the Parisian's special aversion. Plus fin que lui n 'est pas bete = He is no fool ; It would take a clever man to do him. Beurre. Les candidats promettent toujours aux electeurs plus de beurre que de pain Candidates always promise wonders to the electors, more than they are able or willing to perform. J'ai trouve mon gamin les yeux poches au beurre noir = I found my young rascal with two black eyes. On ne saurait manier du beurre qu'on ne s'en graisse les doigts = K man cannot touch pitch without soiling his fingers. Biais. Pour reussir aupres de lui, il vous faudra le prendre de biais To succeed with him, you must not think of going straight to the point ; you must approach him sideways. // est certains esprits qu il faut prendre de biais Et que heurtant de front vous ne gagnez jamais = [REGNARD.] Certain people should be approached slanting; if abruptly encountered face to face, they will never yield. Bien. Tout va bien = Everything is all right. Taut bien que mal So-so, anyhow, after a fashion. C'est bien fait, vous ne favez pas vole = It serves you right, you richly deserve it. C'est bienjini= It is completely done, it is all over. 40 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS On y est trh bien = Qr\e is very comfortable there. Mener une entreprise a bien To bring an affair to a successful issue. C'est un homme de bien = He is an honest man. L'amitie d'un tel homme est un bien inestimable The friendship of such a man is an invaluable boon. Le bien pub lie -^\\Q public welfare. // est fort bien de sa personne = He is very gentlemanly- looking. II est du dernier bien avec lafainille = He is on excellent terms with the family. Comme bien on pense = As you may well think ; as a matter of course. Si tu fais du bien, oublie-le ; mats si /'on fen fait, souviens fen toujours If thou doest any good, forget it ; but if any good is* done thee, remember it for ever. Grand bien /eurfasse/=M.uch good may it do them. Le mieux est fennemi du bien = Leave well alone. Tout est bien qui finit bien = All is well that ends well. En tout bien et tout honneur = With honourable in- tentions. Je vous le disais bien ! = Didn't I tell you ? Vous voila bien, vous autres hommes That is just like you men. II y a bien vingt milles de Londres a St. Albans = It is full twenty miles from London to St. Albans. Nous voila bien maintenant t = Here is a nice state of things for us. Cela prouve le bien fonde de man opinion = That shows that I had good grounds for my opinion. Us ont quelques biens au s0fa7=ThQy own some acres of land. Bientot. Cela est bientot dit = That is easier said than done. Bienvenu. On est toujours bienvenu quand on apporte The bearer of presents is always welcome. Bile. II riy a vraiment pas de quoi s'echauffer la bile=l\. is really not worth being so angry about. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 41 Mes yeux sont trop blesses, et la cour et la ville Ne m'offrent rien qu'objets a iriechauffer la bile [MoLifcRE, Misanthrope.}- My sight is too much offended, and both the court and the town show me nothing but what is calcu- lated to provoke my anger. Billet. Les billets de faveur sont suspendus = The free list for the theatre is suspended. Billets defairepart= Letter announcing a marriage, a birth, or, as is oftener the case, a death in a family. Le bon billet qu'a La Chatre ! * = Doesn't he wish he may get it ? Blanc. Docteur a quatre boules blanches = Doctor with four white balls from the examiners. fat passe bien des nuits blanches - 1 have had many a sleepless night. // a gele a blanc = There has been a white frost. Chauffe a blanc= Heated to a white heat. Notre pauvre pays fut saigne a blanc= Our poor country was bled freely. Us Font regarde dans le blanc des yeux = They looked at him full in the face. // a mange son pain blanc le premier = He spent the better part of his income first. Us se sont battus a Farme blanche = They fought with swords. Je vous donne carte blanche I give you full powers. // a mis dans le blanc = He hit the mark. De but en blanc = Abruptly. Rouge au soir et blanc au matin, c'est la journee du pelerin = Evening red and morning gray are two sure signs of a fine day. * Ah I le bon billet yu'a La Ch&tre ! The Marquis de La Chatre was greatly in love with the celebrated Ninon de Lenclos (1616-1706). Being obliged to absent himself, he got her to sign a note in which she pledged herself to remain faithful to him. The fickle beauty, however, soon had another lover, and on remembering the note, "billet, "she laughingly exclaimed: "Ah ! le bon billet qu'a La Chatre!" This has become a proverb, and applies to any promise on which no reliance can be placed. 42 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS . // a mange son ble en herbe = He spent his income before it was due. Bloc. II faut, dit C., prendre la Revolution en bloc A quoi je replique : Tant pis pour la Revolution = The Revolution, says C., must be taken in a lump. To which I reply : So much the worse for the Revolution. Bceuf. Vous mettez la charrue devant les bxufs = You put the cart before the horse. Boheme. C'est une maison de boheme = There is no order in that house. Boire.* Boire a tire-la- Rigault =Tv drink to excess. Ce nest pas la mer a boire = It is no very hard matter. Qui a bu boira = Drunkards never get cured. Habit is a second nature. // boit comme une eponge = He drinks like a fish. * Boire a tire-la-Kigault. The exact origin of this popular saying has long been a subject of controversy between the most competent philologists, some of whom spell " La Rigault," while others contend for " Larigot." The former state, on what seems to be respectable authority, that about the end of the I3th century, Archbishop Odin Rigault presented the cathedral of Rouen, in celebration of his appoint- ment, with a large bell, a kind of Big Ben, of such proportions that the bell-ringers found it a very heavy and thirsty work to set it in motion. Hence the proverbial expression : To drink like one who has had a pull at La Rigault. On the other side, Menage, and after him Littre, sup- port the version of Larigot, an old kind of flute or small flageolet, very hard to manage, or I'arigot, a tall glass somewhat in the form of a flute a version that would in either case so far account for the modern vulgar termJZd/er. The connection, however, between the old musical instrument or the tall flute-like glass of Menage, and the practice of hard drinking does not seem to be precise enough, although the idea of flute tallies with the popular hint as to the want of sobriety of musicians " Un ban mnsicien ne doit pas lire sobre ; On ne fait fas mentir un dicton. C'est tres mal." COPPEE, Luthier de Cremone. I prefer siding with those who trace the saying to Archbishop Rigault, among others with M. Genin, who, in fact, contends that the original expression was, " Boire en tire la Rigault," i.e., " En homme qui tire la Rigault." Be this as it may, I will conclude this notice with the safe remark of our old friend, Sir Roger de Coverley, "There is much to be said on both sides." FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 43 La folie est faite, il faut la boire = As we have made our bed, so we may lie in it. Je boirais la mer et ses poissons = I am very thirsty. // a bu le coup de letrier = He took a glass of wine before starting. Donnez-leur a boire = Give them some drink. Je ne bois qu'a ma soif= I do not drink more than I want. Elle a bu la coupe d* amertume jusqu' a la //laisan- terie understood] = That's a good one ! That's a good joke ! Vous avez encore cent francs de &? = You have still 100 francs to the good. II ne fait pas bon se fier a lui=\\. is not safe to trust him. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 47 Que vous ties bon de croire cela ! = How silly you are to believe that ! Vous ties bon la, vous 1 I daresay ! That's all very fine. // nous en a dit de bonnes = He told us some capital stories. A quelque chose malheur est bon = It is an ill wind that blows good to no one. Les bons comptes font les bans amis = Short reckonings make long friends. A bon vin point d'enseigne Good wine needs no bush. Bond. II faut prendre la balle au bond^'We must seize time by the forelock. // s'e/anfa d'un bond par-dessus la muraille = He cleared the wall at a bound. Surtout, ne nous faites pas faux bond= Above all, don't disappoint us. // ne va qiw par sauts et par bonds - He only goes by fits and starts. Bonheur. Vous nous portez bonheur \Q\\. bring us good luck. Au petit bonheur f=V\\ risk it. Come what may. Le bonheur est a ceux qui se suffisent a eux-memes = Happiness is the lot of the self-relying. Plus que noblesse, bonheur oblige = Happiness entails duties, even more than nobility. II joue de bonheur '=He is in luck. Bonhomme. // continue dialler son petit bonhomme de chemin = He keeps going jog-trot. C'est un faux bonho?nme He is a hypocrite. Bonjour. C'est clair comme bonjour=\\. is as clear as daylight. Bonne. Une bonne a tout fatre = A maid of all work; a general servant. Bonnet. C'est bonnet blanc et blanc bonnet =\\. is six of one and half-a-dozen of the other. Ce sont deux tetes dans un bonnet They are hand and glove together. 48 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS // a pris cela sous son bonnet = He took it upon him- self: He invented it. Ses collegues opinent du bonnet = His colleagues have no opinion of their own. // avait mis ce jour-la son bonnet de travers = He was in a very bad temper on that day. Je park a mon bonnet [MOLIRE.] I am speaking to myself. Us jettent leur bonnet et se confessent vaincus = They give up all hope of success. // a la tete pres du bonnet = He is very hasty. II y a long-temps quails ont jete leurs bonnets par-dcssus les moulins = They have long ago thrown off all sense of propriety. C'est un des gros bonnets de fendroit = He is one of the swells of the place. // est triste comme un bonnet de nuit= He is as dull as ditchwater. BordL // a le coeur sur le bord des levres = He is very frank. La riviere coule a pleins bords = The river is full to overflowing. Ce prudent politicien a vire de bord '=That prudent politician has changed sides. // a jete ses opinions d'antan par-dessus bord He has cast his old opinions to the winds. Je les crois du meme bord= I believe they share the same views. Borgne. Un cabaret borgne = A. low public-house. Elle jase comme une pie borgne = She chatters like a magpie. II a change son cheval borgne contre un aveugle = He has changed for the worse. Au royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois= In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed people are kings. Borne. Pour le coup, ced passe toutes les bornes Now, this is going too far. // est plante la comme une borne (familiar) = He stands there like a post. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 49 SC Borner. Qui ne salt se borner ne sutjamais ecrire = [BoiLEAU, L'Art Poetique.~\ He who cannot write concisely never knew how to write. Bosse. // ne re-ve que plates et bosses - He is bent on mischief. Je refus douze reaux pour mes ordonnances ; ce qui me fit prendre tant de gout a la profession, que je ne demandai plus que plates et bosses = [Gil Bias.} For these prescriptions I received twelve rials, which made me so enamoured of the profession that I thought, the more mischief the better sport. Bossoir. C'esf un pilote vigilant qui a I'aeil au bossoir He is a watchful pilot who keeps a good look-out. Bossu.* -// riait comme un bossu = TA.o. was laughing heartily. * Rire comme un bossu is 'an old popular saying, perhaps hardly justi- fied in the sense attached to it ; for "bossus" are not particularly remark- able for their liveliness or disposition to laugh heartily, their mirth being too much inclined to sourness ; a fact which, as things go, is not to be wondered at, hunchbacks being emphatically members of " the army of martyrs." They are seldom kindly treated by the world at large ; and, whilst most infirmities, such as lameness or blindness, are looked upon with sympathy and genial pity, the poor hunchback is too often exposed to heartless mockery ; and we find that even so humane a creature as the good Giannina in Coppee's touching story in the Lnthier de Cremone can scarcely refrain from recoiling with disgust from poor Filippo's deformity : " Epouser Filippo ! Ponrquoi pas ? Un bossu ! " And presently the poor, persecuted hunchback himself comes in to tell the tale of his misery : " De mechants polissons Qui sarmant de cailloux fort durs et de tessons Ont voulu massommer . . . Bravement je irfavance au sein du populaire ; En demandant pitie, f excite la coKre. Ah ! Fan ne songe plus a la bete, a present. Lapider un bossu, c'csl bien plus amusant ! " Does not this graphic and too truthful picture give the lie to the idea implied in the phrase Rire comme un bossu? For, with the lot cast VOL. I. D 50 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS // est matin comme un bossu = He is cunning and mischievous. Botte. Une botte d*asperges, de carottes = A bundle of as- paragus, of carrots. Une botte defoin = K truss of hay. // a du foin dans ses bottes ^Q has feathered his nest. fousser, porter une botte a quelqu'un To give a home thrust // lui a porte une vilaine botte = He served him a very shabby trick. A propos de bottes = With reference to nothing at all ; for no reasonable cause. Bo UC. C'est le bouc emissaire de la bande=~Re is the scapegoat of the gang. Bouche. Cela fait venir Veau a la bouche = It makes one's mouth water. Je le garde pour la bonne bouche = I keep it for the last, as a tit-bit. upon him, how could a "bossu" be merry, and addicted to hearty laughing ? Much more correct in its import is the equally well-known expres- sion : Malin comme tin bossu. For the poor ill-favoured and ill-used hunchback may be said to have received from Nature a compensation for his bad luck in a remarkable keenness of perception and a pungent wit. In fact, those natural faculties have forcibly been further sharpened by the hostile attitude of the world towards him. A popular saying records the truism that even a miserable worm will turn round against an aggressor. The poor hunchback has been ill-treated by the world since his infancy he has turned round against the world in self-defence. No wonder, then, that he is malin, that is, sharp, shrewd, and why not say it ? malignant and revengeful. In justice to those unfortunate desherites, to borrow a hackneyed term from the declamatory tirades of our ultra-radical orators, I must quote the following judicious remarks from Toppfer's Nouvelles Genevoises : "Sans cesse en butte aux attaques du ridicule, ils ramassent I'arme qu'on leur lance, et la renvoient aiguisee par une malice vengeresse. C'est dans ce triste exercice que leur ceil se forme a saisir du premier coup le cote vulnerable de leur adversaire, et a y decocher d'une main prompte et sure un trait qui frappe juste et fort. C'est, en particulier, dans ce triste exercice que les bossus du bas peuple, ceux que rien ne protege et que rien ne contraint, contractent cet air d'ignoble malice, ce cynique sourire, ce regard disgracieux et jaloux, cet esprit caustique enfin, que le proverbe signale, sans ajouter ni faire entendre qu'il n'est que I'arme d'une legitime defense opposee a une agression basse et mechanic." FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 51 Elle foterait les morceaiix de la bouche pour ses enfants = She would deprive herself of necessaries for her children. Je lui aiferme la bouche = I silenced him. Cet homme est fort en bouche = ^\\^.\. man will out-talk anybody. Allons I ne faites done pas la petite bouche = Come, don't pretend not to like it, or not to want any more, when you really wish for some. Vous avez toujours cela a la bouche You are continu- ally repeating that. Bouche close I bouche cousue ! = Mum is the word. Elle est restee bouche beante She stood gaping. Pourquoi faites-vous ainsi la bouche en cxur ? = Why do you thus screw up your mouth, purse up your lips ? // prend sur sa bouche pour faire face a cette depense = He stints himself to meet that expenditure. Us en ont eu a bouche que veux-tu = They had more than enough. They were treated most liberally. Selon ta bourse gouverne ta bouche = Cut your coat according to your cloth. Bouchon.* A bon vin il ne faut point de bouchon = wine needs no bush. Boudin. L 'affaire s'en est allee en eau de undertaking came to nothing. Bouillon. Le sang sortait a gros bouillons = The blood was gushing out copiously. // a bu un bouillon [familiar] = He has experienced a serious loss. Boule. // n'a eu que des boules blanches a son examen = All the examiners passed him. Les defies nationales ont une fa$on de faire la boule de neige = National debts have a way of increasing like snow-balls. J'irai a I'appui de la boule = I will back you. v In other words, A bon vin point d'enseigne. " Bush " is in fact the equivalent of a sign-board, being a bough or bunch fixed at a public- house door to indicate the sale of liquors. 52 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Boulet. = Dans sa nouvelle brochure il tire a boulets rouges sur le gouvernement= He cuts up the Government in his new pamphlet. Bourgeois.* Cuisine bourgeoise = \&m cooking. Pension bourgeoise = Boarding-house. Les offiders etaient en bourgeois = ^\\o, officers were in plain clothes. Bourreau. Cest un bourreau d'argent^'^.o. is a spend- thrift. Bourse. Amijusqu'a la bourse = A friend whose devotion stops short of lending money. Loger le diable en sa bourse t = To be penniless. Selon ta bourse gouverne ta bouche = Regulate your ex- penses on your means. // Fa fait sans bourse delier= He did it without spend- ing any money. Bout. // sait tout cela sur le bout du doigt=TA.z has all that at his fingers' ends. Elle riait du bout des dents =She was laughing on the wrong side of her mouth. * The import of this word bourgeois has in the course of time under- gone many changes. Thus, after having long enjoyed the honourable mediaeval sense of freeman of a borough, a technical meaning which is to some extent preserved in Conservative England, it came down to express a rather common cast, or tone of life, as opposed to aristocratic as a record of which we meet with such phrases as this : " On y fait Vhomme d? importance, Et Fan n'est souvent qitun bourgeois." LA FONTAINE. But now again, at the end of this iQth century, when the world, for better for worse, is entering a new phase under the magic triad, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," the old lines of demarcation between the different classes of society are being considerably modified, and it may almost be said that only two classes are now acknowledged, viz., the classe bourgeoise and the classe ouvriere, so that a ' ' bourgeois " has come to mean a private gentleman who stands above his fellows in wealth or education. t In olden times a cross was commonly engraved on coins ; hence the notion that the Evil Spirit occupied an empty purse, where there was no such pious emblem to keep him off. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 53 Cest du bout des levres qu'elle nous a fait eette promesse - She does not mean to keep her promise. // a montre le bout de Foreille^^Ae. betrayed himself. // est artiste jusqu'au bout des onghs He is an artist to the tips of his fingers. Les pauvres gens ont bien de la peine a joindre les deux bouts = The poor people find it hard to make both ends meet. Au bout de Faune faut (tnanque) le drap [See AUNE.] On ne sait par quel bout le prendre = There is no know- ing how to deal with him. Vous rfetes pas au bout = Your troubles are not over. Je suis a bout= I am done for. Viendra-t-on jamais a bout du Canal de Panama ? = Will the Canal of Panama ever be finished ? Au bout du fosse la culbute = h. short life and a merry one. // tient le haut bout dans cette societe = He holds the place of honour, the upper end in that society. // est au bout de son rouleau He has no resources left, he is at his wits' end. Oest une economic de bouts de chandelle = It is being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Us brulent la chandelle par les deux bouts = They burn their candle at both ends. Au bout du compte = After all. Us m'ont pousse a bout=T\\&y drove me to extremities. Vous aver, mis ma patience a bout = You have exhausted my patience. Bout de Fan Service du bout de Fan = Anniversary service at church, in remembrance of a dead person. S'i/ a 40 ans, c'est tout le bout du monde = He is barely 40, at the outside. D'un bout a !'autre = From beginning to end. // a tire sur sa victime a bout portant= He fired point blank at his victim. A tout bout de champ At every turn. Nous avons eu tout le temps vent de bout = We had the wind against us all along. 54 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Bouteille. // n'a rien vu que par le trou d'une bouteille = He has seen nothing of the world. C'est la bouteille a I'encre = It is a subject of endless discussion ; There is no making anything out of it. Boute- en -train. C'etait le joyeux boute- en -train de la pension = [BALZAC.] He was the life and soul of the boarding-house. Boutoir. // riepargne pas les coups de boutoir a ses propres amis = His own friends are not safe from his hard blows. Bouton. On lui a serre le bouton = T\\ey put the screw on him, to bring him up to the point. Boutonne". // est boutonne jusqu'au menton = [MERIMEE.] He is very close, very reserved. Braies. // s'en est tire les braies nettes=He contrived to extricate hmself. Braire. Les hommes faibles hurlent avec les loups, braient avec les dnes, et belent avec les moutons = Weak men howl with the wolves, bray with the asses, and bleat with the sheep. Braise. // est chaud comme braise = He is very hot- tempered. // m'a joue un mauvais tour, mats je le lui ai rendtt chaud comme braise = He behaved spitefully to me, but I gave it him back pretty hot. Tomber de la poele dans la braise = To fall out of the frying-pan into the fire. // a passe la-dessus comme chat sur braise = He would not dwell on that topic. // I'a donne chaud comme braise = He blurted out the bad news. Branche. llvaut mieux s'attacher au gros de farbre qu'aux branches = Better apply or attach one's self to the head than to the subordinates. 11 est comme foiseau sur la branche = He knows not what the morrow may bring forth. He is very unsettled. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 55 Branle. Cela a suffi pour mettre en branle conjectures et commentaires = \\. proved sufficient to set in motion all sorts of surmises and comments. Un Dumas ou un Sardou trouve instinctivement le trait qui met en branle V imagination de la foule et la lui asservit= [F. SARCEY.] A Dumas or a Sardou instinctively hits upon the trait which stirs up the imagination of the crowd, and actually enslaves it. Branler. Tout ce qui branle ne tombe pas - Everything that shakes doesn't fall. Bras. Us se promenaient bras dessus bras dessous = They were walking arm in arm. // est tombe sur eux a bras raccourci He fell upon them with all his might. Ilfrappait a tour de bras = He was hitting as hard as he could. Cette pauvre veuve a cinq enfants sur les bras = That poor widow has five children to support. Je riai pas les bras longs = I have no influence whatever. Les bras m'en sont tombes = I was astonished. Us sont la les bras croises There they are doing nothing. fai les bras rompus = I am overwhelmed with fatigue. // a beaucoup d'affaires sur les bras = He is overwhelmed with business. C'est le bras droit du chef= He is the right hand of the chief. Us lui donnent du milord gros comme le bras = They affect to " my lord " him profusely. Je Vai saisi a bras le corps = I seized him round the waist. // ne vit que de ses bras = He lives by the labour of his hands. Si on lui en donne long comme le doigt, il en prend long comme le bras If you give him an inch, he'll take an ell. Selon le bras fais la saignee Proportion the claims to the means. 56 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Dans les pays neufs, les bras font prime In new countries, labourers are at a premium. On I'a applaudi a tour de bras=~Re was applauded vigorously. Les bons bras font les bonnes lames = Any weapon will prove effective when bravely handled. Brebis. Faire un repas de brebis = To eat without drinking. A brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent = God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. Qui se fait brebis, le loup le mange = Daub yourself with honey, and you'll be covered with flies. "Where'er ye shed honey, the buzzing flies will crowd." [MACAULAY, Virginia.'] Brebis qui bele perd sa goulee = Great talkers are seldom active doers. The ass that brays most, eats least. Brebis galense = Black sheep. // suffit d'une brebis galeuse pour infecter tout un trou- peau = One scabbed sheep will taint the whole flock. Folk est la brebis qui au loup se confesse = Be careful in the choice of your confidants. Brebis comptees, le loup les mange = Excessive precau- tions do not secure us from danger. Don't reckon your chickens before they are hatched. Bredouille. II est alle a la chasse: ilest revenu bredouille = He went out shooting ; he came back just as he went. Bref. Bref= In short. 11 observe les longues et les breves = He is very punctilious. Breloque.* Us battent la breloque [or, la berloque\ = They talk at random. * Battre la breloque, figuratively used to express " talking nonsense," is properly, "To beat the drum in an irregular, broken manner." Breloque, according to Genin, is derived in its proper sense from the Latin belluga, a small fruit. Hence the nickname of breloque applied to anything small and meagre. Soldiers thus would say : On bat la breloque, meaning, We are called to go and partake of our small pit- tance, just in the same spirit as hungry schoolboys would say : Let us go and have our beakful of food. Then, to pass on to the figurative sense, battre la breloque would have come to apply to the talk of silly people, whose words carry no more sound than the noise of a drum. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 57 Bride. // fait bon tenir son cheval par la bride = It is always well to act cautiously. // faut aller bride en main = One must be moderate and regulate his mode of life by his means. // est aise d 1 aller a pied quand on tient son cheval par la bride - It is easy to go afoot when one leads one's horse by the bridle. On lui tient la bride haute = He is kept under restraint. On lui lache trap la bride = They allow him too much liberty. On lui met la bride sur le cou They let him do what he likes. // a plus besoin de bride que d'eperon = He is an impe- tuous man who stands more in need of being checked than of being urged on. Ne craignez rien, je le tiendrai en bride = Don't fear, I shall hold him tight. A cheval donn'e on ne regarde pas la bride = One must not look a gift-horse in the mouth. Courir a toute bride a bride abattue = TQ run (or ride) at full speed. Briller. Tout ce qui brille rf est pas or = All is not gold that glitters. Brin. // n'y en a brin = There is not a trace of the thing. C'est un beau brin d'homme = He is a tall, well-set youth. Un brin defil= A bit of thread. Pas un brin de feu Not a bit of fire. Brio. La piece a ete enlevee avec infiniment de verve et de brio = The play was acted with a marvellous amount of spirit and dash. Brise'es. A marche sur les brisees de B = A follows in B's footsteps. Je ne voudrais pas aller sur ses brisees - I would never oppose him. Au bout de ce temps je reparus a la cour, et repris mes premieres brisees = [Gil Bias.] At the end of that time I went back to court, and resumed my former habits. 58 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Briser. Brisons la, filvous plait = Let us drop this subject, please. Brocher. Vous avez broch'e votre devoir aujourd ) hui=Yovi have bungled over your exercise to-day. Brochette. Cet enfant a ete eleve a la brochette = That child has been brought up with the most tender care. Broder. // brode bien = ~H.e, romances well. He shoots with a long bow. Broncher. // n'est si ban cheval qui ne bronche=\\. is a good horse that never stumbles. C'est un homme qui ne bronchejamais = He is a steadfast man who never flinches. Brouiller. Les cartes sont brouillees entre eux = They have fallen out. Elle fait de son mieux pour brouiller les cartes = She does her best to embroil matters. // est brouille avec la finance = He is hard up for cash. // a toujours ete brouille avec les chijfres, et moi avec les noms propres He always was at sea with figures, and I never could recollect proper names. se Brouiller. // s'est brouille avec la justice = He got into trouble with the law. // s'est brouille avec sa famille = He quarrelled with his family. Voila le temps qui se brouille = The weather is getting overcast. Brouillon. Son temperament brouillon a repris le dessus = His meddling disposition has got uppermost. Brouter. Ou la chh're est attachee, il faut qu'elle broute = Where the goat is tied, there she must browse. One must submit to circumstances. Lherbe sera bien courte s'il ne trouve de quoi brouter = The grass must be very short if he cannot get a bite. He can live on very little. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 59 Broyer. Broyer du notr = r To be in a brown study. Depuis Leopardi et Schopenhauer personne n'a broye autant de noir= No one, since Leopardi and Scho- penhauer, ever indulged in such gloomy fancies. Bruit.* Beaucoup de bruit, peu de besogne = Great cry, little wool. Beaucoiip de bruit pour rien = Much ado about nothing. L? affaire fait du &rutt=The affair is making a great noise. Le bruit court que . . . = It is reported that . . . // court un bruit sourd= It is whispered about. II fait plus de bruit que de besogne = He is more fussy than industrious. Un bruit assez etrange est venu jusqrf a mot [RACINE, Ipkigenie.'] A rather strange rumour has reached me. Qui a bruit de se lever tard a beau se lever matin = It is hard to fight against prejudice. Qui a bruit de se lever matin peut dormir jusqd au soir = A good reputation covers an infinity of sins. Le Men ne fait jamais de bruit, et le bruit ne fait jamais de bien = T\\Q good never does any noise, and the noise never does any good. Le bruit est si fort, qu' on rientend pas Dieu tonner= The noise is so great, one cannot hear God thunder. Bruler. Nous avons brule nos vaisseaux We do not in- tend to draw back. We mean to fight desperately. II s 1 est brule la cervelle= He blew his brains out. Nous brulions les etafies = We passed rapidly through the halting-places without stopping. Les pieds lui brulent departir=^& is upon thorns to go. * Apropos of this proverb, I once heard a story which is worth recording. A few generations back, there was at the head of a great English school a gentleman of the name of Wool, who was of very small stature, but had apparently a heavy hand, and anyhow had a way of thrashing the boys unmercifully. A wag who possibly had felt keenly the force of what he wrote, chalked the popular saying, with a slight inversion : Little wool and much cry, over the door of the school's flogging room. I suspect that the Peu de besogne of the French equi- valent would hardly apply in such a case. 60 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Nous lui avons brule la politesse = ^N& passed by him without saluting or through it, without stopping. J'en viendrai a bout, ou fy brulerai mes livres = I will bring it about, or I shall forfeit my name. J*y brulerai mes livres, ou je romprai ce manage [MOLlfiRE.] I will break off that match, no matter what it may cost me. Nous ft avons jamais brule d'encens sur Pautel de la popularite = [EMILE DE GIRARDIN.] We have never flattered for the sake of popularity. // brulait le pave=~Re was riding very fast rattling along. Le general s'est empare de la place forte sans bruler une amorce = The general made himself master of the stronghold without firing a single shot. On a tire sur lui a brule-pourpoint = He was fired at quite close. Le torchon brule = Discord prevails in the household. Le rot brule La chandelle brule = Time flies. Graissez les bottes d'un vilain, il dira que vous les lui brulez = There are some people whom it is dangerous to oblige. Brusquer. -Je resolus de brusquer Vaventure = \ resolved to carry on the adventure with a high hand. Buche. Cet homme ne se remue pas plus qu* une buche = That man stirs no more than a log of wood. Bllisson. // n'y a si petit buisson qui ne porte ombre = Scorn not the assistance or the spite of the most insignificant people. // a battu les buissons : un autre a pris les oisillons = He beat the bush : another caught the hare. Les cambrioleurs ont heureusement fait buisson creux The burglars luckily got hold of nothing. J'ai laisse de ma laine a tous les buissons du chemin = [CHATEAUBRIAND.] At every stage through life I have left an illusion behind me. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 6 1 Buissonnier. IlfaitsouiientFecole buissonniere = He often plays truant. Faire de la vie une ecole buissonniere = [GEORGES SAND.] To lead a roving life. Bureau. Le Bureau du Senat, de la Chambre des Deputes = The President, Vice- Presidents, Secretaries, and Questors of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies. Bureau parlementaire = Committee. Tenir bureau d 1 esprit (ironical) = To receive company to discuss literary matters. On Vaccusait de tenir bureau de bel-esprit= [SAINTE-BEUVE.] She was accused of gathering around her the wits of the day. Payer a bureau ouvert^To pay on demand. Fournitures de bureau = Stationery. Ouverture des bureaux = Opening of the doors. Bureau de placement Register office. Buridan.* // en est de luicomme de fane de Buridan = He is on the horns of a dilemma, and cannot make up his mind which way to decide. Buse. On ne saurait faire d'une buse tm epervier=K fool is hopeless. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. * Jean Buridan was a dialectician of the I4th century who owes it to a donkey to have been saved from utter oblivion. He argued that if animals were not endowed with free-will, nature would be at fault, as they would not even have the means of securing their sustenance. In support of his argument, he would take a donkey equally hungry and thirsty, and place him between a peck of oats on one side and a pail of water on the other, both at equal distances from him and equally tempting, and then he would ask: What will this donkey do? He will either remain motionless, like a body mechanically balanced between two contrary and perfectly equal forces, and then he will die ; or he will turn to one side or the other, and will thereby show his free- will. This captious dilemma proved so striking that it has made its way through successive generations, and nowadays if a man hesitates 62 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS But. // est arrive le premier au but He was the first to reach the goal. // m'a dit cela de but en blanc = He told me that abruptly. Butte. -11 y a trap long-temps que je suis en butte a sa mauvaise humeur=\ have been too long the victim of his bad temper. 0. Ca. Voyez done les airs que fa se donne : fa ne se refuse rien [contemptuously] = Just see what airs they give themselves : they deny themselves nothing. C'est bien fa = That's just it. C'est toujours fa = It is so much secured, so much to the good. Or fa, sire Gregoire, Que gagnez-vous par an ? = [LA FONTAINK.] Well now, Master Gregory, how much do you make a year ? Cabinet. // a un tres bon cabinet '= He has a very good practice. Uhomme de cabinet a des plaisirs qui surpassent toutes les joies du monde The man of literary pursuits, of studious habits, has pleasures that surpass all the joys in the world. Une intrigue de cabinet A ministerial intrigue. between two objects, or two positions having a like attraction in his eyes, he is at once compared with Buridan's donkey. " Connaissez-vous cette histoire frivole D'un certain ane illustre dans 1'ecole ? Dans 1'ecurie on vint lui presenter Pour son diner deux mesures egales De meme force, a pareils intervalles ; Des deux cotes 1'ane se vit tenter Egalement, et dressant les oreilles, Juste au milieu des deux formes pareilles, De 1'equilibre accomplissant les lois, Mourut de faim, de peur de faire un choix." VOLTAIRE. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 63 Caboche. // a une bonne caboche [familiar] He is a long- headed fellow. Voyez-vous, vous avez la caboche un peu dure [MOLlfeRE.] Let me tell you, your head is rather hard. SC Cacher. // ne s'en cache pas - He makes no mystery of it. Cadeau. Les petits cadeaux entretiennent Famitie = Small presents keep up friendship. Cadet. C'est le cadet de mes soucis [familiar] = It is the least- i.e., the youngest born of my thoughts. C'esf un cadet de haut appetit [ =He is an extravagant youth. Cadre. 11 ne figure plus sur les cadres [military] = He is no longer on the effective list. Cage. La belle cage ne nourrit pas roiseau = There may be much discomfort under fine appearances. // vant mieux etre oiseau de campagne qdoiseau de cage = Freedom is the greatest of blessings. // a ete mis en cage = He was locked up. La cage d'un escalier = The well of a staircase. Cahier. Cette compagnie viole ottvertement son cahier des charges = This company sets openly at defiance the clauses of her concession. Cahin-Caha. Ma sante va cahin-caha \qud hinc, qua hac, que d'ici, que de la\ = I am only so-so. 11 a fait ce que je lui demandais, mats, cahin-caha = He complied with my request, but reluctantly. Caille. Elle a chaud comme une petite caille = She is as warm as a toast. Caisse. Passez a la caisse = Go to the pay-office. Un garfon de caisse = A collecting clerk. Tenir la caisse = To keep the cash account. C'esf elle qui tient la caisse = She holds the purse- strings. Caisse d'epargne = Savings bank. Caisse militaire = Military chest. 11 sait battre la grosse caisse = He knows how to puff. 64 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Calculer. Le plan etait bien calcule = The plan was well concocted. Calendes. -// vous renverra aux Calendes grecques = He will put you off till Doomsday. Calice. // a vide le calice jusqu'a la //V=He drank the cup of bitterness to the dregs. Califourchon. Chacun a son califourchon, dit Sterne = Every one is astride on his hobby, says Sterne. Calme. Ca/mefltat=~Dea.d calm. Calotte. On ne trouverait pas son pareil sous la calotte des deux You could not match him under the canopy of heaven. Camaraderie. Par esprit de camaraderie = Out of party spirit. Camelot.* // ressemble au camelot, il a pris son pli He is incorrigible. Camouflet.t // a re$u un camouflet =~K.& received an affront. * Camelot, a woollen stuff, was originally made of camel's hair, but is now very carefully manufactured out of a superior goat's hair. The fault of the primitive material was to produce folds which could not be removed. Hence the proverb implying incorrigibility. As to the unlovely camelots of our large cities, those itinerant vendors of news- papers and other commodities, M. Francisque Michel tells us that their name is connected with camel, chameau, on account of the bulky load which "they often carry on their back, and which makes them appear hunchbacked." This explanation, I must say, can scarcely apply in the present time to the noisy individuals who make our most fashion- able thoroughfares hideous with their distracting shouts. t Camouflet (Latin calamo flatus] meant originally thick smoke puffed in the face of a person asleep with a cornet of lighted paper, especially in Shrove-tide. Eventually used figuratively, with the mean- ing of mortification. I cannot resist the temptation of quoting here the ipsissima verba of a typical passage in Victor Hugo's Miserable! apropos of this word "camouflet." "Qu'est-ce que recevoir un soufflet? La metaphore banale repond : C'est voir trente-six chandelles. Ici 1'argot intervient, et repond : Chandelle, camoufle. Sur ce, le langage usuel donne au soufflet pour synonyme camouflet. Ainsi, par une sorte de penetration de bas en haut, la metaphore, cette trajectoire incalculable, aidant, 1'argot monte de la caverne a 1'academie ; et Poulailler disant : f'allume FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 65 Camp. Us sont toujours en camp vo/ant = They cannot get settled. They are always on the wing. L'alarme est au camp - They are in a great fright. Oh ! dit-il . . . . . . Je mets I'alarme au camp - [LA FONTAINE.] O ! said he ... I spread terror. Campagrie. Partir a la campagne = To go into the country. Partir en campagne = To set out campaigning. Le Chef de la Police a mis ses plus fins limiers en cam- pagne - The head of the police has sent out his shrewdest agents in all directions. I'.n rase campagne = In the open, unsheltered country. Vous battez la campagne = You stray from the question. You beat about the bush. Quel esprit ne bat la campagne ? = [LA FONTAINE ] Where is the man whose mind never wanders ? Camus. 11 voulait faire le capable, on Fa rendu bien camus = [MONTAIGNE.] He wanted to show off. He was soon made to look foolish. Voila des harangueurs bien camus=~H.ere are speechi- fiers sadly crestfallen. Canard.* C'esf nn canard, auquel le bon sens public n'a pas tarde a couper les ailes = It is a false report, an idle story, which was speedily discountenanced by the public common-sense. ma camoufle, fait ecrire a Voltaire : Lcingleviel la Beaumelle merite cen. camouflets. " Une fouille dans 1'argot, c'est la decouverte a chaque pas. L'etude et 1'approfondissement de cet etrange idiome menent au mysterieux point d'intersection de la societe reguliere avec la societe maudite." VICTOR HUGO, Les Miserable!, vii. * This word Canard, so frequently met with [because it expresses a very frequent occurrence], is applied to a false report inserted in a news- paper, and of course this mendacious bird is chiefly hatched when newspapers are short of copy, that is, when the legislative assemblies of the civilised world are closed, and courts of law happen to be mostly closed also for the vacation. I have looked in all possible directions for an explanation of this widely spread and very old expression, as VOL. I. E 66 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cane.* Faire la cane [or, more commonly now, caponner\ = To show the white feather. Quand les canes vont aux champs, la premiere va devant [ironical] = Why, you don't say so? How clever of you to have found that out ! CanoSSE.t 11 nest pas alle a Canossa = He a King or Emperor did not humble himself before the ecclesiastical potentate. Cap. | Toutes les nations Garment de pied en cap sous rinfluence de la sainte horreur que leur inspire la guerre = A\\ the nations are arming cap-a-pie under the sense of holy horror which they feel for war. Capable. Ne vousfiezpas a cet homme: il est capable de tout = Do not trust that man : he is one to stick at nothing. Cape. On disait autrefois d'un gentilhomme pauvre qu'il navait que la cape et Pepee = It was formerly said of a titled gentleman without fortune that he had nothing but the cape (of his cloak) and his sword. applied to an impossible story, or a bold imposition on public credulity, without finding a satisfactorily authenticated account of its origin. The word "Canard," in that peculiar sense, is traced by Oudin, on the older authority of Cotgrave, to the old expressions, Vendre ou donner canard a moilie, meaning to cheat, to deceive, to make believe. In a ballet of 1612, we find the following lines " Parguieu ! vous serez mis en cage, Vous etes un bailleur de canars, J'avons fait changer de langage Au moins a d'aussi fins renars." Later on, the expressions Donner des canards and Donneur de canards were used without the addition of a moitie. * Faire la cane is, properly, to be frightened without cause, like the duck who bobs down in the water at the slightest noise. t This phrase, Alter a Canossa, which is very expressive, although, of course, of very limited application, as it can hardly refer to any but a crowned head, is an allusion to the degrading penance submitted to by the Emperor Henry IV. of Germany, in deference to his great enemy Gregory VII. (Hildebrand), then staying at Canossa, a castle in Modena, which was the residence of the Countess Matilda. Henry was exposed for several days to the inclemency of winter, January 1077, till it pleased the Pope to admit him into his presence. J Cap a pied was also used in olden times, and it occasionally occurs in Montaigne's Essays. Hence the English version, Cap-a-pie. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 67 Elk riait sous cape - She was laughing in her sleeve. Et vous menez sous cape un train que je hais fort= [MOLIERE, Tartufe.~\ And you lead on the sly a life which I detest. Une piece, un roman de cape et d'epee = A melodramatic play or tale, after the Spanish fashion. Capot. Vous allez faire pic, repic et capot tout ce qu'il y a de galant dans Paris = [MOLIERE, Les Predeuses Ridicules.'} You are going to nonplus all the nicest people in Paris. Kile est demeuree capot =^>\\& remained quite confused. Caque. La caque sent toujours le hareng=Wha.t is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. Us sont serres comme des harengs en caque = They are squeezed as flat as pancakes. Car. Voila Men des si, des mats et des cars = What a number of ifs, of buts, and wherefores ! Caractere. H a montre beaucoup de caractere = He showed himself a man of spirit. Je riavais pas de caractere pour agir dans Fesphe = I had no authority to act upon in that case. // a le caractere bien fait= He is good-tempered. Diseur de bans mots, mauvais caractere [PASCAL.] A jester has often a bad temper. Carat. C'est un sot a vingt-quatre carats = He is a com- plete fool. Careme. Cela vient comme maree en careme = It comes in the very nick of time, most seasonably. Cela arrive comme Mars en carttme = That comes regu- larly. It is sure to come. Precher sept ans pour un careme = To keep repeating the same thing to no purpose. Une face de careme A wan countenance. En caresme est de saison La maree et le sermon ; Se faire en ce temps chaircuitier \charcutier\ On n'y profite d'un denier = The fish-bringing tide and the sermon are seasonable 68 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS in Lent ; to establish one's self as a pork-butcher at that time is to make not a penny's profit. Caresser. Us caressent son orgueil - They flatter his pride. // caresse des reves ambitieux = He indulges in ambitious dreams. 11 y a long-temps gu'il caresse cet espoir = He has long been cherishing that hope. Carotte. // nfa tire une carotte [familiar] = He cunningly extorted money from me. Carpe. Vous baillez comme une carpe = You yawn your head off. Muet comme une carpe - As dumb as a fish. Faire la carpe pamee = To sham fainting. Carre*. C'esf une tete carree = He is an obstinate fellow. Une partie carree A party composed of four men and four women. Un carre d'asperges = A bed of asparagus. Carreau. // est reste sur le carreau = He was killed on the spot. Carrdment. -Je le lui at dit carrement=\ told him so bluntly. Carrosse.* Us roulent maintenant carrosse = They now keep their carriage. C'esf un cheval de carrosse = He is a coarse, brutal man. Carte. C'esf a vous a donner les cartes = \t is your deal. Avez-vous battu les cartes ? = Did you shuffle the cards ? // connait le dessous des cartes = He knows the ins and outs of the thing. C'esf elle qui brouille les cartes = She it is who sows dissension. * Carrosse, a coach, being derived from the feminine Italian sub- stantive carrozza, was originally feminine likewise " D'ou vient . . . Que toujours d'un valet la carrosse est suivie ? " RiGNIER. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 69 Les cartes sont brouillees entre eux = [See BROUILLER.] // ne perd pas la carte = He is wide-awake. He has his wits about him. // s'est fait tirer les cartes = He got his fortune told him. Nous jouons cartes sur table = We act frankly, openly. // sait faire des tours de cartes = He can show tricks with cards. Je vous ai donne carte blanche = [See BLANC.] Nous dinerons a la carte = We shall dine by the bill of fare. Quel chateau de cartes ! = What a pasteboard building ! Cas. Ce riest pas un cas pendable = It is no hanging matter. En tout cas = At any rate. En pareil cas = Under such circumstances. Auquel cas = In which case. C'est le cas ou jamais It is now or never. Hors le cas ou il refuserait = Unless he refused. Le cas echeant= In such a case. J'en fats le plus grand cas = I set a very high value upon it. // riest pas dans le cas de vous tromper = He is not capable of deceiving you. C'est Men le cas de dire que tout en ce monde est possible = One may well say that everything may happen in this world. Je trien fat's un cas de conscience = I make a scruple of it. Tout mauvais cas est niable = A man is never obliged to plead guilty. Casaque. // a tourne casaque = He is a turn-coat. He changed sides. Cassation. -Je me pourvoirai en cassation = I shall lodge a supreme appeal. I shall sue for a writ of error. Casse-COU. -fat crie : casse-cou /= I called out : danger ! Cet escalier est un vrai casse-cou = This staircase is a regular break-neck. Cet homnie est un casse-cou = This man is a dare-devil, a desperate character. 70 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Casser. 11 a eu le nez casse = He got his nose put out of joint. Qui casse les verres les paie = He that does the damage must answer for it. Le porto et tous les vins alcoolises me cassent la tete = Port and all alcoholised wines get into my head. SC Casser. // se cassera le nez, s'il s'entete = He will be balked, if he is obstinate. Ne vous cassez done pas la tete a ces enigmes = Don't puzzle your brains over those riddles. 11 s'est casse la tete d'un coup de pistolet = He blew his brains out. // commence a se casser He is beginning to break. Casse-tete. Ce travail est un vrai casse-tite = 'This is a real head-splitting work. Cause. -fai agi en connaissance de cause = I had good grounds for what I did. Je ne suis pas en cause = I have nothing to do with it. En tout etat de cause = In any and every case. Nous avons eu gain de cause contre ces coquins = We carried the day against those rogues. Je prendrai fait et cause pour vous I shall take your part. Je me tairai, et pour cause = I shall remain silent, and for a very good reason. Us feront cause commune avec nous = They will unite their efforts with ours. Jl fit une derniere tentative en desespoir de cause = He made a last and forlorn attempt. Ses heritiers ou ay ants-cause His heirs or assigns. Cautere. C'estun cautere sur une jambe de bois=\\. is a cautery on a wooden leg, i.e., a useless remedy. Caution. 11 est sujet a caution = He is not to be relied upon [i.e., not to be trusted except on bailJ\ Je veux caution bourgeoise [MoLi&RE, Les Precieuses Ridicules.} I want a trustworthy surety, a special bail. Sous caution = On bail. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 71 Ce. Sur ce, il nous congedia = Thereupon he dismissed us. Voila ce que c'est que de ne pas prendre conseil Such is the consequence of not seeking advice. Sije lefais, c'est que je ne puts m'en dispenser = If I do it, it is because I cannot help it. Vous auriez pu, ce me semble, ecrire = You might, it seems to me, have written. Ce que fai ri ! [familiar] = Didn't I laugh ! Ce que je donnerais pour voir cela ! [elliptical for, Je ne saurais vous dire ce que je donnerais] = What would I not give to see that ? Pour cefaire = To bring that result about. Ce n'est pas que j'y tienne /a/=Not that I care so much for it. Ce que je sais le mieux, c'est mon commencement : = [RACINE, Les Plaideurs.'] What I know best is my beginning. A ce qu'il dit= From what he says. A ce qu'il semble = As far as it appears. Ce que cest que cette jeunesse 1 = It is just like all young people. Les sardines etaient bonnes, mat's les huttres s'etaient gatees en chemin. Ce que c'est que de nous / * = [E. ABOUT, Les Jumeaux de I' Hdtel ComeiHe.] The sardines were good, but the oysters had got bad on the way. What poor things we are ! Cans. 11 sortde.ceans = He has just gone out of the house. Quoi I je souffrirai moi, qu'un cagot de critique Vienne usurper ceans un pouvoir tyrannique 1 = [MOLIERE, 7'arlufe.} What ! shall I suffer a bigoted critic to come and usurp a tyrannical power in this house ! * Ce qite c'est que de nous I This quaint ejaculation of the most witty of writers is an allusion to the double meaning of the word "huitre," which, besides designating in its sober academical sense that excellent bivalve, which of late has unfortunately become so scarce, or rather so dear not at all the same thing is also popularly applied in trivial language, and in a spirit by no means flattering, to a "soft," weak- headed party. 72 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Ceci. la creature la plus folle, la plus ceci, la plus cela qu'il soit possible d'irnaginer = [MME. DE SEVIGNE.] The most giddy, the most hoity-toity creature you could imagine. Ceinttire.* Bonne renommee vaut mieux que ceinture doree = A good name is better than riches. Cela. C'est bien cela / = That's it. C'est cela meme = That's the very thing. PTest-ce que cela ? = Is that all ? Comment cela 1 = How so ? Je me porte comme cela = I am so-so. Que voulez-vous que j'y fasse ? II est comme cela I can't help it. That's his way. Cela se croit si jolie I = She thinks herself so very pretty ! C'est parler, cela 1 = That is what I call to speak frankly. C'est ceci, c 'est cela = It is now one thing, now another. C'etait ceci, c'etait cela, C'etait tout, car les precieuses Font dessus tout les dedaigneuses = [LA FONTAINE.] It was now one thing, now another ; it was anything ; for prudes are scornful in all matters. Cendre. C'est unfeu qui couve, qui dort sous la cendre = It is a fire burning under the ashes. * Bonne renommee vaut mieux que ceinture doree. There is an historical fact to account for this contradistinction between a good name and a gilded belt. In the reigns of Kings Charles VI. and Charles VII. of France, edicts were issued in 1420 and 1446 for- bidding the use of gilded belts among women of loose life. These edicts were, in fact, a repetition of a royal ordinance to the same pur- pose which is supposed to have emanated from Blanche de Castille, the Queen of Louis VIII. But like many ordinances of olden times, and for that matter, like many recent parliamentary enactments also, these edicts were soon disregarded, and the gilded belts became so general that public opinion was driven in despair to console itself with the saying : Never mind ; a good name will prevail It is better than a rich belt FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 73 Le feu qui semble eteint souvent dort sous la cendre = [CORNEILLE.] The fire which seems extinguished often slumbers under the ashes. Cent. -Je vous le donne en cent=\ bet you a hundred to one. Centre. // cherche deux centres en un cerde ~Re is seeking for an impossible thing. Cercle.* Par une etrange anomalie de /angage, void un cerde ouvert qui se ferme et qui rouvert sera un cerde ferme = By a peculiar anomaly of language, here is an open club which is closed, and which when re- opened will become a close club. Ce're'monie. Ne faites pas de ceremonies = Do not stand on ceremonies. Visite de ceremonie = Formal visit. Cervelle. h'ous avons de nos pensionnaires qui sans doute etaient autrefois d'importants personnages de fines cervelles = [SAINTINE, Picciola.] We have amongst our inmates men who doubtless were formerly important personages men who had brains. Chacun. A chacun son du = Give the devil his due. A chacun selon ses ceuvres = Give every one his share. Chacun prend son plaisir ou il le trouve = Every one to his liking. Chacun le sien Every one his own. Chacun pour soi et le bon Dieu pour tous = Every one for himself, and God for us all. Chair. // n'esf ni chair, ni poisson = He is neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. fen at la chair de poule I shudder at it ; it makes my flesh creep. La resurrection de la chair = The resurrection of the body. In connection with these anomalous terms, see Note on AFFRONT. 74 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Pester entre cuir et chair '=To be dissatisfied without daring to show it. Rire entre cuir et chair =To laugh inwardly. Hacher menu comme chair a pate = To cut up as small as mince-meat. La chair la plus pres des os est la plus tendre The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat. En chair et en os = In flesh and blood. Un poulet bien en chair = A nice fat fowl. Chaire. Le roman ne peut reussir qu'a la condition de ne pas monter en chaire = [PAUL FEVAL.] A novel can only succeed on condition of not preaching. Chaise. Chaise a bascule Rocking-chair. Chaise a porteurs = Sedan-chair. Chambre. Chambre des Lords, Chambre des Communes = House of Lords, House of Commons. // a bien des chambres a louer dans la tete = He is rather cracked. Chambre d'ami= Spare bedroom. Chameau. Rejeter le moucheron et avaler le chameau = To strain at a gnat and to swallow a camel. Champ. // a pris la clef des champs = He has run away. Nous lui avons donne la clef des champs = We set him free. Je vous laisse le champ libre = I leave you a clear stage. // s'est sauve a travers champs = He has taken to his heels over hedge and ditch. // a toujours un ail aux champs et I'autre a la ville = He always keeps an eye to the main chance. // me fait Feffet d'etre aux champs = He appears to be uneasy. Un rien le met aux champs = He gets angry for a mere nothing. Donnez du champ a votre echelle = Stretch your ladder out. Battre aux champs [military] = To beat the drum for a salute (in honour of the Chief of the State). A tout bout de champ = Incessantly. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 75 Chance. La chance a tourne = T\ie tables are turned. Chance vattt mieux que bien jouer = Good luck is better than skill. // n'y a chance qui ne rechange = Fortune is incon- stant. Chandelle. // est venu se bruler a la chandelle = He came ^ and burnt his wings. A chaque saint sa chandelle = Honour where honour is due. Us brulent la chandelle par les deux bouts = [See BOUT.] // vous doit une belle chandelle = He has cause to be very thankful to you. La chandelle bru/e = [See BRULER.] Le jeu rien vaut pas la chandelle It does not cover the cost. C'est une economic de bouts de chandelle = [See BOUT.] fen ai vu trente-six chandelles = I was so stunned that I saw all the colours of the rainbow. Change. Les chiens ont pris le change = The dogs are on the wrong scent. Cela ne donnera pas le change au pays =- The country will not be easily imposed upon. fai perdu au change = 1 lost by the bargain. Lettre de change = Bill of exchange. Changer. Plus fa change, plus C'est la me me chose Every new change leaves things exactly as they were. II faut que cet enfant ait ete change en nourrice That child must be a changeling. // n'a pas ete change en nourrice = He is a chip of the old block. // changera de ton = He shall alter his manner. // est change en bien, en mal= He has changed for the better, for the worse. Nous avons change notre cheval borgne contre un aveugle = We have lost in the exchange. Ilvousfaudra changer de batterie = You will have to go to work in a different way. Tel change qui ne gagne pas = You may change and fare 76 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Chanson. Chansons que tout cela = That is all nonsense. Ce sont des chansons que tout cela. Je sais ce queje sais = [MOLIERE.] This is all idle talk. I know what I know. En France, tout finit par des chansons = In France, everything ends off with a song. Chantage. Ce miserable vtt de chantage = The wretch lives by the extortion of hush-money. Chanter. Ce riest pas a la poule a chanter devant le coq The wife owes submission to her husband. C'est comme si vous chantiez = You might as well talk to the wind. // chante toujours la meme chanson He is ever harping on the same string. Qu'est-ce qrfil vient nous chanter ? = What on earth does the man mean ? Je lui ai chante sa gamme = I rated him soundly. Us ont voulu le faire chanter = They tried to extort money from him by threats of public exposure (or by promises of public eulogy). Je le ferai chanter sur un autre ton I'll make him sing to another tune. Tel chante qui n'a joie ^oy is occasionally put on to disguise sorrow. Tous /es jours, tour a tour Elle nous chantait pouille, avant la fin du jour = [DESTOUCHES.] Every day, by turns, she called us names, before the day was over. Chantier. 11 a un nouvel ouvrage sur le chantter=H.Q has a new work in preparation. Chapelet. Nous avons defile chacun notre chapelet=^L%ek of us told his story. Chapitre. Elle se plaint de ri avoir pas voix au chapitre = She complains that she is not consulted that she has no voice in the matter. Une fois sur ce chapitre y elle en a long a dire = When once on this subject, she has a great deal to say. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 77 Chapitrer. Je I'ai chapitr'e comme il faut= I lectured him properly. Chapon. Chapon de huit mot's, chapon de rot's = An eight months' capon is a kingly fare. Qui chapon mange, chapon lui vient = He that has plenty shall have more. Qui chapon donne, chapon lui vient = One present brings another in return. Chaque. Chaque oiseau trouve son nid l>eau = YLome is home, be it ever so homely. Chaque tete, chaque avis = Many men, many minds. Chaque pays a sa guise = Many countries, many customs. Charbonnier.* Charbonnier est maitre chez lui = An Englishman's house is his castle. * Charbonnier est mattre chez lui. This old proverb is but another form of a still older saying : ' ' Or, par droit et par raison, Chacun est maitre en sa maison," and is supposed to have originated, in this later wording, at the time of Francis I., who is indeed made to play a gracious part in the story adduced. We are told that His Majesty, when out hunting, got separated from his suite and sought shelter in a charcoal-burner's hut. This man was not otherwise than hospitable to his unknown visitor ; but still he claimed to keep for himself the only decent chair he owned in his cottage, quoting in explanation, we are told, the above not very civil maxim. The supper was very good, as it consisted of a haunch of venison, the proceeds of the charcoal-burner's poaching on the royal preserves, about which of course he took care to recommend the greatest discretion, for fear the matter should reach the ears of Grand- Nez (His Majesty's popular nickname). We may imagine the poor coal-burner's feelings the next morning when, on the royal hunting party turning up, he recognised King Francis in the gentleman on whom he had bestowed his uncourteous proverb and his stolen venison. His French Majesty, however, showed himself a noble prince ; for we are told that by way of rewarding the poor "charbonnier" for his hospitality, Francis actually gave him the benefit of certain rights in connection with the royal forest, and it is even said was pleased to grant him certain privileges to be enjoyed by the whole corporation of charcoal-burners. 78 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Charge. Ce sont de lourdes charges = These are heavy expenses. Us ont etc laisses a la charge de la commune = They have been left on the parish. // est a charge a safamille = He is a burden to his family. // reviendra a la charge He will be at it again. Un homme d'esprit, et d'un caractere simple et droit, pent tomber dans quelque piege. 11 riy a qu'a perdre pour ceux qui viendraient a une seconde charge, il ri est tromp'e qd une fois = [LA BRUYERE.] A sensible man, candid and upright, may fall into a snare. But any one who would attempt again to victimise him would fare badly ; for he is not to be taken in more than once. J'y consens ; mais a la charge d'autant=\ consent; but on condition that you will do as much for me. II fait de son role une vraie charge = He exaggerates his part and makes a caricature of it. Temoins a charge = Witness for the prosecution. Femme de charge = Housekeeper. // s'est demis de sa charge He has resigned his place. Charger. Sa description est un pen chargee = The story is rather amplified. 77 charge trop ses roles = He overdoes his parts. Je ne puis pas m'en charger =\ cannot take it upon myself. Et Monsieur le Cure De quelque nouveau saint charge toujours son prone = [LA FONTAINE.] And M. le Cure is always lugging in a new saint into his sermon. Charite*. Charite Men ordonnee commence par soi-meme = Charity begins at home. II fait g'enereusement la charite= He gives alms liberally. Charlemagne.* Faire Charlemagne To withdraw from * There seems to be only one way of accounting for this expression : Faire Charlemagne. Here it is as suggested by M. Genin in his " Notes stir le Dictionnaire Franfais " : "I can only trace this phrase FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 79 the card-table after pocketing large profits without giving one's adversaries the chance of winning back their money. Charme. -Cela vous va comme un charme \\. fits you to a T. Elle seporte comme un charme = She is in excellent health. J'etais sous le charme [E. ABOUT.] I was spell-bound. Charretier.- 11 jure comme un charretier = He swears like a trooper. // n'est si bon charretier qui ne verse = It is a good horse that never stumbles. Charrette. Mieux vaut etre cheval que charrette = Better lead than be led. Charrue. Mettre la charrue devant les bxufs To put the cart before the horse. Charybde. Tomber de Charybde en Scylla = To fall out of the frying-pan into the fire. Chasse. Chasse a courre au tir au vol= Coursing shooting fowling. La chasse estfermee = The shooting season is closed. Habit de chasse = Shooting-jacket. Donner la chasse aux gens portant baton = To drive away beggars. [LA FONTAINE -] Chasser. // chasse de race = He is a chip of the old block. La f aim chasse le loup des bois [See Bois.] Qui deux choses chasse, ni fune ni fautre ne prend= Between two stools one falls to the ground. Leurs chiens ne chassent pas ensemble "They are not on good terms with each other. to an allusion to the death of Charlemagne, which occurred at the time of the greatest power of the Prankish Western Empire. Charlemagne kept undiminished to the end all his conquests across the Rhine and beyond the Pyrenees and the Alps, and left the game of life without having lost any portion of the fruit of his victories. The player that retires with his hands full is supposed to do like Charlemagne. 11 fail Charlemagne" And it may be remarked that one of the four kings in a pack of cards does bear the name of Charlemagne. Anyhow, we have here a very great name strangely attached to a very shabby action. 8o FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Un clou chasse Pautre = One fancy, or passion, drives out another. // chasse aux blancs moineaux = He wastes his time in running after impossibilities. lls chassent sur nos terres = They encroach upon our prerogatives. Ce navire chasse sur son ancre The ship drags her anchor. Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop = [DESTOUCHES.] What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. Chat. Ne reveillez pas le chat qui dort= Let sleeping dogs lie. When sorrow is asleep wake it not. A bon chat, bon rat= r T\t for tat; Diamond cut dia- mond; A Roland for an Oliver; Set a thief to catch a thief. Quand les chats n'y sont pas, les souris dansent=VJ\\en the cat's away, the mice will play. Chat echaude craint /'eaufroide = Once bit, twice shy ; A burnt child dreads the^ fire ; A burnt dog dreads the fire. [See Note on ECHAUDE.] Je ne veux pas acheter chat en poche = I won't buy a pig in a poke. La nuit tous les chats sont gris When candles are away all cats are grey. Se servir de la patte du chat pour tirer les marrons du feu = To make a cat's-paw of any one. // n'y a pas la de quoi fouetter un chat= It is a mere trifle. It is not worth making a fuss about. Us ont d'autres chats a fottetter =T\iey have other fish to fry. Ce chanteur a un chat dans la gorge = That singer has something the matter with his throat. J'appelleun chat un chat=\ don't mince matters; I call a spade a spade. J'appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet un fripon [BOILEAU.] I call a spade a spade, and Rolet a thief. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 8 1 // n'y avait pas un chat dans la rue = There was not a soul in the street. Us s'accordent comme chiens et chats = They lead a cat and dog life. Chat emmitoufle rtattrape pas de soun's = The cat in gloves catches no mice. // le guette comme le chat fait la souris = He watches him as narrowly as a cat does a mouse. On vous jettera chat aux jambes = They will lay the sin at your door. // a passe sur cette affaire comme chat sur braise = He passed rapidly over that matter, like a cat on hot bricks. * Un tel n j a pas de bon vin : JVon, c'est le chat ! = Such-a-one has no good wine Don't you believe that! Chateau.! II fait souvent des chateaux en Espagne^o. often builds castles in the air. Chateau de cartes = A pretty but flimsily-built country house. Chatier. Qui aime bien chatie bien = [See AIMER.] * This jocular phrase, Un tel ne vend pas de bon vin Non, c'est le chat 1 which I have thought right to introduce here, is to be met with in Brittany, especially in the western districts of the Bretagne Breton- nante, over the entrance-door of almost every country inn. The last word of this truly idiomatic expression is generally replaced by a more or less artistic picture of a cat. t Faire des chateaux en Espagne is to indulge in dreams of great material success or high social distinction which can never be realised. So far the idea of " chateaux " is comprehensible. But why in Spain ? Apparently because when this expression was first introduced, there was no chateau, no great country-house in the Peninsula, and therefore it implies looking forward to what does not exist. And, by way of accounting for that fact, it is recorded that at the time when the Moorish incursions were frequent, the kings of Spain did actually forbid that any castles should be erected in the country for fear the Moors should take possession of them and turn them into fortresses. " Une reverie sans corps et sans sujet," says Montaigne (as far back as the i6th century), " regente notre ame et 1'agite ; que je me mette a faire des chasteaux en Espaigne, mon imagination m'y forge des com- modites et des plaisirs desquels mon ame est reellement chatouillee et rejouie." VOL. I. F 82 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Chaild. 11 faut batlre le fer pendant gu'il est chaud= One must strike the iron while it is hot One must make hay while the sun shines. Tomber de fievre en chaud mal To fall from a bad state into a worse one. To fall out of the frying-pan into the fire. 11 en park bien a son aise : il a les pieds chauds It is all very well for him to speak of it in that way : he is in very comfortable circumstances. Elle pleurait a chaudes larmes = ^>\\& was crying bitterly. Cela ne fera ni chaud ni froid= r rha.t will make no difference whatever. Cela ne lui fait ni chaud ni froid= It leaves him per- fectly indifferent. // n'a eu rien de plus chaud que dialler leur en parler = The first thing he did was to go and tell them of it. Arriere ceux dont la bouche Souffle le chaud et le froid= [LA FONTAINE.] I will have nothing to do with those whose mouths blow hot and cold. Chaudron. Couvercle digne du chaudron = The lid matches the caldron. // rencontrait gens aussi fous que lui, et comme dit le proverbe, couvercle digne du chaudron = [RABELAIS.] He met people as mad as himself, and, as the proverb has it, the caldron and the lid were a good match. Chauffer. Ce n 'est pas pour vous que le four chauffe = Don't you wish you may get it ? se Chauffer. -Je vous ferai voir de quel bois je me chauffe = I will show you what mettle I am made of. Chaumiere. Chaumiere ou I* on rit vaut mieux que palais ou fon pleure = K mirthful hut is better than a sorrowful palace. Chausser. Les cordonniers sont les plus mal chausses = Nobody is worse shod than the shoemaker's wife. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 83 Chaussure. II a trouve chaussure a son pied He found what he wanted ; he met with his match. Chauve.* L occasion est chauve = Opportunity is not easily got hold of. Chaux. II faut qu'il soit bati a chaux et a sable =*Re. must have an iron constitution. La chaux enrichit le pere et ruine les enfants = Land manured to excess must eventually lose its fertility. Chef. -21 a fait cela de son chef He has done that by his own authority, on his own responsibility. 11 a eu cette terre du chef de so. femme = He came in for that land by right of his wife. C'est impolitique au premier chef It is most impolitic. Vous avez fait la un beau chef-d'oeuvre [ironically] = That's a fine piece of work of yours ! Chernin. II f era surementson chemin = He is sure to get on. // n'y va pas par quatre chemins = He goes straight to the point. Jtebroussons chemin = Let us trace our way back. Le grand chemin des vaches The plain road. // prend le chemin de l'hopital= He is on the way to the workhouse. Le chemin des ecoliers = The longest way round. // va son petit bonhomme de chemin = [See BONHOMME.] Passez votre chemin Go along with you. Get ecolier a fait Men du chemin depuispeu = That school- boy has made capital progress lately. * L? occasion est chauve. The English saying is "To take time by the forelock"; the French say, " Prendre 1'occasion aux cheveux." Here we have the proverbial statement that " Occasion is bald." There is, however, no contradiction in these phrases. On the contrary, they confirm each other. For whilst the forelock means the hair in front of the head, the baldness alluded to in the present saying refers to the back of the head. As a matter of history, the ancients repre- sented Occasion by the figure of a woman with locks flowing down her face, so as to allow of her being easily got hold of by the first person who met her, whilst she had no hair at her back, by which allegory they meant to convey the idea that on the one hand a good opportunity was placed before a wide-awake energetic party, but there was on the other hand no means of catching the symbolical female in her flight when once she was allowed to pass by unseized. 84 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS // est arrive a la fortune par un chemin de velours He found an easy road to fortune. Vous ri!en prenez guere le chemin You hardly go the right way to work. Chemin faisant= On the way. A chemin battu il ne croit pas cTherbe = No profit can accrue in an affair wherein too many are engaged. There are too many of the trade. Avec le florin, langue et latin, par tout funivers on trouve le chemin = With the florin, a tongue in your mouth and the command of Latin, you can find your way all over the world. Ne vous arretez pas en si beau chemin = Do not give up the game when so near the goal. Tout chemin mene a Rome = There are more ways than one of doing a thing. En tout pays, il y a une lieue de mauvais chemins = Every enterprise is fraught with difficulties. Bonne terre, mauvais chemin = In fat lands the roads are bad. Vieux comme les chemins = As old as the hills. Cheminee. llfautfaire une croix a la cheminee We must chalk that up. // se chauffe a la cheminee du roi Rene = He warms himself in the sun. Sous la cheminee, sous le manteau de la cheminee = Privately, clandestinely. Chemise. 11 y mangera jusqu' a sa chemise- = He will ruin himself rather than give up that enterprise. II joueraitjusqu'a sa chemise = He would gamble away everything, to the shirt off his back. Que ta chemise ne sache ta guise Keep your thoughts innermost to yourself. Or il est bon que l>on vous disc Quentre la chair et la chemise II faut cacher le bien qu^ on fait [LA FONTAINE.] It is right one should tell you that you must do good without ostentation [literally, Conceal the good you do between your flesh and your shirt]. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 85 Chene. On n!abat pas un chene au premier coup = No oak is felled at one stroke. Chercher. Allez le chercher = Go for it. Venez le chercher = Come for it. Envoyez le chercher = Send for it. Chere. Nous eumes chere de commissaire = 'We had a regular Lord Mayor's feast. On y fait maigre chere = T\\ey live poorly there. 21 n'est chere que de vilain = There is nothing like a miser's feast. Grande chere, petit testament '=A fat kitchen makes a lean will. Cheval. // n'est si bon cheval qui ne bronche = [See BRONCHER.] A cheval donne on ne regardepas a la dent= Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Beggars must not be choosers. C'est son grand cheval de bataille That's his favourite subject of argument. C'est un excellent cheval de trompette = He can stand any noise. He is not easily dismayed. Un vieux cheval de retour = A. ticket-of-leave man. Je lui ai ecrit une lettre a cheval '=1 wrote him a very severe letter. // est a cheval sur I' etiquette = ~Re is a stickler for etiquette. Monter sur ses grands chevaux To ride the high horse. To be upon the high ropes. // a change son cheval borgne contre un aveugle = He did not gain anything by his bargain. On loge a pied et a cheval= Good accommodation for man and beast. L'ceil du mattre engraisse le cheval = There is nothing like the master's eye to make matters prosper. Figure de cheval = Violent fever. Travail de cheval =Nery hard work. Chevalier. Un chevalier d'industrie = A swindler. A sharper. Chevet. // a trouve cela sous son chevet=He has dreamt of that. 86 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cheveu. Cela fait dresser les cheveux sur la //=One cannot see. C'est clair comme le jour = It's as clear as daylight C'est clair et net, riest-ce pas ? = That is quite plain, is it not ? L 'affaire C. If. riajamais tie tir'ee au clair = The C. H. affair has never been cleared up. II fait clair de lune = It is moonlight. // a gaspille le plus clair de son bien = He has run through the best part of his property. Us sont dair-semes = They are thinly scattered. Claque. C'est bien dommage que Von riessaie pas une bonne fois de se debarrasser de cette affreuse claque dans nos theatres = 1\. is a great pity that serious efforts are not made to get rid of those objectionable paid applauders in our theatres. Classe. A la rentree des classes On the reopening of school or college. Clef. Us ont mis la clef sous la porte = They have bolted. // a pris la clef des champs = He has run away. Fermez la porte a clef= Lock the door. On appelle la Pensylvanie^ FEtat clef de voute The State of Pennsylvania is called the key-stone of the American vault. Un trousseau de clefs = A bunch of keys. Clef d'or ouvre toutes les portes = A full purse makes the mouth speak. Clerc. Vous avezfait la unpas de clerc=You have made a blunder. On peut pr'edire sans etre grand derc qu'il rien sortira rien de bon = It is easy to foretell, without being very knowing, that no good will come out of it. // ne faut pas parler latin devant les dercs One must avoid speaking on a subject before those who have made a special study of it Les plus grands dercs ne sont pas toujours les plus fins = The most learned men are not always the most skilful. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 9 1 IV' en deplaise a^(x docteurs, cordeliers, jacobins, Mafoi, les phis grands clercs ne sont pas les plus fins = [REGNIER.] Whatever Doctors, Franciscans, and Jacobins may think, the most learned men, upon my word, are not the shrewdest. Clin. En un din d'oeil= In the twinkling of an eye. Cloche. Vous etes heureux de rietre pas sujet au coup de cloche = You are a lucky man to have the command of your time, i.e., not to be subject to the call of the bell. On fait dire aux cloches tout ce qu'on veut= As the bell clinketh, so the fool thinketh. A Paris, le bruit des cloches dit tout ce qu'on leur fait dire= [ALEX. DUMAS.] In Paris you can explain a report, or rumour, as you please. Mes locataires ont demenag'e a la cloche de bois My tenants have run away without paying their rent. Qui rientend qrfune cloche rientend qu'un .swz = You must hear both sides. One tale holds good until another is heard. // est temps de fondre la cloche = It is time to act. // est penaud comme un fondeur de cloche = He is dis- mayed at a failure which he thought impossible. Clocher (Subst.). // n'a jamais perdu de vue le clocher de son village = He does not know the world ; he has never been out of his village. // faut placer le clocher au milieu de la paroisse = A thing that is intended for ail should be placed within the reach of all. Course au clocher = Steeplechase. Clocher (Verb). // ne faut pas clocher devant les bolteux One should do nothing to remind people of a natural defect or to make them feel their inferiority. Le raisonnement cloche = The argument is lame. Ce vers cloche That line halts, the measure is wrong. 11 y a quelque chose qui cloche dans F affaire = There is a hitch in the case. 92 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Clos. Bouchc c/ose/=Keep your own counsel ! En champ clos In the lists. A huis clos = With closed doors, the public being excluded. Clou. Un clou chasse l'autre = QnQ thought, one fancy, drives out another. Je lui ai rive son clou = I shut his mouth. I gave him a clincher. // est gras comme ^m cent de clous = He is as thin as a lath. // a pu compter les clous de la porte = He was kept wait- ing a long time at the door. Ce sera le clou de P Exposition de 1900 = 11 will be the wonder of wonders of the Exhibition of 1900. Clouer. La maladie continue de le clouer dans son lit= Illness still confines him to his bed. Cocagne. Pays de cocagne = Land flowing with milk and honey. Mat de cocagne = Greased Maypole. Coche. 11 a manque le coche="Re missed the tide. He let the opportunity slip. Cochon. Camarades comme cochons = Nery thick together. Avoir garde les cochons ensemble = To be hail fellow well met. Cceur. A cceur vaillant rien d* impossible = h. stout heart can overcome all difficulties. // Pa fait a contre-cceur = He did it reluctantly. Us s'en donnent a cceur-joie They enjoy themselves to their heart's content. C'est un creve-c(Kur '=It is a heart-burning thing. Elle a le cil vous plait No impertinent remarks, if you please. Commerce. Ce sont de braves gens d'un commerce siir = They are worthy people, whose discretion may be relied upon. II cherche a ceder son fonds de commerce = He is trying to part with his business. Com mere. Tout se fait, tout va par compere et par corn- mere = Everything is done by favour, by recom- mendation. Le monde ne se gouverne quepar compare etpar commere = [FREDERIC II.] The world is entirely ruled by personal conside- rations. Commis. Commis voyageur = A commercial traveller. Commode. // n'est pas toujours commode = He is not always comeatable, well-disposed. Voila qui est commode [ironically] = Well, that's very cool ! Commun. Le commun des morteJs = The generality of men. Uun commun accord By common consent. D'une commune voix = Unanimously. // est du commun des martyrs = There is nothing to distinguish him from the crowd. L'dne du commun est toujours k plus malbat'e [See ANE] = Matters of public concern are generally the most neglected. Qui serf au commun serf a pas un What is every- body's business is nobody's. VOL. I. G 98 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Compagnie. Us sont de bonne compagnie = T\\&y are well bred. Ne nous faussez pas compagnie = Don't break your promise to join us. Don't give us the slip. // vaut mieux fare seul qiJen mauvaise compagnie = Better be alone than badly attended. // n'y a si bonne compagnie qdil ne faille quitter The best friends must part. Compagnon. Qui a compagnon a mattre = No man can always have his own way with associates. C'esf un joyeux compagnon = He is a merry fellow. I Is se traitent de pair a compagnon = They go cheek by jowl. Us ont tra-vaille a depeche compagnon = They worked with careless haste. Comparaison. Comparaison riestpas raison = A compari- son proves nothing. Compas. // a le compas dans Fceil= He has a good eye for distances. Us font tout par regie et par compas = They are very particular. They do everything by rule and compass. Compare. C'esf un ruse compre='Re is a cunning dog. Compliment. -Je vous en fais mon compliment [ironical] = I wish you joy. Composition. // esf enfin venu ci, composition = He at last came to terms. Compote. Le malheureux avait les yeux en compote = The wretched fellow's eyes were black and blue. Comptant. Argent comptant = Ready money. D'abord, V argent en main, paye, et vite et comptant = [BOILEAU, Satires.} First of all, with your money in hand, pay quickly and ready money. Compte. -J*ai mon compte = I have my due. Son compte est regie He is done for. Vous y trouverez votre compte = You will find it to your advantage. A bon compte At a small cost. On easy terms. Cela fera un compte rond=\\. will make even money. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 99 Vous etes fort loin de compte=-^lo\\ are quite out in your reckoning. Le compte est arrete = The account is agreed upon. Rendez-vous bien compte qu'en donnant aux mendiants des rues, vous ne faites pas la charite, mais le con- traire de la charite = Just understand this, that in giving alms to the beggars in the streets, you are not practising charity, but you are doing the reverse of it. Au bout du compte = After all. Upon the whole. Erreur n' est pas compte = Errors excepted. A tout bon compte revemr=Qne has a right to control an account, i.e., to go again over it. Us operent de compte a demi = They are partners in the enterprise. A chacun son compte = To every one his due. Cela ne faisait pas leur compte That did not answer their purpose. II y en a vingt, tous comptes faits There are twenty of them, in reckoning accurately, all told. II faut tenir compte de P inexperience de fajeunesse = We must take into account make allowance for the inexperience of youth. // ne tient ni compte ni mesure = He leaves everything at sixes and sevens. Je prends cela sur mon compte I hold myself responsible for that. Vous nfen rendrez compte You shall answer for it. Je sais a quoi m'en tenir sur son compte I know what to think of him. Le prince fait grand compte de /&/ = The prince values him very much. J I faut leur rendre compte de tout=Q\\e must account ^ to them for everything. A ce compte- la = Such being the case. Pour solde de compte = In settlement of account. Mettez cela en ligne de compte = Take that into account. Les bans comptes font les bons amis Short reckonings make long friends. Je voulais me rendre compte de P affaire = I wanted to get a clear idea of the case. 100 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Compte". Marcher a pas cotnptes = n o> walk with measured steps, deliberately. Tout compte, tout rabattu = After careful investigation. Brebis comptees, le loup ks mange = In spite of careful reckoning, one gets robbed. Compter. A compter de demain = From to-morrow. Be- ginning from to-morrow. On lui compte les morceaux = They only give him the strictly necessary. Nous comptons partir demain We propose setting out to-morrow. Qui compte sans son hote compte deux fois = He who reckons without his host, must reckon over again. Count not your chickens before they are hatched. SC Concevoir. Cela se ?/#= That is easily accounted for. Concourir. Tout concourt a sa ruine = Everything con- spires to his ruin. Concurrence. Je me suis forte caution pour lui jusqu'a concurrence de dix nolle francs = I became security for him to the extent of ten thousand francs. Condamnation. Condamnation par defaut Judgment by default. Condamner. -J'ai Vintention de condamner cette porte et cette fenetre = \ intend to have this door nailed up, and this window blocked up. Condition. Le " Bon Marche " et les " Magasins du Louvre " livrent trh-obligeamment leurs marchandises a condition = The " Bon Marche " and the " Maga- sins du Louvre " most obligingly deliver their goods on condition of their being taken back if not approved. " Conditionnel." * Le bruit court que la forteresse aurait * This idiomatic use of the conditional, which I have never seen alluded to in any educational work, is very peculiar. It implies a doubt in the accuracy of a report, or in the probability of a surmise. Filippo concourrait ? [COPPEE.] Is it possible that F. will compete ? On the other hand, in the rendering of English into French, the FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS IO1 ete emportee (Passant There is a rumour that the fortress has been carried by storm. Ferait-elle des vceux pour mon succes ? = [COPPEE.] Can it be that she is anxious for my success ? Conduire. Permettez-moi de vous conduire jusque chez voiis = Allow me to see you home. // conduit bien sa barque = He manages his affairs well. // conduit la barque = It is he who directs the concern. Conduisez monsieur au salon Show the gentleman to the drawing-room. // suit tres-bien conduire = He is a very good whip. // conduit a grandes guides He drives four-in-hand. Elle conduit a deux et a quatre = She drives a pair and a four-in-hand. Conduite. Nous vous ferons tous la conduite = VJe shall all see you off. Confesser. Une faute confessee est a demi pardonnee = A fault confessed is half forgiven. C'est le diable a confesser= It is a very hard job. Confession. On lui donnerait le bon Dieu sans confession = He looks so innocent, one would trust him to any extent. SC Confirmer. II y a de Fespoir : le mieux se confirme = There is hope : he continues to get better. conditional is rationally substituted for the preterite, which, in certain English constructions, presents a striking anomaly. For instance, being given this sentence : "A prize had been offered to the first man who detected a crocodile," the English preterite "detected" must be replaced in French by the conditional, the only tense which can be held correct here : " Un prix avait ete offert au premier marin qui decouvrirait un crocodile." Again, in a sentence like this : " You had promised to look me up the next time you came this way," the preterite " came " is undoubtedly illogical, and in French we must say : " Vous aviez promis de venir me voir la prochaine fois que vous passcricz par ici." The conditional is meant the conditional must be used. There should be concordancy between the time implied and the tense em- ployed. In the same way, a sentence like this : "Think of it when next you write " must be rendered : Pensez-y la prochaine fois que vous ecrirez. The future is meant the future must be used. 102 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Confondre. // ne faut pas confondre autour avec alentour (familiar) = One must not mix up two things entirely different. Conge*. // a donne conge = He has given warning. // a recu conge He has received notice to quit. CongTU. Elk en est reduite a la portion congrue = She is reduced to a meagre pittance. Conjurer. Pour conjurer le danger = To ward off the danger. Connaissance. En connaissance de cause = With a thorough knowledge of the matter. Nous nous trouvions en pays de connaissance = We were among old acquaintances. Elle perdit connaissance = She fainted. Connaitre. 11 est connu comme le loup blanc = Everybody knows him. Je ne le connais ni d'Eve^ ni d'Adam = He is quite a stranger to me. // gagne aetre connu = ~H.e improves on acquaintance. Tous les articles sont marques en chiffres connus = All articles are marked in plain figures. Connu ! = You needn't tell me ! That's an old story ! That won't do ! La botanique, fa me connait (familiar) = I am at home in botany, I know something about it. SC Connaitre. Je -nfy connais = I know what I am about. Vous connaissez-vous en chevaux ? ' = Are you a judge of horse-flesh? Are you a connoisseur in horse- flesh? 21 ne se connaissait plus = ^Q was beside himself. Conseil. La nuit porte c0nsett=Take counsel of your pillow. A parti pris pas de conseil Advice is useless to one who has made up his mind. A chose faite conseil pris = Advice after the deed is done is superfluous. Cet homme a bientot assemble son conseil That man acts on his own impulse. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 103 Conseiller. Aimez qtfon vous conseille, et non pas qu'on vous loue= [BOILEAU.] Seek advice, not praise. Conseilleur. Les conseilleurs ne sont pas les payeurs=\\. is one thing to give advice, it is quite another to take the responsibility. Consentir. Qui ne dit mot consent = Silence gives consent. Consequence. Cela ne tire pas a consequence = That is of no consequence. Sa legerete ne tire pas a consequence = Her giddiness is innocent enough. Cela ne doit pas tirer a consequence = That must not be quoted as a precedent. Consigne. Mettez votre bagage a la consigne = Leave your luggage in the cloak-room. Consigner. Les troupes sont consignees = The troops are confined in their barracks. Je Pai consigne a ma porte - 1 have given orders not to let him in. Contact. // vous faut prendre contact avec vos electeurs=- You must put yourself in touch with your electors. Conte. Un conte a dormir debout A silly story an old woman's tale. Un conte de ma Mere /'<% = A Mother Goose's tale. Contenance. Ne perdez pas contenance = Do not be abashed. Ne lui faites pas perdre contenance = Don't put her out of countenance. Sa contenance etait si bonne, que je resolus aussi, moi t de faire bonne contenance = [VICTOR HUGO.] His face was so good that I too resolved to put a good face upon the matter. Contentement. Contentement passe richesse = Content is beyond riches. Contenter. On ne saurait contenter tout le monde et son pere = One cannot please all the world and his wife. 104 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Center. Vous nous en contez de belles = You are trifling with us ; you are telling us fine stories. C'est un matin a qui on n'en conte pas= He is a sharp fellow, not to be taken in. Contrat. Le contrat de manage est redige = The marriage articles are drawn up. Centre. -Je le defendrai envers et contre tous = I will defend him against all comers. 21 y a du pour et du contre = Much may be said pro and con. Contre-partie. Quoi qu'on lui dise, il prend toujours la contre-partie He always misconstrues what is said to him. Contre-pied. -// a pris justement le contre-pied= He has done exactly the reverse. Controle. // a ete raye des controles = He was struck out of the lists. Controler. Ce bijou ri est pas controle = ^\\v-> jewel is not hall-marked. Converti. Vous prechez tin converti = You are trying to persuade a man already convinced. Coq. // est heureux comme un coq en pate He is in clover [literally, like a cock that is being fattened]. He is as happy as a fighting cock. // etait rouge comme un coq = He was as red as a turkey-cock. C'esf le coq du village = He is the cock of the walk. Des coq-a-l'dne = Cock and bull stories. Coqueluche.* 11 est la coqueluche desfemmes=He is the favourite of the sex. * Eire la coqueluche de la cotir, de la ville, du quartier, du tht&tre, to be a great favourite at court, in town, in the district, or among the habitual frequenters of the theatre. The coqueluchon or coqueluche was a kind of hood very generally worn at certain periods of the year, which seems to have given its name to the hooping-cough, because those who were attacked by that illness wore a coqueluche or monk's hood to keep their head warm. The wearing of this hood soon spread, and became an article of fashion, FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 105 Coquerico. Entendez-vous Veternel coquerico de ce fail Do you hear that fop's everlasting cock-a-doodle-do ? Coquetterie. 11 est en coquetterie reglee avecce parti =~K& is regularly coquetting with that party. Coquille. Les howmes les plus defiants ont souvent des coquilles sur les yeux The most mistrustful men are often stone-blind. // est rentre dans sa coquille He drew in his horns. // ne fait que sortir de sa coquille = He is very young ( hardly out of his egg's shell. A qui vendez-vous vos coquilles ? = Do not flatter your- self that you will do me. Portez a d'autres vos coquilles = No tricks upon travellers. // fait bien valoir ses coquilles He makes the best of his merit. // ne donne pas ses coquilles He does not give away his goods. Je vois plusieurs coquilles sur cette epreuve I see several wrong letters on this (printer's) proof. Les traducteurs etrangers nous donnent parfois d'amu- santes coquilles* Foreign translators sometimes favour us with amusing blunders. especially amongst women, and thus it came to be said of a man who is a general favourite with the fair sex, that " toutes les femmes en sont coiffees," and that he is their " coqueluche," See higher up the foot- note on " Coiffe." * A long list might be drawn up of blunders in translations from one language into another. Two samples are given farther on in the footnotes on " Mieux " and " Montre." But for that matter, natives are also apt to amuse us occasionally with the queerest blunders, as for instance, when the late celebrated French critic, J. J., spoke of the lobster as le cardinal de la mer, forgetting for the moment, with true journalistic precipitancy, that this excellent crustacean is red only when boiled, and does not at all remind one of a Prince of the Church by its normal garb in the sea. With regard to printer's coquilles, I am in a position to assert, after a very long connection as teacher or examiner with many of the leading English Public Schools, that they are mere flea-bites in comparison with the schoolboy's coquilles, witness, inter imdta alia, the case of that supercilious alumnus, evidently with Tory propensities, who dismissed an Essay (?) on Horace Walpole with this laconic statement : Suffice to say that Horace Walpole was a Wig (sic !). 106 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Coquin. O rheureux coquin / = O the lucky dog ! Cor. On le demandait a cor et a cri=They were clamour- ing for it [literally, With horn and cry, as game is pursued]. On vous cherche a cor et a crt = They are looking for you with hue and cry. Corde. // a plusieurs cordes a son arc = He has more than one string to his bow. Un habit use jus gu' a la corde = k threadbare coat. Ce tour est use jusqu*a la cor 'de = That is a stale trick. Cette excuse montre la corde = That excuse is very shallow. Cet homme montre la corde = That man is at his last shift. Pour lefer, /eu * = I have a first-rate cook. Come. -J'&ifait une corne a ma carte = I turned down the corner of my visiting card. Ne faites pas de cornes a ce livre = Don't dog's-ear that book. Corneille. Allans, vous, vous revez, etbayez aux corneilles = [MOI.lfeRE.] Come, you there, you are dreaming and gaping in the air. Corner. On le lui a assez corne aux oreilles = It was dinned enough into his ears. Les oreilles ont du bien vous corner = Your ears must have tingled. Cornichon. On a ete jusqrfa le traiter de cornichon [familiar] = They went so far as to call him a greenhorn. * As it has been philosophically remarked, it is a striking instance of the uncertainty of human things that the word cordon bleu, with its ancient noble associations, should have completely disappeared from our institutions and our language, to be preserved only as a flattering epithet for a skilful cook. The " Blue Ribbon " referred originally to the most exalted Order of the Holy Ghost, created in 1578 by King Henri III., and blended by His Majesty with the Order of St. Michael, which had been founded in 1469 by Louis XI. That very exclusive Order consisted only of one hundred members, and the King of France was its Grand-Master. The ribbon was worn slung over the left shoulder, and the Knights were generally spoken of as Cordons b/eus, whilst the Knights of the Order of St. Louis were called Cordons rouges. This blue ribbon being a most special distinction [very different in every respect from certain ribbons, red, violet, and so forth, that adorn the coat, and overcoat too, of so many of our contemporaries of all nationalities and professions], and being reserved for a very limited number of personages who occupied a high rank in French society, the custom was eventually introduced of giving, by analogy, the name of Cordon bleu to individuals of superior merit, down to professional cooks. And thus it has come to pass that, whilst the most noble Order of the Holy Ghost, after having been abolished at the Great Revolu- tion, and re-established at the Restoration in 1815, finally disappeared in 1830, the designation of "Cordon bleu" has survived amongst the adepts of Vatel, Careme, and Brillat-Savarin. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 1 09 Corps. J'ai le corps brise, moulu I feel knocked up, exhausted. Je prends trap de corps = I am getting too stout. Us ont lutte corps a corps = They fought hand to hand. Jl s'est elance a corps perdu = He rushed headlong. // s'est jete a corps perdu dans cette a/aire = He threw ^ himself with might and main into that enterprise. A bras le corps = Round the waist. C'esf un drole de corps = He is a queer fellow. Je rat fait a mon corps defendant =\ did it reluctantly, in self-defence. J*ai voulu voir ce qu'il avait dans le corps = I wanted to see what he was made of. II faut avoir le diable au corps pour faire cela = A man must have the very devil in him to do anything of the kind. Le navire s'est perdu corps et biens The ship was entirely lost, crew and cargo. Ce vin-la a du corps, celui-ci rien a pas = That wine is full-bodied, this is thin. // a rejoint son corps = He has rejoined his regiment. Esprit de corps Corporate spirit. Party spirit. Repas de corps A corporation banquet. Contrainte par corps = Arrest for debt. Correction. Sauf correction = Under correction. Corrompre. Fi du plaisir Que la crainte peut corrompre I = [LA FONTAINE.] Away with the pleasure that fear can mar ! Corsaire. A corsaire, corsaire et demt'=Set a thief to catch a thief. Corsaires a corsaires, L'un Vautre s'attaquant ne font pas leurs affaires = There is honour among thieves. [KEGNIER.] Corve*able. Le peuple fran$ais n'est plus corveafr/e = The French people are no longer liable to contribution in forced labour. Corve"e. Quelle corvee ! = What a disagreeable job ! What a bore ! Je suis de con>ee = I am on fatigue-duty. I 10 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cote. Nous avons fait une cote mal taillee = We com- promised matters by mutual agreement. Cote. 11 faut que vous lui serriez les cotes You must press him close. // se fera rompre les cotes He will get his bones broken. Que voulez-vous done dire avec votre gentilhomme ? Est- ce que nous sommes, nous autres, de la cote de St. Louis ? = [MOLIERE.] What do you mean with your nobleman ? Are we sprung from the loins of St. Louis ? Nous nous tenions les cotes de rire, tant la chose etait drole = The thing was so funny that we split our sides with laughing. Je revais cette nuit que de mal consume Cote a cote d'un pauvre on nlavait inhume [PIERRE DE PATRIS.] I dreamt last night that having been consumed by disease, I was buried side by side with a pauper. La maison est a mi-cote = The house stands half-way up the hill. Cote". Le navire est sur le cdte = The ship is stranded. A eux quatre. Us ont mis dix bouteilles de vin sur le cote = Between the four, they emptied ten bottles of wine. Vous prenez tout du mauvais cote = You take everything in bad part. De ce cote-la, je suis tranquille = I feel easy on that score. Us ont mis les rieurs de leur cote = T\\e.y brought the laughers on their side. They turned the laugh against the other party. Mettez-le a cote = Put it by the side. Mettez-le de cote = Put it by. Lay it aside. Coton. N'elevez pas vos enfants dans du coton, ou vous vous en repentirez Don't bring up your children in lavender, or you will have cause to repent. Sonjilsjette [or file\ un mauvais coton = His son is in a bad way. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 1 1 I Cou. On leur met la bride sur le cou = 'They are allowed their own course. Elle se jette au cou de tout le monde =- She makes friends easily. // se mettrait dans Feau jusqu'au cou pour ses amis He would go any length and run any risk to oblige his friends. // a pris ses jambes a son cou He took to his heels. Coucher. // m'a couche enjoue = }le aimed at me. Nous avons couche a la belle etoile We slept in the open air. Nous avons couche sur la dure = We lay on the bare ground. La vieille dame se couche comme les poules = The old lady goes to bed very early. // couche souvent dans son fourreau = He often goes to sleep without undressing. Comme on fait son lit, on se couche = As you make your bed, so you must lie on it. Se coucher tot, se lever tot, donne sante, riches se et sagesse = Early to bed, early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. [FRANKLIN.] Coucheur. C'est un mativais coucheur=T3.e is a disagree- able, bad-tempered fellow. Coude. Jl leve (or, hausse) volontiers le coude = He is a tippler. Quand on a mal aux yeux, il n'y faut toucher que du coude One must not touch one's eyes when they are sore. Que tous les interesses se sentent les coudes - It behoves all the interested parties to put their heads together. Coudde. On lui a laisse ses coudees franches = They gave him full liberty to act as he pleased. La comedie classique etait charmante quand elle avait ses coudees franches = [NODIER. ] Classic comedy was charming when it had no trammels. 112 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Coildre. Coudre la peau du renard a celle du lion = To join the fox's tail to the lion's skin. Ses finesses sontcousues de fil blanc= His trickery is very transparent. Coulant. // est tres coulant= He is very accommodating. Couler. Us se la coulent douce [elliptical for, Us coulent une existence douce\ = They take things easy. They lead an easy life. Vos chandelles #?/ comme ces petites seruantes d'auberge des tableaux flamands, qui donnent le coup d'etrier a un voyageur a larges bottes = [A. DE MUSSET, Fanta$io.~\ Something pensive, like those small inn-servants of Flemish pictures, who give the stirrup-cup to a large-booted traveller. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 113 g'a etc le coup de grace = It proved the finishing stroke. Un vrai coup de hasard= A regular fluke. Je vous donnerai un coup de main = I'll lend you a helping hand. // a, je crois, un leger coup de marteau = He is, I think, slightly cracked. Voila ce qui s'appelle un coup de maitre = This is what is called a master-stroke. Ce ne sont pas la les larges coups d'aile de Bossuet= [SAINTE-BEUVE.] This is not the towering flight of Bossuet. Le coup d'ozil du Cap Martin est incomparable = The panorama from Cape Martin is matchless. Un coup d'ceil suffit generalement en matiere de dis- cipline = A glance is enough generally to ensure discipline. Un coup d' ceil d' intelligence = A. knowing wink. La pantomime sans gifles et sans coups de pied ne peut pas aller loin = [F. SARCEY.] A pantomime cannot go far without boxes on the ears and kicks. Vous avez fait la un coup de tete You have done a rash deed. Le coup de feu est entre sept et huit heures = The busy time, the bustle, is between seven and eight o'clock. Elle entra en coup de vent She rushed in like a hurricane. Au coup de minmt=As it struck twelve. Nous ferons d'une pierre deux coups = We shall kill two birds with one stone. C'etait un coup monte It was a preconcerted attack. Le coup vaut F argent = It is worth trying. Attendez-vous de sa part a quelque coup de langue, a quelque coup de patte = You may expect some sarcastic remark from her. Elle vous portera un coup fourre = She will strike you in the dark. She will give you a sly kick. // etait aux cent coups He was dreadfully excited. llfera les cent coups = He will play all sorts of tricks. VOL. I, H 114 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS II parie a coup sur= He wagers without risk. Un coup qui porte = A home thrust. 11 a fait la unjoli coup [ironical] = That is nice of him, very. Je perds a tous coups = I lose every time. // a reussi du premier coup = He succeeded from the very first. // ne manque jamais son coup = He never misses his aim. Encore un coup, je ne le veux pas = Once more, I won't have it. Coup sur coup = Time after time. In succession. // est sous le coup d'une saisie = He is threatened with an execution. Le malheureux a ete tue du coup = The unfortunate man was killed on the spot. // est mort d'un coup de sang = He died of an apo- plectic fit. // avait bu un coup de trop = He had had a drop too much. Sans coup ferir = Without striking a blow. Un coup defoudre = K thunderbolt. Donnez un coup de brosse a mes vetements Give my clothes a brushing. La depeche est arrivee apres coup = The telegram came after the event. Quand ce grand ouvrier, qui s avait comme onfonde, Eut, a coups de cognee, a peu pres fait le monde, Selon le songe qu'il revait. [VICTOR HUGO, Napotton //.] When this great workman, who knew how to build, had hewn the world almost according to his fancy. Pour le coup, c'est bienfini=T\\\s time it is quite over. Coupe. De la coupe aux levres ily a loin = 'Twixt the cup and the lip There is many a slip. Les cambrioleurs mettent les poulaillers de notre voisinage en coupe reglee = The burglars lay regularly under con- tribution the poultry-houses in our neighbourhood. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 115 11 y a des coupes sombres a faire dans notre ecrasant budget Large reductions are required in our crush- ing budget. Couper. Cela vous coupe la respiration It takes your breath away. Pourquoi me coupez-vous la parole ? = Why do you in- terrupt me? On lui a coupe les vivres = His allowance was stopped. Nous ne buvons que du vin coupe = We only drink wine diluted with water. Les sanglots lui coupaient la voix = Sobs stopped her utterance. Cour. // y a long-temps qdil lui fait la cour He has long been courting her. Courage. -J'ai pris mon courage a deux mains \ sum- moned up all my courage. Courage ! ce sera bientot fini=>z brave ! Be of good cheer ! It will soon be over. Courant. // est au courant de f affaire He knows all about the matter. Je vous tiendrai au courant de tous les details = I will keep you acquainted with all the particulars. Fin courant At the end of the present month. Courir. Par le temps et les hommes qui courent=hs, times and men go. C'est un conferencier tres-couru He is a very popular lecturer. Le bruit court que . . . = There is a rumour that . . . C'est vous qui avez fait courir ces bruits = It is you who spread those reports. Us courent tous deux le meme lievre = They are both engaged in the same pursuit. Le voleur court encore = The thief is still at large. Cela dit, Maitre Loup s'enfuit, et court encore = [LA FONTAINE.] Having said that, Master Wolf ran away, never to return. Couronne. Domaine de la Couronne = Crown-lands. II 6 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cotirrier. Veuillez repondre par retour du courrier= Please to reply by return of post. J'etais en train de faire mon courrier = I was busy writing my letters for post. Courroie. On a etc oblige de lui serrer la courroie = They were obliged to curtail his supplies. Cours. Les pieces d'argent italiennes n'ont plus cours = The Italian silver coins are no longer legal tender. Premier, dernier cours de la Bourse = Opening, closing prices on the Stock Exchange. Capitaine au long cours = Captain of a merchant vessel. Telles sont les idees qui ont cours dans certains milieux = Such are the ideas that prevail in certain circles. Course. Course au clocher = Steeplechase. J'ai des courses a faire = I have to go on errands. Cocker, je vous prends a Vheure, et non a la course = Coachman, I take you by the hour, not by the drive. Court. Elle se trouva bientot a court de fonds = She soon found herself short of cash. J'ai coupe court a toutes ses reclamations = I put a stop to all her complaints. Le Directeur, pris de court, a monte en hate une piece nouvelle = [F. SARCEY.] The manager, being driven into a corner, hastily got up another play. // s'en est retourne avec sa courte honte = He came back as he had gone. // sait le court et le long de I' affaire = He knows the ins and outs of the case. A vaillant homme courte epee = A brave man needs no long sword. Legere et court-vetue, elle allait a grands pas = [LA FONTAINE.] Light-footed and short -dressed, she was stepping along smartly. Cousin. Nous ne sommes pas precisement cousins We are not the best friends in the world. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 1 17 Si pareille chose iriarrivait, le roi ne serait pas mon cousin = Should such a thing befall me, I would not call the king my cousin. Cousu. // est tout cousu little girl is a lovely creature. Croupiere. Nous leur taillerons des croupieres = ^N& will cut out work for them. C route. -Je viendrai un de ces jours casser une croiite avec vous Til come and take pot- luck with you one of these days. Cru. Un de mes amis du Midi me fournit de P excellent vin de son cru = A friend of mine in the South of France supplies me with an excellent wine of his own growing. Donnez-moi du vin du cru = Give me some wine of the country. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 123 Ce bon mot rietait pas de son cru The joke was not original. Cm. Le ton de ce tableau est un peu cru = The tone of this picture is rather crude. Vous lui avez donne une reponse un peu crue You gave him a rather sharp answer. Je vais vous dire ma pensee toute crue = I will tell you plainly what I think. Cruche. Tant va la cruche a Veau qu'a la fin elle se casse = Things will break. The pitcher goes so often to the well that it comes home broken at last. Quelle cruche I = What a blockhead ! Crument. Unfa dit cela tout crument = He told me that bluntly. Cuir. Pester entre cuir et chair -To fume inwardly, in petto. Faire du cuir d'autrui une large courroie = To dispense freely other people's money. Out, avec-t-un cuir * = Yes, with a " cuir." * Faire nn cnir,faire des cuirs, may be considered the equivalent of the English dropping of the aspirate h, or rather its ill-treatment in point of omission or commission ; but you cannot translate Faire des cuirs by, "To drop one's h's." The two things have absolutely no feature in common, beyond the fact that the infirmity in either case is twofold, that is, negative or positive on one side, and hard-sounding or soft-sounding on the other. In the English case, the aspiration is omitted on the one hand where it is wanted, whilst on the other hand, by a queer process of compensa- tion, it is committed where there is no h at all. I remember this double sample of cockneyism being once happily illustrated by our venerable friend Mr. Punch with its usual and, be it said to its lasting credit, its ever innocuous humour, in a little dialogue between a London barber and his client : " They say, sir, the cholera is very much about in the 'hair." "I hope, then, you are very particular about the brushes you use." " Oh ! I see, sir, you don't 'hunger stand me : I don't mean the air of the ead ; I mean the 'hair of the ' hatmosphere." Now, the French "cuir" stands by itself. It consists either (A) in pronouncing a t instead of an s, or rather a z, between a word and the next, or (B) in sounding an s or z instead of a t, or again, (c) in connecting two words with either one or the other of those letters where there should be neither. E.g. (A) "Je suis-/-heureux de vous revoir" (as a late Oriental Highness very graciously said more than 124 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cuire. Vous viendrez cuire a monfour= You will want my help some day. La main me cuit, les yeux me cuisent= My hand smarts ; my eyes smart. // vous en cuira You shall smart for it. Trop gratter cuit, trop parler nuit The less said, the sooner mended. Lit, To scratch too much is pain- ful, to talk too much is hurtful. Cuisine. Petite cuisine agrandit la maison = Moderation or economy in household expenses enriches a house. Grasse cuisine fait maigre testament = K fat kitchen makes a lean will. Soie et satin, velours, hermine, eteignent le feu de la cuisine = Silk and satin, velvet and ermine, put out the kitchen-fire. // est charge de cuisine = He has a good corporation of his own. Du latin de cuisine = Dog latin. Culbute. Faire la culbute = To tip one's heels over one's head. To tumble. Au bout du fosse la culbute = Beware of consequences. Be prepared for the worst. Culotte. C'esf la femme qui porte les culottes dans cette maison = The wife wears the breeches in this house. Culotter. Votre pipe est Men cnlottee = Your pipe is famously black. once to my humble self), instead of " Je suis-z-heureux, &c. ; " (B) " Us sont-z-alles a Paris," instead of "Us sont-Aalles ; " (c) "Je leur-2-ai dit, mon Capitaine " the extra letter in this last is, I suppose, intro- duced by way of emphasising the speech with a certain swing. It is only fair to add, however, that whether or not the dropping or misplacing of the aspirate h still flourishes as much as ever in London, the French cuirs in question seem to have become less common at the present time than I knew them to be formerly. Moreover, before dismissing this subject (which, for aught I know, has never received the attention it deserves), I would submit that whilst any venturesome liaison of the above kind may fairly be called a citir when its effect is harsh, as in " II va-/-a Paris," it would be correct to call it a velours changing the ironical " Avec-Mm cuir" into " Avec- 2-un velours" when the effect produced is soft to the ear, as in " II va--a Paris." I2 5 Culpa. Voyons, faites votre mea culpa, et tout est dit= Come, confess your sin, and there will be an end of it. Cure. 11 n'en a cure = He cares nothing about it. A beau parkr qui n'a cure de bien faire = All talk and so much smoke. On a beau parler a qui n'a cure de bien faire = Advice is wasted on one who does not mean to turn it to account. Cuver. // a ete mis au violon pour cuver son vin = He was locked up to sleep himself sober. Cygne.* C'est le chant du cygne=\\. is the song of the dying swan. D. Dada. C'est son dada = It is his hobby. Dame. Elle fait trop la grande dame = She is too pre- tentious. La dame de carreau = The queen of diamonds. Jouer aux dames To play at draughts. Mais, dame, out! Oh ! dame, non I f Yes, of course. Oh ! no, surely not. * Le Chant du Cygne is the last work of a great poet, or the last speech of an eminent orator before his death. The expression is, after all, merely conventional, as, notwithstanding the poetical tradition which has come down to us from the days of ancient Greece, it is well known that the swan's singing, far from being melodious, is shrill and hoarse, not unlike the cry of the goose. But, for all that, Buffon, whose matchless science is so accurate, pleads mercifully for the main- tenance of the tradition which was so harshly denounced by Pliny. "Swans," says the great French naturalist, "doubtless do not sing at their death ; but still, in alluding to the last soaring of a fine genius about to be extinguished, one will always recall with feeling this touch- ing expression : C'est le Chant du Cygne !" Buffon's remark is in happy contrast with these satirical lines : " Swans, they say, sing Before they die ; 'Twere a good thing Did some folks die Before they sing." t A very familiar kind of interjection, perfectly harmless now, but very possibly a contraction of the old oath, Par Notre Dame. See farther on the note on DIANTRE. 126 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Damer. Ne vous laissez pas darner le pion Don't allow yourself to be outwitted. Damne. C'est fame damnee du directeur He is the director's tool, and does all the dirty work for him. Danser. // ne salt plus sur quel pied danser~R& no longer knows which way to turn. Us Font fait Manser = They led him a pretty dance. Date. -Je suis le premier en date= I have the priority. Une amitie de vieille date = A friendship of old standing. Dater. Cela ne date pas d' 'hier = That is a very old story. Dauber. On lui a daube dessus [familiar] = He got laughed at. He was jeered. De. De demain en huit= To-morrow week. // ne reviendra pas de quinze jours He will not be back for a fortnight. De quoi vivez-vous done? = What, then, do you live upon? 11 est de Finteret de tous qu'il en soit ainsi=\\. is the interest of all that it should be so. Et d'une, et de deux = So much for one, so much for two. Je commence d n'y plus voir clair : I'dge vous joue de ces tours = My sight is failing : Old age plays you tricks of that kind. C'est d'un cynisme revoltant= It is abominably cynical. C'est d'un triste, d'un lugubre ! Oh ! ne m'enparlezpas. \_Effet or caractere understood] = [F. SARCEY.] It is sad, it is lugubrious to an extent . . . ! Oh ! don't tell me about it. C'est d'un galant homme = \l is the act of a perfect gentleman. Et eux de rire ! = And they began to laugh. Ainsi dit le renard ; etflatteurs d'applaudir^ [LA FONTAINE.] Thus spoke the fox, and flatterers of course took to applauding. De\ Elle tient le de dans la conversation = She engrosses all the conversation. Le de en est iete = The die is cast. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 127 En lui annon$ant cette triste nouvelle, flattez un peu le de\n apprising her of this sad piece of news, just soften the blow as much as possible ; break it gently to her. A vous le de, Monsieur =\\. is your turn, sir. Debandade. Us mirent tout a la debandade = They threw everything into confusion. Tout va a la debandade Everything is at sixes and sevens. Us vivent a la debandade They squander their time. Dbarque\ 11 a tout Pair d'un nouveau debarque=\\Q has the appearance of one newly come to the place. Dbiter. II debite bien sa marchandise = ^.& makes the best of what he has to say. SC D^boutonner. // s'est tenu long-temps sur la reserve, mats il afini par se deboutonner = He was for a long time reserved, but at last he became communicative. D^brider. -J'ai toujours pu faire de longues marches en Suisse sans debrider= I always could walk for a long time in Switzerland without stopping, at a stretch. De*brouillard. 11 est tres dkbrouillard=*l&& knows how to get through difficulties. SC D^brouiller. Debrouillez-vous comme vous pourrez, je ne m'en mele pas Get through that as best you can, I'll have nothing to do with it. Dechaine. C'est un vrai diable dechaine=\\& is a bad man who takes all sorts of liberties. 11 est dechaine contre vous = He is exasperated against you. SC De"chausser.* // ri est pas besoin de se dechausser pour manger cela There is no occasion to make any fuss to get that. De*chirer. Chien hargneux a toujours roreille dechiree = Quarrelsome folks always come to trouble. * This proverb comes from the custom of the Romans to recline barefoot at their meals. 128 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Cette musique vous dechire les 0ra'//\\& will not abate an inch. Denier. A beaux denier s comptants In cash, in ready money. Les deniers publics = The public money. Le denier de St. Pierre = Peter's pence. Le denier a Dieu = Earnest money. Le denier de la -veuve = The widow's mite. // a emprunte de r argent au denier vingt, au denir dix, au denier cinq = He borrowed money at five per cent., at ten per cent., at twenty per cent. C'est unjoli denier = It is a nice little sum. Dent. Nous etions sur les dents = We were tired to death. Elle dechire tout le monde a belles dents = She tears everybody to pieces. Elle ne manque jamais ^occasion de lui donner un coup de dent = She. never misses an opportunity of having a fling at him. Je commence a avoir les dents bien longues = I am getting very hungry. C'est vouloir prendre la lune avec les dents = It is aiming at impossibilities. J'ai mange du bout des dents = I have hardly eaten anything. Quand on lui demande quelque chose, il semble qu'on lui arrache une dent= He is an. awful miser, who can't bear parting with anything. Elle fait ses dents = %\\Q is cutting her teeth. 132 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Ce fruit vous agace les dents = This fruit sets one's teeth on edge. Je vois que Votre Majeste a toujours une dent secrete contre la geometric [D'ALEMBERT, I^ettre an Roi de Prtisse.] I see that Your Majesty keeps a secret grudge against geometry. Vous avez une dent de /ait contre lui= [MOLIERE, Le Malade Imaginaire.~\ You have an old grudge (i.e., that dates from your childhood) against him. Elle a ri du bout des dents = She laughed on the wrong side of her mouth. Son cheval a pris le mors aux dents = His horse ran away. J'ai une dent qui branle = I have a loose tooth. II lui vient du pain quandil n*a plus de dents = Fortune comes to him when he is no longer able to enjoy it. Dpareille\ Prater facilement ses livres, c'est malheureuse- ment se condamner a avoir bien des volumes depareilles = To lend readily one's books is unfortunately to condemn oneself to having many odd volumes. Dparie\ -J'ai toute une collection de gants deparics = I have a whole collection of odd gloves. SC Ddpartir. // n'est pas homme a se departir de son devoir = He is not a man to shrink from his duty. Ddpayser. -Je me sens tout depaysc dans un pareil milieu = I feel quite out of my element in such a circle. II disait cela pour nous depayser=l^Q. said that to put us on a wrong scent. De"pit. En depit du ban sens = Against common-sense. De"plaire. Ne vous en deplaise = Vj\\h all due deference to you. De"pouiller. // a depouille le vieil homme, le vieil Adam = He has renounced his old habits; He has turned over a new leaf. Depouiller le scrutin = To reckon the votes. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 133 Depourvu. J'ai ete pris au depourvu I was taken unawares. Depuis.- Depuis pen = A short time since. Je le connais depuis qdilkabite Londres * = I have known him since he came to live in London. Deranger. -Je crains de vous deranger = I am afraid of being in your way. Ne vous derangez pas = Don't move. Don't trouble. Derate. // court comme im derate = He runs like a grey- hound. Dernier. // met la derniere main a son ouvrage = ~Ro, is putting the finishing stroke to his work. C'est de la derniere importance = It is of the greatest importance. C'est du dernier grotesque = It is supremely grotesque. En dernier ressort ; en derniere analyse = Ultimately. Oest id qdil a rendu le dernier soupir = It was here that he breathed his last. Derobe. Un escalier derobe = A private staircase. S'en aller a la derobce = To steal away. // leur lanfa un regard a la derobee He glanced at them stealthily. se Derober. // s'est derobe aux fclicitatio ns de la foule = He went away to escape the congratulations of the crowd. Et mes genoux tremblants se derobent sous moi= [RACINE.] And my trembling knees fail under me. se Derouiller. // a besoin de voyager pour se derouiller = He wants to travel to rub off his rust. De"router. Cela vous deroute=\\. is confusing. Derriere. Un bon general assure toujours ses derrieres = A good general always places his rear in safety. Je soupconne quelque idee de derriere la tete=\ suspect some secret thought. * The idiomatic difference of construction in rendering depuis que should be carefully noted. See remark on this subject in Preface. 134 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Des. Des que ridee vous deplatt, rien parlons plus = Since the idea displeases you, let us not say another word about it. SC De"saccoutlimer. 11 faudra qdil se desaccoutume du jeu = He will have to leave off gambling. Ddsarroi. Tout est en desarroi dans la maison = Every- thing is upside down in the house. Descendre. -Je descends toujours a cet hotel = I always put up at this hotel. Descente. A grande montee grande descente = The greater the rise the deeper the fall. Ddsespoir. -fen suis au desespoir=\ am quite concerned about it. En d'esespoir de cause = As a last shift. Hoping against hope. Desirer. Sa conduite laisse a desirer = There is room for improvement in his behaviour. Ce travail ne laisse rien a desirer = That work is perfect. De'sorienter. -Je suis d'esoriente=\ am quite at sea: thoroughly perplexed. SC Dessaisir. La commission s'esf dessaisie de la question = The committee gave up considering the question. Desserre*. Elle n'a pas desserre les dents = She never spoke a single word. Desservir. Desservez = Take away. Clear the table. Qiielqdun m'a desservi= Some one has done me an ill turn. Dessiller. Cela m'a dessille les yeux = That undeceived me [lit. : unsealed my eyes]. DeSSOUS. Us ont eu le dessous = They got the worst of it. // a le regard en-dessous = He looks sly. // les joue par-dessous jambe= He is too sharp for them. L 'affaire est pleine de dessous politiques = Political com- plications lurk under the question. // est au fait de tous les dessous de Paris = He is thoroughly acquainted with the under-currents of Paris life. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 135 Dessus. -Les bleus fonce ont encore eu le dessus sur la Tamise = The dark blues have again been victorious on the Thames. Sens dessus dessous = Topsy-turvy. J'en ai par-dessus la tete = I am quite sick of it. // vous patera par-dessus Vepaule = He will never pay you [fam. : over the left shoulder], // affiche des pretentions par-dessus les maisons = He puts forth exorbitant pretensions. Voyez d-dessus See above. La-dessus il disparut = Thereupon he disappeared. Je passe la-dessus = I say nothing about that. Detail. En gros et en detail '= Wholesale and retail. Contez-nous cela en detail = Tell us all the particulars. Ddtaler. Vite, que I' on detale = Quick, pack off and be gone. Detente. // est dur a la detente [or : a la desserre\ = He is close-fisted. Dterr. II avait Fair d'un deterre=He, looked like a corpse. Detour. Parlez sans detour = Speak frankly, plainly. Don't beat about the bush. Nourri dans le serail, fen connais les detours = [RACINE.] Brought up in the seraglio, I know all its recesses. Nous avons pris un long detour = We went a long way round. D^tourner. Cela ne vous detournerait pas beaucoup = That would not take you much out of your way. Louange detournee = Indirect, delicate praise. Rue detournee = A by-street. Dtraqu. -Je le crois un peu detraque=\ think he is rather crazy. SC D^traquer. Le temps se detraque=^^\\Q, weather is out of order. 136 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Dtrousser. Voit-on les loups brigands, comme nous in- humains, Pour detrousser les loups courir les grands chemins ? = [Bon.EAU, Satire VIII.'] Are wolves ever seen prowling in the guise of brigands, like our cruel selves, to plunder wolves along the high-roads ? Dette. // est crible de defies ; il a des defies par-dessus la tete = He is over head and ears in debt. Qui epouse la veuve epouse les dettes = One must take the good and the bad together. Qui paie ses dettes, s'enrichit^>y paying one's debts one grows richer. Cent ans de chagrin ne paient pas un sou de dettes = Care killed the cat. // a paye sa dette a la nature He has gone over to the majority. Deuil. -J*en ai fait mon deuil= I have resigned myself to the loss. Prendre le deuil= To go into mourning. Mener le deuil= To be chief mourner. Deux. De deux annees Pune = Every other year. Je rien ai fait ni un ni deux = I decided at once. A deux mains = With both hands. C'est a deux pas d'id=\\. is but a few steps from here. Nous avions vingt francs a nous deux = VJe had twenty francs between us two. On peut jouer a deux a ce jeu = Two can play at that game. Je piquai des deux [i.e., des deux eperons\ = I clapped spurs to my horse. Quand les botufs Tont deux a deux, Le labour rien va que mieux = There is nothing like being two to pull together. Les deux font la paire = They are well matched. Devant. Quand il apprit que je me mettais sur les rangs, il prit les devants = When he heard that I was a candidate, he forestalled me. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 137 // va au-devant de vos desirs = He anticipates your desires. Je vicndrai ou fenverrai au-devant de vous = I will come or send to meet you. Devenir. // ne sail que devenir = He does not know what to do. Que devenez-vous ? What becomes of you ? Devers. Tenir le bon bout par devers soi=To be on the right side of the hedge. Devisager. Uxil de ce physio nomiste ne vous quitte pas : il vous devisage des pieds a la tete, d'une fa$on presque genante = The eye of that physiognomist does not leave you : he takes you to pieces from head to foot, in a way almost to throw you out of countenance. Devoir. Qui a terme ne doit rien = One owes nothing till the rent becomes due. // doit plus d^ argent qu'il n'est gros // doit au tiers et au quart = He owes money on all sides, more than he can ever pay. Uorgueil ne veut pas devoir = [LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.] Pride acknowledges no debt. Fais ce que dois, advienne que pourra = Do your duty, happen what may. // me /efuut, dut-il m'en couter foit cher= I must have it, even though it should cost me ever so much. Dussiez-vous vi'en vouloir = Even though you should be angry with me. DeVolu. -J'ignore sur lequel des candidats vous avez jete votre devolu = I don't know which of the candidates you have selected. Devorant. -J'avais une soif devorante = I was parched with thirst. Devotion. II riest de devotion que de jeune pretre = K new enterprise is always pushed on with energy. New brooms sweep clean. Dia. // n'entend ni a dia ni a huhau = There is no making him listen to reason. L'un tire a dia et I'autre a hue One pulls one way and the other another. 138 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Diable.* Aller au diable an vert 'Yo undertake a distant dangerous expedition. Quel diable d'homme ! = What a devil of a fellow ! Cet homme me parait un assez bon diable = [VOLTAIRE.] That man seems to me a rather good-natured fellow. C'esf un pauvre diable = He is a poor wretch. // s'est fait " I'avocat du diable'" dans cette discussion religieuse='R& took upon himself to put forth the objections in that religious debate. Le diable s'en mele = The devil is in it. // fera le diable a quatre = He will make a devil of a row. 11 fait un diable de metier = He does a queer, wretched business. Ilfaut qu'il ait le diable au corps = He must be a des- perate character. It is wonderfully plucky of him. Us tirent Je diable par la queue + = They are very hard up ; They jog on as well as they can. C'esf le diable qui bat sa femme A popular expression when it rains and the sun shines at the same time. Nous avons eu une peur de diable = We were terribly frightened. * Aller au diable au vert. This rather obsolete phrase is a corrup- tion. Au vert stands for Vauvert, or Val Vert, the name of a castle close to Paris, towards the Barriere d'Enfer, which was occupied by Philip Augustus after his excommunication, and which afterwards was said to be haunted by ghosts and devils. To exorcise those evil spirits, St. Louis gave the castle to the Carthusian monks in 1257. It was probably that association of fiends with the place that suggested the present name of " Rue d'Enfer" for the thoroughfare leading thereto, which was formerly called " Chemin de Vauvert." Huet, however, thinks that the name of " Rue d'Enfer" came to this road from its being frequented by thieves and other bad characters. But after all, it may be that the word Enfer is a corruption of in/era. The street " Saint Jacques " was long called Via superior, and the street "D'Enfer," which is parallel with it, was known as Via inferior, Via infera whence probably the final denomination of that old road- way. t Tirer le diable par la queue 11 Le diable," in this graphic expres- sion, may be presumed to do duty for the pitiless creditor or the usurer who, in his dealings with a needy party, is hard and exacting, and has FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 139 Cest le diable de lui faire entendre raison It is no easy matter to bring her to listen to reason. Cest le diable a confesser = It is a dreadfully hard job. Cest Id le diable = There's the rub. Cela ne vaut pas le diable = That's not worth a fig. Du diable si I' on y voit goutte = It is impossible to see through it. // riest pas si diable qrfil est noir He is not so black as he is painted. Que diable a-t-il? = What the devil is the matter with him? De quoi diable vous melez-vous ? = What on earth are you meddling with? Diable! c 'est grave = Oh, dear! the matter is serious. // s'est debattu comme un beau diable = He did struggle, I can tell you. Elle a la beaute du diable = She is not pretty, but she has the freshness of youth. Une diable de pluie est venue tout gdter = A. wretched rain came and spoilt everything. Tout cela a etc fait a la diable = All that was done hurriedly, in a wretched way. En se cramponnant a la soutane du cure, le diable grimpe jusque dans le beffroi^'&y the vicar's skirts the devil climbs up into the belfry. Le diable etait beau quand il etait jeune = A young face is never ugly. Quand le diable fut vieux, il se fit ermite = The devil grew sick, and a monk he would be : When the devil was ill, the devil a saint would be : The devil got well, the devil a saint was he ? Ce qui vient du diable retourne au diable = Ill-gotten goods never prosper. to be pulled at frantically with a view to some concession or new favour being obtained. " II faut que la queue du diable lui soit soudee, chevillee et vissee a 1'echine d'une fa9on bien triomphante pour qu'elle resiste a 1'innom- brable multitude de gens qui la tirent perpetuellement " (VICTOR HUGO, Lucrtce Borgia}. The devil's tail must be welded, fastened, and screwed on to his backbone in a most marvellous fashion to resist, as it does, the innumerable multitude of folks that are perpetually pulling at it. 140 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Diantre.* Diantre! r affaire se corse = Dear me! the matter is getting serious. Dieu. Dieu mera'/ = God be praised; thank God. A Dieu ne plaise = God forbid. Plut a Dieu qu'il en fut ainsi = Would to God it were so. // a jure ses grands dieux qrfil ne leferaitplus=H& swore by all that is sacred that he would never do it again. Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut=A woman must have her way. L? homme propose, et Dieu dispose = Man does what he can, God what He will. Ceque Dieu garde est bien garde = He is well kept whom God keeps. SHI plait a Dieu; Dieu aidant = Under God's will. Mieux vaut s'adresser a Dieu qu'a ses saints =\\. is always best to apply to headquarters. Differend. Partageons le differend = Let us split the difference. Differer. Ce qui est differe riest pas perdu = All is not lost that is delayed. Forbearance is no acquittance. Difficile. Vous etes trop difficile = You are too particular, too exacting. Difficulte". Cela tie souffre pas de difficulte = T\&.\. is a matter of course. Je riai jamais eu la moindre difficulte avec lui= I never had the slightest disagreement with him. // tranchera la difficulte = He will settle the knotty point. Cet homme est le pere des difficultes = That man is for ever starting difficulties. * Diantre, euphemism for diable, like bleu for Dieu, in the exclama- tions corbleu, morbleu, parbleu. To the same class belongs the English dear me, a piously-meant substitution, through the I7th century Puri- tans, for the " profane" Dio mio of the days of Queen Elizabeth, when the Italian favourite Florio who is credited with an English translation of Montaigne's Essais introduced Italian into England, as it had been introduced a short time before into France, under the auspices of Catherine of Medici. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 141 DigeYer. Us ne peuvent digerer cet affront They cannot brook that affront. Diligence. Faites grande diligence M^&.& all possible haste. C'est la diligence embourbee = He is a very slow coach. Dinde. C'est une dinde ^o. is a goose. Dindon. II est bete comme un dindon gourmand comme un dindon He is as silly as a goose as greedy as a Pig- // sera le dindon de la farce * = He will be the dupe. Diner. Nous dinons en ville ce soir We dine out to-night. Qui dort dlne= He who sleeps wants no dinner. fai dine par cmir = I went without dinner. // me semble que fai dine quand je le vm's = The very sight of the man takes away my appetite. Dire. A vrai dire = r To speak plainly. Pour ainsi dire So to speak. Pour mieux dire = Or rather. Pour tout dire = In a word. Comme qui dirait = As one should say. Qu'est-ce a dire ? = What does it all mean ? C'est beaitcoup dire = That is saying a good deal. Par maniere de dire = As it were. // m' a fait dire qu'il viendrait=~K.Q sent me word that he would come. Je me le suis laisse dire = I have been given to under- stand that such was the case. Voyons, laissez-vous dire = Come, be persuaded. Tenez-le vous pour dit= Bear that in mind. A qui le dites-vous ? = I believe you. I know all about it. Soit dit en passant '= Let it be said by the way. Tout cela ne dit Hen = All that goes for nothing. Vous I'avez dit Just so ; you guessed right. C'est tout dire = That's enough. That tells a tale. * In olden times, actors playing the part of dupes in farcical plays were called Pires dindoiis, as an allusion to the stupidity of turkeys. Hence the expression, Ktre le dindon de la farce ; En clre le dindon, to be made a dupe of. 142 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Tout cela est ban a dire, mat's . . . = That's all very fine, but ... Dites-moi, arretez done = I say, stop. Laissez dire Let people talk. // a toujours quelque chose a dire He has always some fault to find. Nous vivons a une triste epoque, il riy a pas a dire = We live in sad times, there is no denying it. // etait dit qu'il me jouerait encore ce tour-la = It was written that he should again play me that trick. Qu'on se le dise ! A word to the wise. Qui rent dit ? = Who would have thought it ? Si cela ne vous plait pas, voila qui est dit If it does not please you, there's an end of it. Si celle-la (cette plante) vous distrait un poco de vos soucis, . . . tout est dit = [SAINTINE, Picciola.} If this one relieves you un poco from your cares, that is quite enough. Au dire de bons juges = In the expressed opinion of good judges. Puisqueje vous dis / [familiar] = Why, really ! Mais, quandje vous dis ! = Well, I never ! Vous dire ce quefai souffert t Non, vous auriez peine a le croire = You would hardly believe me were I to tell you what I had to endure. Je vous le disais bien ! Quand je vous le disais ! [i.e., N'avais-je pas raison ?] = Didn't I tell you ? Lui fier ! Si fon peut dire ?= He proud ! How can you say such a thing ? Et dire que je les ai toujours traites avec tant de bonte = And to think I always treated them so kindly. Ah t vous m'en direz tant t Well, well, that's another matter. Now I see. Ce riest qu'un on dit= It is but an idle report. Ce n'est pas a dire que . . . = It does not follow that . . . Si le cceur vous en dit=\t you have a mind for it. Cela va sans dire = It is a matter of course. Aussitot dit, aussitot fait = No sooner said than done. Un soi-disant gentilhomme = A self-styled, would-be nobleman. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 143 Voulez-vous qtion dise du bien de vous ? n'en dites pas = [PASCAL.] If you wish to be praised, do not praise yourself. Dis-moi qui tu hantes, je te dirai qui tu es Tell me with whom thou goest, I'll tell thee what thou doest. Discorde. C'est une pomme de discorde = It is a bone of contention. // fomente partout la discorde = He sows dissension everywhere. Discretion. // y vit a discretion [military] = He has free quarters there. Pain a discretion = Bread ad libitum. Je m'en remets a votre discretion = I leave the matter to your judgment. SC Discuter. C'est un dogme qui ne se discute pas = It is a dogma that admits of no discussion. Diseur.* Diseur de bans mots, mauvais caractere = [PASCAL.] A man addicted to saying sharp things [witticisms] is generally ill-natured. Les grands diseurs ne sont pas les grands faiseurs = Deeds, not words. * Diseur de bans mots, mauvais caractere. This saying of Pascal, which refers not to the English sense of bad character, but to that of ill-tempered, or rather to the sense, generally prevailing in the lyth century, of ill-natured, reminds me of an ill-natured attack in a leading London paper against a highly honourable Cambridge professor, who had taken up the cudgels in defence of the then Archbishop of Canter- bury, when the venerable prelate had been denounced by an anonymous correspondent of the great newspaper as being too old, and inefficient as a preacher in comparison with the late Mr. Spurgeon ! Professor J. having aptly quoted the saying in question, the said correspondent, who turned out to be closely connected with the editorial staff of the news- paper in question, took an unfair advantage of his position to assail him personally for presuming to defend the Archbishop, and sneeringly remarked that if Pascal had never said anything more judicious than this about "bad characters," his name would long ago have been buried as completely in oblivion as that of the Cambridge professor (bearing, we were indiscreetly told, the name of one of the great prophets) would assuredly be before long. Now, it happens that no less a judge than 144 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Disponibilite. Offider en disponibilite = Unattached officer. Distance. A distance! Arriere/=Keep your distance! Stand back ! De distance en distance At certain distance. Distraction. // est sujet a des distractions He is subject to absence of mind. La conversation est une distraction, et non un tr avail = Conversation (says Mackintosh) is relaxation, not business. Distraire. II faut distraire une portion de cette somme pour les dcpenses = A portion of that sum must be set apart for the expenses. 77 a distrait certains papiers d'etat He carried off certain state papers. - Cela distrait son attention = That takes off his attention. Allez au theatre : cela vous distraira * Go to the theatre : it will cheer you up. Divertir. Ce commis a diverti les denier s de sa recette = That clerk embezzled money. Les femmes preferent meme qu'on les divertisse sans les aimer, plutdt que de les aimer sans les divertir = [FONTENELLE.] Women would even rather be amused without being loved, than be loved without being amused. La Bruyere himself actually endorsed Pascal's verdict. The fact is, the "ill-natured " journalist had fully justified, by his uncharitable attack, the application to his case of a remark, the wording of which he had piteously misconstrued; for "a bad character" in the English sense does not mean "un mauvais caractere," and may have nothing in com- mon with a bad, heartless nature " Diseur de bons mots, mauvais caractere," remarks somewhat severely La Bruyere, "je le dirais, s'il n'avait ete dit. Ceux qui nuisent a la reputation ou a la fortune des autres plutot que de perdre un bon mot, meritent une peine infamante ; cela n'a pas ete dit, et je 1'ose dire." * Distraire, distraction, from the Latin distrahere, to turn or pull aside in another direction. It should be noticed that the English verb " To distract," although from the same root as the corresponding French verb, is in its sense the very opposite of distraire, which, in sentences like the last one introduced above under that heading, implies amuse- FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 145 Dizaine. Us etaient une dizaine = They were about ten. Doigt. -J'en mettrais le doigt au feu = I would lay my life upon it. Vous avez mis le doigt dessus You have hit the right nail on the head. Je prendrai tm doigt de vin = I will take a little sip of wine. On lui a donne sur les doigts = He got a rap on his knuckles. On le montrait au doigt = He was pointed at. I Is sont a deux doigts de leur ruine They are on the very brink of ruin. // est a deux doigts de la mort= He has one foot in the grave. Vous vous en mordrez les doigts = You shall smart for it. Vous vans en Iccherez les doigts = You will find it excellent. Us sont comme les deux doigts de la main = They are hand and glove together. Mon petit doigt me /'a dit = A little bird told me. // a de P esprit jusqu'au bout des doigts = He is extremely witty. // nous a fait toucher la chose au doigt He showed us the thing plainly. Us lui obeissent au doigt et a Vceil= They are at his beck and call. // n'a jamais fait xuvre de ses dix doigts = He never would work. ment, relaxation. Both meanings, however, can be accounted for etymologically. In the French verb the prefix dis stands for away, so that distraire is to draw away from one's worries, or harassing work or study, and thereby to procure relief and pleasure. In the English verb dis means asunder ; so that "To distract" is to draw asunder, to pull now to the right, now to the left in short, "to split," and thus to inflict pain. The same discrepancy affects, from one language to the other, the substantive distraction, which in French expresses pleasure, whilst, to quote an instance that will go home to my fellow-Londoners, the sense of the English "distraction" is painfully forced on the metropolitan mind and ears by the too familiar infliction of Italian organ-grinding. VOL. I. K 146 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS C'est une bague au doigt =\i is an easy berth. It is a valuable thing, to be easily disposed of. Ne mets ton doigt en anneau trop etroit Beware of an unequal partnership. Entre Farbre et Fecorce il ne faut pas mettre le doigt = Never interfere between man and wife. Dominant. C'est sa passion dominante=\\. is his ruling passion. Dommage. C^est grand dommagel \\. is a great pity. Done. Allans done! Ecoutez done = Come, come Just listen. Venez done me voir = Do come and see me. Donnee. Void des donnees historiques interessantes = Here are interesting historical records. Donner. -Je ne sais ou donner de la tete = I don't know which way to turn. // a donne tete baissee dans le panneau = He rushed headlong into the trap. Qui donne tot donne deux fois = He gives twice who gives in a trice. Je vous le donne en cent = \ bet you a hundred to one you will never guess. Cela m'a donne apenser, a reflechir = It made me think ; ( it set me a-thinking. A qui est-ce a donner ? = Whose deal is it ? Quel age lui donneriez-vous ? = How old would you think him to be? Ce vin donne a la tete = This wine flies up into the head. // a donne de la tete en tombant= He fell upon his head. Us donnent dans le luxe = They go in for, they indulge in, luxury. Son regiment n'a pas donne His regiment was not engaged. Us se sont donne une cordiale poignee de mains = They shook hands warmly. Us s'en donnent a cxur-joie = They thoroughly enjoy themselves. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 147 Mon balcon donne sur le boulevard '= My balcony looks out upon the boulevard. Vous nous la donnez belle Vous nous la donnez bonne [elliptically for la plaisanterie\ = You are imposing on our credulity. // itest pas homme a donner la-dedans = He is not one to be taken in by that. Us se donnent du bon temps = They make a merry life of it. Pourquoi se donner la tete centre un mur ? = Why knock one's head against a wall ? Dormant, donnant = Give and take. Do ut des. Dore. Cheveux d'un blond dore = Flaxen hair. Dormir. Elle dort comme une marmotte ; comme un sabot ; a poingsfer>ucs = 'S\\e sleeps like a top. // dort la grasse matinee = He lies late in bed. Vous pouvez dormir sur les deux oreilles = You may sleep in perfect security. Le bien leur vient en e& DORMIR.] . Ilfaut de r indulgence pour les ccarts de jeiinesse One must be lenient for the errors "of youth. Je vois un serieux ecart entre les recettes et les d'epenses = I see a material discrepancy between the receipts and the expenditure. Son cheval fit un ecart et le dcsarconna = His horse stepped aside and threw him off the saddle. Je me suis tenu a r ecart = I kept aloof. liCarter. Jzcartez cette pens'ce de votre esprit = Dismiss that thought from your mind. Sa demande en justice fut ecartee = His demand was rejected by the court. Ecartez un pen /esjaml>es = ]ust spread open your legs a little. Un endroit ecarte = Kn out-of-the-way place. s'licarter. Cela Jecarte du but = That is wide of the mark. // fecarte de ses devoirs He forgets his duties. lichange. AduatgciUcsipasvol** Exchange is no robbery. La liberte des echanges = Free trade. lichapper. Son nom trfest echappe de la m'emoire = His name has slipped my memory. Comment une parole si imprudente a-t-elle pu lui echapper ? How can he have dropt so imprudent a word? Nous Pavons echappe belle = We had a narrow escape. tcharpe. II porte le bras en echarpe= He carries his arm in a sling. Us ont change d'echarpe = They have changed colours. tchasse. // est toujours monte sur des echasses = He is ever making use of high-sounding words. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 155 EchaudA* Chat echaudc craint Peaufroide = [See CHAT.] Echauffer. // ne fait pas bon lui cchaiiffer les oreilles = It is not safe to rouse his anger. s'Echauffer. La querelk s'echauffait = The quarrel was getting serious. Ce serait pu'cril de s'echauffer a ces chinoiseries = It were puerile to get excited over (or to take offence at) those silly trickeries. Echeance. A courte ccheance = At a short date. Jusqrfa Pecheance = Until maturity. Cette lettre de change sera payee a Pecheance This bill of exchange shall be paid on its coming due. Echeant. Le cas echeant = If such should ever be the case. Echec. // est echec et mat He is checkmated. Qucl echec et mat on lui preparait ! = [MME. PE SEVIGNE.] What a thorough disappointment was in store for him ! Echelle. Faites-lui la courte echelle = Give him a lift. Help him on, do. Aprh lui, il faut tirer P echelle = There is no beating him. He leaves nothing to be done after him. Les echelles du Z,evanf=T\\e seaports of the Levant. * In his Proverbs and their Lessons, Dr. Trench alludes to this French saying as follows : " A burnt child fears the fire (the English proverb) is good ; but that of many tongues, A scalded dog fears cold water, is better still. Ours does but express that those who have suffered once will henceforward be timid in respect of that same thing from which they have suffered ; but that other the tendency to exaggerate such fears, so that now they shall fear even where no fear is. And the fact that so it will be clothes itself in an almost infinite variety of forms. Thus one Italian proverb says : A dog ivhich has been beaten with a stick is afraid of its shadcno ; and another, which could only have had its birth in the sunny South, where the glancing but harmless lizard so often darts across your path : Whom a serpent has bitten a lizard alarms. With a little variation from this, the Jewish Rabbis had said long before : One bitten by a serpent is afraid of a rope's end even that which bears so remote a resemblance to a serpent as this does, shall now inspire him with terror." 156 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Echine. // a I'echine dorsale tres flexible = He is a cringing creature. Iletaitcrottejusqrfa Pechine [familiar] He was splashed up to his neck. Eclater. Elle eclata de rire = She burst out laughing. J-ttle eclata en injures = She broke out into abuse. Eclipse. Sa raison est sujette a de frequentes eclipses = His reason is frequently under a cloud. Eclore. Notre sihle a vu eclore de grands g'enies = Our age has produced great geniuses. Ecole. II a fait r ecole buissonniere=^(.& played truant. Cest de la haute ecole = It is in the very highest style. Vous etes a bonne ecole = You are in good hands. Quelle ecole ! = What a blunder ! Get ecrivain a fait ecole = This writer founded a school. Ecolier. Nous avons pris le chemin des ecoliers = We have come a long way round. tconomie. Oesl une economic de bouts de chandelle. [See CHANDELLE.] // ny a pas de petites economies = Take care of the pence : the pounds will take care of themselves. J 'admire V economic de sa toilette = I admire the arrange- ment of her dress. Ceconomie du corps humain = T\i& harmony of the human body. tconomiser. Qui economise s'enrichit=K penny saved is a penny gained. Le premier economise est le premier gagne = Saving is getting. tcoper. La police a generalement la main lourde^ et les etudiants ont ecope. Us ecopent toujours = [A. CLAVEAU, Le Soleil.~\ The police is generally heavy-handed, and the students got the worst of it. They always do get the worst of it. Avec sa bonne humeur habituelle, M. Francisque Sarcey nous dit qu'il est toujours sur d'ecoper dans les FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 157 " Revues " de fin d'annee = With his usual good- humour, M. Sarcey tells us that he is always sure to catch it in the New Year's " Reviews." Ecorcher. -Jamais beau parler riecorcha la langue = Fair words cost nothing. Ne descendez pas a cet hotel ; vous y seriez ecorche = Don't put up at that hotel ; you would be fleeced. Vous criez avant d'etre ecorche. [See ANGUILLE.] Mine, de Pompadour parlait bien rallemand, mais elle ecorchait le francais Mme. de Pompadour spoke German well, but she murdered French. 11 f ant tondre les brebis, et non pas les ecorcher = Sheep should be shorn, not flayed alive. Don't kill the goose with the golden eggs that is, Do not crush the people under taxation. j 7 ecorche F anguille par la queue. [See ANGUILLE.] // n'y a rien de si difficile a ecorcher que la queue = There is nothing so difficult in an affair as the conclusion. Autant fait cehd qui tient que celui qui ecorche = The receivers of stolen goods are as bad as the thieves. Cette musique vous ecorche les oreilfes = This music grates on the ear. Ecorner. II fait un vent a ecorner un bceuf= It blows a hurricane. The wind is enough to blow one's head off. Elle a la mauvaise habitude d ecorner les livres qu'on lui prete = She has a bad habit of dog's-earing the books one lends her. Us ont quelque peu ecorn'e leur fortune = They have made a rather big hole in their fortune. Ecot. Chacun patera son ecot= Every one shall pay his share. Dis comment d'un bon mot, A ceux qui te traitaient tu payais ton ecot= [CoLNET, L' Art de Diner en Ville.'] Tell us how you repaid with a good anecdote those who entertained you. Ecouler. // aura bien de la peine a ecouler ses marchan- dises = He will have much trouble to get rid of his goods. 158 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS s'Ecouler. Comme le temps et r argent s'ecoulent vite ! = How soon time and money are spent ! Ecoute. -La presse est incessamment aux ecoutes = ^\\G. press is incessantly on the look-out. Ecouter. Vous ecoutez trop cet enfant You humour that child too much. // ri ecoute que cCune oreille = He lends a listless ear. Ecouter aux portes = To eavesdrop. Un ecoute s'il phut* = A mill worked by rain-water. Cest un ecoute-s 1 il-pleiit He is an irresolute man, easily nonplussed, s' Ecouter. // f ecoute trop He coddles himself too much. Ecraser. -Je suis ecrase de travail^ I am worked to death. Ecrevisse. Rouge comme une ecrevisse = As red as a lobster or a turkey-cock. Ecriture. Ecriture batarde = K tumbled-down, mongrel kind of writing. Ecu. Vieux amis, vieux ecus Old friends are the best. Oest le p^re aux ecus = He is made of money. Ecuelle. // a bien plu dans son ccuelle=\\e has come into good property. Us ont mis tout par ecuelles pour le ram?/V=They spared no expense to receive him handsomely. Cela lui a rogne Fecuelle = That curtailed his income. Qui s' attend a Peciielle d'autrui dine souvent par cixur He that waits for another man's trencher eats many a late dinner. * This quaint expression owes its origin to the former condition of mills which depended on rain-water for their motive-power, and were therefore subject to continual stoppage. Former English visitors to the handsome town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where one could formerly read several such quaint names as " Rue Tant-perd-tant-paye," " Rue Thomas-haut-le-pied," &c., will recollect the "Rue Ecoute-s'il-pleut," a small side-street off the " Rue de 1'Ecu," now " Rue Victor Hugo." The old historical term, which was due to the presence of a very old mill of the above description, has now disappeared, alas ! like too many curious vestiges of the past. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 159 Ecurie. Oest un cheval a fecurie = It is a source of use- less expense. C'est fermer fecurie quand les chevaux sont dehors = That is taking precautions too late, when the mis- chief is done. Effet. Cela ne fait pas bon e/et=Tha.t does not look well. Us me font Peffet de braves gens They look to me worthy people. Effort. Voyons, faites ztn effort sur vous-meme = Come, do yourself violence. Effronte\ // est effronte comme un page de cour = He is as impudent as a court-page. Egal. Cest egal, c'estbien contrariant=~$Gi all that, it is very annoying. Cela m'est egal= r f\irt. is all one to me. I don't care. Tout lui est egal= He cares for nothing. Everything is the same to him. Trailer d'egal a cgal= To treat on equal terms. Une humeur egale = An even temper. Rile aime cet enfant a legal des siens She loves that child as much as if it were her own. Eglise. II est gueux comme un rat d'eglise = He is as poor as a church-mouse. Pres de /'eg/tse, loin de Dieu The nearer the church the farther from God. Ce que nous avons le plus^ c'est Pessor et Velan = [SAINTE-BEUVE.] Our uppermost quality is an impulsive imagination. Elephant. Vous faites d'une mouche un elephant = You make a mountain of a mole-hill. Eleve. Jefais des eleves dans mon jardin = \ raise plants and flowers in my garden. Elzevir.* Void un bel elzevir = Here is a fine specimen of the Elzevir edition. Emballe. Un cheval emballe = h. runaway horse. * Un elzevir is a volume of the famous Elzevir collection, thus called from the great Dutch printers of that name, who have immortalised l6o FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS s'Emballer. Cette brave femme s'emballe a tout propos = This good woman is very apt to get over-excited. s'Embarquer. S'embarquer sans biscuit To set out on an enterprise or expedition without sufficient pre- paration. Tu sais que souvent il en cuit Pour s'etre, comme on dit, embarque sans bis cut t= [DESTOUCHES.] You are aware that one often suffers for having embarked, as it is said, without biscuits. Embarras. -Je crains de leur causer de P embarras =-\ am afraid of being in their way. II fait beaucoup d'embarras = He is very pretentious. Embarras de richesses = Perplexity arising from an excessive variety of choice. themselves by its production (Amsterdam and Leyden, i6th and lyth centuries). To the same class belong many other words, which may be called historical, including the following : Daguerreotype, from the French painter Daguerre, who produced his photographic plates in 1839, when the Chamber of Deputies granted him a pension. Dahlia, from the Swedish botanist Dahl, who first cultivated in Europe that beautiful flower imported from its native China called Georgina in Germany, where it was subsequently introduced by the botanist Georgi, who robbed Professor Dahl of its name. Dedale, a labyrinth, from the Athenian architect, sculptor, and arti- ficer Daedalus, who made the great Cretan labyrinth, where he was eventually confined by King Minos, and from whence he escaped by means of wings which he had constructed. Guillemet, inverted commas, from the French printer of that name, who first introduced this typographical sign. Guillocher, to engine -turn, thus called after a French workman named Guillot, who is credited with the original idea of this orna- mentation. Guillotine, the too well-known lugubrious machine invented by Dr. Guillotin (1738-1814), or rather, to speak more accurately, introduced from Italy into France at the suggestion of this worthy philanthropist, who was anxious to do away with the tortures hitherto employed. Macadam, road metal, thus called in remembrance of John M'Adam who first used it, and received a grant from the British Parliament as a reward in 1825. See also Silhouette in vol. ii. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS l6l Embarrasser. En societe, il est embarrasse de sa personne = When in society, he does not know what to do with himself. Embellir. Cela ne fait que croitre et embellir=\\. grows better and better [generally used ironically.] [See CROITRE.] Emblee. II a gagn'e d'emblee ^o. came out first without difficulty. Ce tableau I 'a place d'emblee parmi les premiers peintres dujour = This picture placed him straight off amongst the first painters of the day. Emboiter. Les indifferents emboitent le pas derriere les gros bataillons = The indifferent follow suit behind the big battalions. Embouche'. Une personne mal embouchce A person who uses a coarse language. Embrasser. Qui trop embrasse mal etreint = Grasp all, lose all. Emmitoufle'. -Jamais chat emmitoufle neprit souris=[See CHAT.] s'Emousser. Les douleurs les plus profondes s'emoussent avec le temps Time assuages [literally, takes the edge off] the deepest grief. Empcher. // faut souffrir ce qu'on ne peut empecher = What cannot be cured must be endured. N'empeche que [elliptical for Cela riempeche que] = For all that ; All the same. Empire. // ne cederait pas pour un empire = Nothing , - would make him yield. Employer. // a employe le vertetle sec= He left no stone unturned. s'Employer. // s'est employe pour moi de la maniere la plus bienveillante = He exerted himself on my behalf in the kindest manner. Empoigner. C'est une scene qui empoigne le public = It is a scene that takes a thorough hold of the public. Emporte-piece. C'est ecrit a V emporte-pihe = It is written in a sharp, incisive style. VOL. I. L 1 62 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Emporter. -Ses satires emp orient la piete='Rx& satires are most biting. Autant en emporte le vent = It is all idle talk. Many words will not fill a bushel. Vous ne femporterez pas au paradis = My turn will come sooner or later. Cet avis remporta \la balance, or le vote, understood] = That opinion prevailed. // r emportera facilement sur ses concurrents \la palme understood] = He will easily beat his rivals. De peur que sur r esprit I'argile ne r emporte [LAMARTINE.] Lest the clay should get the mastery of the spirit. Le diable les emporte ! = Hang 'em ! [SHAKESPEARE.] s'Emporter. // s 'emporte pour un rien = He flies into a passion for a mere nothing. Empress^. II fait fempresse auprh d'elle = He shows her particular attentions. Elle va, vient, fait I'empressee = [LA FONTAINE.] It goes, and comes, and busies about. Emprtmtd. Une beaute empruntee An artificial beauty. Elle a /'air un peu emprunte = She looks a little awkward. Emprunter. Ne choisit pas qui emprunte = [See CHOISIR.] Qui emprunte perd ses habitudes d 1 economic = Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. [SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet.] En* [Pron.]. -J'en ai vu quelques-uns = I have seen some. J 'en prendrai deux = I shall take two. * That personal pronoun en ("of it," "of them") quite distinct from the preposition en, of which I have thought right to give above several idiomatic constructions always accompanies the indefinite pronouns quelqiies - tens, aucun, attire, as also nouns expressing a quantity (une donzaine, la moifie, &c. ), and the numeral adjectives or adverbs of quantity, when they are the "object" of the verb, and the noun to which they refer is not expressed at the same time. Thus we say : " Prenez-^w quelques-uns ; J'en acheterai une douzaine ; En voulez- vous encore ?"&c. [MARIETTE'S Half-hours of French Translations, P- I*-] FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 163 Prenez-en un autre = Take another. En voulez-vous ? = Will you have any ? En est-il un plus pauvre en la machine ronde ? [LA FONTAINE.] Is there a more miserable man to be met with in the wide world ? C'en est fait= It is all over. En arriver a souhaiter la tempete, riest-ce pas le monde renverse ? = [Le Petit Journal.'} To come to wish for a cataclysm, is it not the world thrown upside down ? Si Men qu'au bout de Van II en rapporta davantage = [LA FONTAINE.] The result being that by the end of the year it pro- duced all the more. En [Prep.]. // s'est toujours conduit en galant homme = 'Ke always behaved like a gentleman. // en park en connaisseur = He speaks of it as a con- noisseur. En bonjeune homme que vous ^to = Like a good young man that you are. De mal en pis = From bad to worse ; Worse and worse. De mieux en mieux ; de pis en pis Better and better ; Worse and worse. // marchait en tete = He was marching at the head. Je suis en eau = I am dripping wet. Du ble en herbe = Corn in the blade. En belle humeur= In a merry mood. En haine de Out of hatred to. Taille en pointe= Ending in a point. Des arbres tallies en buisson = Trees cut in the form of a bush. Hamlet ne voulait pas tuer le roi pendant qu'il etait en prieres = Hamlet would not kill the king while he was at prayers. Je ne veux pas etre en reste avec eux I don't want to be behindhand with them. Docteur en medecine = Doctor of medicine. En tant que je piiis = As far as I can. 164 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS s'Encanailler. Le siecle, disait deja Moliere il y a 250 ans, s^ encanaille furieusement =\ J Q J ^I characters, said Moliere 250 years ago, are introduced everywhere nowadays. Encensoir. Donner de Vencensoir par le nez ; Casser le nez a coups d'encensoir = To be a fulsome flatterer. Enchere. La propriete est mise aux enc^eres = r The pro- perty is being brought to the hammer. C'esf iinefolle enchere = \\. is a re-sale at any price [the first buyer having been unable to execute the con- ditions of the sale.] II en patera la folk enchere = He will pay the penalty of his rashness. Une enchere au rabais = A Dutch auction. Enclume. C'estun ouvrage a remettre sur f enchtine =\\. is a work that wants recasting. // est entre le marteau et I'enclume = He is in a serious dilemma ; between the hammer and the anvil. // faut etre enclume ou marteau = One must either do or suffer evil. A 1'Encontre. Dans son application courante, cette loi va a Pencontre des intentions du legislateur, comme des vceux du moraliste [Le Temps.] In its ordinary application, this law runs counter to the intentions of the legislator, as well as to the wishes of the moralist. Encore.* Encore si vous m'aviezprevenu If only you had warned me. Encore si nos innombrables fonctionnaires rendaient des services proportionnes a ce qrfils content ! = If only those numberless officials of ours rendered services proportionate with their cost. * Encore, encor, from the Latin (ad) hanc orain, until this hour. Encore is used with the meaning of "yet," strictly in accordance with its etymological sense, especially in negative sentences : // if est pas encore temps, i.e., il n 'est pas temps d. cette heure. Encore has also the meanings of "again": Quoi ! encore? What, again? of "also": Outre cela, il y a missi . . , Besides this, there FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 165 Encre. C'est la bouteille a /' encre = [See BOUTEILLE.] // lui a ecrit de la bonne encre = He wrote to him in strong terms. Encroutd. // est encroute de prejuges = He is full of pre- judices. s'Endormir. Vous voyez que je ne me suis pas endormi= You see I have not been idle. Enfant. // commandait les enfants perdus He led the forlorn hope (of former times). Un enfant de troupe A soldier's son brought up in barracks. La Charite est la nitre adoptive des enfants trouves = Charity is the adoptive mother of foundlings. Allans, nefaites done pas r enfant- Come, don't behave like a child. // est aussi innocent que V enfant qui vient de naitre = He is as innocent as the babe unborn. Enfant gate devient souvent enfant ingrat = A spoilt child often turns out an ungrateful child. . L? enfant est un petit homme L'homme est un grand enfant = [LAMARTINE.] The child is a small man The man is a big child. // a deux enfants du second lit He has two children by his second wife. M. Punch s'esf immortalise avec ses enfants terribles = Mr. Punch has immortalised himself with his dread- ful plaguy children. is also . . . of "still": Son dernier ouvrage est encore plus interessant ; His last work is still more interesting. Let us note also Encore si, with the meaning of "if only," as in our text : Encor si ce banni n'eut rien aime snr tcrre ! VICTOR HUGO. If only this outcast had loved nothing upon earth ! There is, besides, encore que, "even though" : L'envie honore le nitrite, encore qtielle s'ejfone de favilir= MARMONTEL. Envy honours merit, even though it would fain vilify it. 1 66 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS C'est bien ^enfant de sa mere = He takes after his mother. // est bon enfant = He is a good fellow. Tout cela forme un tableau anime d'une gaiete bon enfant=A\\ that forms a bright picture of a good- natured liveliness. Enfanter. La montagne a enfante une souris = The mountain has brought forth a mouse. Enfer. Cette cuisiniere fait toujours un feu t'enfer=This cook always keeps a tremendous fire. Enfermer. // ne s'agit pas d'enfermer le loup dans la bergerie We must not shut up the wolf among the sheep. Enfiler. -Je ne suis pas venu id pour enfiler des perles I did not come here to pick straws. s'Enfiler. Cela ne s'enfile pas comme des perles = It is more difficult to do than it looks. Enfin. Enfin, ou voulez-vous en venir ? = In short, what are you driving at ? Enfonce\ // est enfonce [familiar] = He is done for. Enfonceur. -C'esf un enfonceur de portes ouvertes= He is a boaster. Enfourner. A mal enfourner, on fait les pains cornus = A good start is of paramount importance [literally, By setting in badly, one makes angular loaves.] Engager. Cela ne vous engage a rien = T\\ai does not pledge you to anything. s'Engager.- Ilvient de ? engager en Algerie = He has just enlisted in Algeria. Comment vous tes-vous engage dans une si mauvaise affaire ? = How came you to get involved into such a miserable affair ? Engendrer. C'est un joyeux camarade qui n 1 engendre pas la melancolie = He is a merry companion who does not breed melancholy. Engin. Mteux vaut engin que force- Policy goes beyond strength. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 167 s'EngOlier. -Je me demande comment il a pu s'engoiier de cette personne = I wonder how he can have got in- fatuated with that person. Engraisser. // engraisse de maledictions He thrives on curses. Enigme. Voila le mot de l'em'gme = The mystery is ex- plained That is the answer to the riddle. Cette enigme est un vrai casse-tcte cfrinois = This riddle is a real Chinese puzzle. Enlever. Le morceau a ete superbement enleve = The piece was played with splendid spirit. Ennemi. Le mieux est F ennemi du bien = Leave well alone. C'est aiitant de pris sur V ennemi = It is so much saved, so much to the good. Notre, ennemi) C'est noire maUre, Je vous le dis en ban Fran$ais * = [LA FONTAINE.] Our real enemy is our master : I tell you so as a true Gaul that I am. Ami au prefer, ennemi au rendre A friend to borrow- ing, but not to paying. Un ennemi declare = An open enemy. // riy a point de petit ennemi '= The smallest people may prove dangerous enemies. * Notre ennemi, Jest notre maitre. This saying, unpleasantly sug- gestive as it is, is considered by some competent critics as an embodi- ment of the truly French spirit of independence. As to La Fontaine's statement, Je vous le dis en ban franfais, I may, I think, safely assert that it is not to be taken in the rather idle sense: "I tell you so plainly, in good French." In fact, the expression in this sense was unknown in the 1 7th century, and I am satisfied that La Fontaine, with his caustic temperament, intended his statement to refer to the national spirit of his countrymen, whose fierce assumption of independ- ence was later on to proclaim urbi et orbi, among the "immortal principles of 1789," that of Equality (?), which logically implies the abolition of all mastership ! I have, therefore, adopted the rendering : "I tell you so, like a true Gaul that I am," and have accordingly given the word Franais a capital initial, although this does not occur in the printed work. 1 68 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS s'Enoncer. Ce que Pan co/ifoit bien s'enonce dairement = [BoiLEAU, L'Art Foeliqitc.~\ What is clearly conceived is clearly expressed. Enrager. Prendre patience en enrageant= r ^Q swallow an affront, or put up with an annoyance, with constrained resignation. // se debattait comme un enrage = He was struggling like a madman. Us ont mange de la vache enragee They suffered great hardships and privations. Qui veut tuer son chien, dit qrfil est enrage = [See CHIEN.] s'Enrichir. Qui paye ses dettes s 1 enrichit =*&& that pays his debts grows rich. Enseigne. -Je suis loge a la meme enseigne que vous - I am no better off than you your case is exactly mine. Le pauvre diable couchait a F enseigne de la lune The unfortunate fellow slept in the open air. Oest une enseigne a biere = It is a wretched picture, i.e., only fit for a sign-post. Us ne Fauront qu'a bonnes enseignes = T\\ey shall not have it except on proper terms, on good security. A telles enseignes que . . . = The proof of it is that . . . So much so that . . . A bon vin point d' enseigne = Good wine needs no bush. [See note on BOUCHON.] Entendeur. A bon entendeur, salut = A word to the wise. Entendre. -Je rfentends pas de celte orielle-la = \ am deaf on that side. A les entendre = If we are to believe them. Je ne Fentends pas />/= That is not the view I take of the matter ; That does not suit me. Cela ne sfra pas, entend(Z-voust=\\. shall not be so, I tell you. Comment Fentendez-vous ? - What do you mean by it ? FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 169 Elle ne veut pas en entendre parler = She will not hear of it. Le sage entend a deini-mot= Wise men know how to take a hint. On ne salt plus a qui entendre = There is no knowing now whom to listen to. II 'entend ne rien promettre de ce qrfil croira ne pouvoir tenir - He does not intend to make any promise that he thinks he could not keep. En louant ainsi son livre, j* en tends parler du fond, non de la forme = In thus praising his book, I allude to the matter, not to the style. // n! entend rien aux affaires = He knows nothing about business. // n'y entend pas malice = He does not mean anything unkind. Je tfentends pas raillerie la-dessus = I will not stand a joke on this subject. Pen de personnes entendent la fine plaisanterie = Few people can jest delicately. // m'a laisse entendre ; il m'a fait entendre que . . . = He gave me to understand that . . . // ne voudra jamais entendre raison * = He will never listen to reason. Faites comme vous Fentendrez = Just do as you please. * I would call the reader's attention here to the idiomatic difference of meaning between Entendre la raison and Entendre raison, a differ- ence to which I have frequently alluded in my Examination papers without eliciting a satisfactory answer. Entendre la raison simply means, "To listen to the particular motive why," whilst Entendre raison means, "To be reasonable, to listen to reason," quite another thing. Thus, when the historic miller of Sans-Souci declines to sell his mill to his royal neighbour of Potsdam, he timidly observes : Entendez la raison, Sire ; je ne pcux fas vous vendte ma maison : Alon vieux peie y mounit ; monjils y vient de nattre. C'est man Potsdam a moi= ANDRIEUX. He would never have presumed to tell his Majesty Frederic II. of Prussia : Eniendez done raison, Sire. For the result would soon have followed a la pmssienne, and Sans-Souci would undoubtedly have shared the fate of Silesia, and certain other provinces. 170 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Je vous entends : Neron m'apprend par votre voix, Qu'e/i vain Britannicus s 1 assure sur mon choix = [RACINE.] I understand you : Nero informs me through you that Britannicus relies in vain upon my choice. Qui n'entend qifune cloche, rientend qifun son [See CLOCHE]. // n'est pire sourd que celui qui ne vent pas entendre There is none so deaf as he who will not hear. s'Entendre. Cela s'entend^That is a matter of course. // s'entend au jardinage = He understands gardening. Us s'entendent tons deux conune larrons en foire = [MOLIERE.] They are as thick as thieves together. Je n? entends bien = I know perfectly what I mean. // s'agit de nous entendre sur le prix The point is to agree about the price. Entendu. C'esf entendu = That's agreed. Bien entendu = Of course ; Yes, of course. // estfort entendu He is very shrewd, very skilful. D'un air entendu = With a knowing look. Entente. Un mot, une phrase a double e ntente = A word, a phrase with a double meaning. [See note on Cot>TER.] L entente est au diseur = Everybody has a right to put his own meaning on what he says. s'Enticher. // s'est entiche de ces etranges iJees=~H.e got infatuated with those strange notions. Entorse. -Je me suis donne une entorse au pied= I sprained my ankle. Ce serai 't donner une entorse a la verite It would be tantamount to twisting truth. Entrainer. Cela entramerait de facheuses consequences = That would entail bad consequences. Ce cheval est bien entraine This horse is well trained. Entre'e. Les entrees defaveur sont suspendues = The orders, the free admissions, are suspended. Cette marchandise ne paie pas d^ entree = These goods pay no duty. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 1 71 Elle va faire son entree dans le monde = She is about to come out. She is going to make her first appear- ance in society. Son talent lui donne entree par tout = His talent secures his admission everywhere. Entrefaites. Sur ces entrefaites Meanwhile. Entreprendre. Quelle raison pouvait-il avoir de Ventre- prendre ainsi ? = What could his motive be for setting upon him as he did ? Entrer. -Je rientre pas la-dedans = I will not meddle with that ; I'll have nothing to do with that. // est entre de plein pied en matiere = He came straight to the point ; In medias res. Cela n 1 entre pas dans mes vues = That does not tally with my purpose, with my ideas. Des que ces considerations entrent en ligne, il devient impossible de s 1 entendre = The moment considerations of this kind are brought to bear upon the subject, there is no understanding possible. Cela doit entrer en ligne de compte ; faites-le entrer en ligne de compte That should come into account ; Take it into account. // entre au mains dix metres d^etoffe dans cette robe That dress takes at least ten metres of stuff. Entrevoir. Je n 'at fait que les entrevoir = I only caught a glimpse of them. J'entrevois de serieux obstacles = I anticipate serious obstacles. Envergure. C'cst une entreprise de grande envergure =\\. is a very serious undertaking on a large scale. Envers. A /' envers = Inside out. Une tete a V envers = A mad-cap. Gens a deux envers = Deceitful people. Ses affaires sont a renvers=I J L\s affairs are in a hope- less condition. Je le defendrai envers et contre tous = I will take his part against all comers. 172 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Envi. A renvi - With emulation [in Low Latin, ad in vidiam\ Les chevaliers avaient depens'e a renvi run de Vautre [DE BARANTE.] The knights had vied with each other in expense. Envie.* // vaut mieux faire envie que pitie = Better be envied than pitied. Ce n 1 est pas r envie qui lui en manque = It isn't for want of inclination. Envoyer. Envoyez-le promener='$>er\& him to his busi- ness [familiarly, to Jericho or to Coventry]. Epargner. Qui epargne gagne= Saving is getting. Un sou epargne est un sou gagne = A penny saved is a penny got. Epater. C'esf epatant [familiar] = It is wonderful. Us en etaient epates = They were amazed at it. Epaule. Celafait hausser les epaules = \\. is pitiful. Que sa presence me phe sur les epaules I = How dreadfully tired I am of seeing him ! * Envie, properly envy, Latin invidia " L 'envie est plus irrecon- ciliable que la haine." LA ROCHEFOUCAULD. It also expresses (i) a mere wish " Les voyages . . . accroissent ordinairement 1'envie de voyager." REGNARD ; (2) a want, a longing for Avoir envie de boire de dormir, &c. Note the expressions : Faire envie, to excite envy, jealousy ; Porter envie, to feel envious ; Etre digne d 'envie, to have a fate worthy of being envied : "Qu'on est digne d'envie Lorsqu'en perdant la force, on perd aussi la vie." CORNEILLE. Passer son envie, to gratify one's wish, one's longing ; Faire fax ser a anelqu'nu r envie de . . . , to cure some one of a given practice or propensity. Again, note the expression A I'envi, with emulation, that is, "a qui mieux mieux " [in Low Latin, ad inviciiam.'] " Les peuples a 1'envi marchent a ta lumiere." RACINE. Envie also expresses technically a birth-mark on the body, and a hang-nail, which is similarly called in German Neid-nagel. MARIETTE'S Edition of COPPEE'S Liithier de Cremone, p. 62. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 173 Je lui ai donne un bon coup d > epaule = [See COUP.] // a ete mis a la porte par les oreilks et les deux epaules = He was ignominiously turned out by the head and shoulders. II le fera par-dessus /' jump together. // a r esprit Men fait : = He is good-tempered. II petille d" 1 esprit ; II a de r esprit comme qiiatre = He is remarkably witty. // a de P esprit jusqitau bout des doigts = [See DOIGT.] Elle a V esprit vit= She is quick-witted. Les esprits m'ediocres condamnent d" 1 ordinaire tout ce qui passe leur portee = [LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.] Common-minded people generally condemn what is beyond their understanding. // a eu le bon esprit de garder le silence He had sense enough to remain silent. Cela ne me seraitjamais venu a r esprit = I should never have thought of that. Esprit de vertige = Spirit of infatuation. Nul rtaura de P esprit, hors nous et nos amis = [MOLI&RE, Les Femmes Savantes.] No one shall have any wit, except ourselves and our friends. * Espiegle, Espieglerie. From the Latin speculum, a mirror, through the German Spiegel. The latter word, as remarked by Scheler, having entered into the compound Ettlen-spiegel\\i\.&ia\\y, mirror of owls], which is the name of the hero I5th century in a well-known literary com- position, translated into French under the title, " Tiel-Ulespiegle," has supplied our French word espiegle, in allusion to that facetious per- sonage who is the type of espieglcrie. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 177 Lxuvre a ete conduite jusqu'id avec esprit de suite- The work has thus far been carried on with consistency. La lettre tue et r esprit vivifie = ThQ letter killeth but the spirit giveth life. Le malin esprit = The evil spirit. Les esprits forts savent-ils qrfon les appelle ainsi par ironic ?= [LA BRUYERE.] Are strong-minded people aware that it is ironi- cally they are called so ? // est Men dans r esprit de ses chefs = He stands well with his chiefs. // a r esprit aux talons = His brains are a wool- gathering. Quand on court apres r esprit, on trouve la sottise = He who exerts himself to be witty proves himself a fool. L? esprit qrfon veut avoir gate celui qu'on a = [CRESSET.] The wit one tries to have spoils that which one has. Reprenez vos esprits = Recover yourself. Essayer. // u'en coute rien cTessayer ^iQ\\ can but try. Essieu. Trop charge, Fessieu rompt = Everything in moderation. Essuyer. -J'ai essuye un refus- I met with a refusal EstOC. Frapper d'estoc et de faille- To thrust and cut. Estomac. Le creux de restomac = The pit of the stomach. Estropier. Vous avez estropie ce passage = You mutilated that passage. litage. Son menton sur son sein descend a double etage = [BoiLEAU, Le Lulriii.] His chin comes down with a fold on his breast. litalage. II fait etalage de son savoir - He makes a show of his learning. litape.* Nous avons brtile retape VJe went through without stopping. * Etape, halting-place. Originally, it meant the market-place, where all merchants were obliged to bring their goods for sale. Then, by extension, the word meant a city where a certain trade was carried VOL. I. M 178 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Etat. La maison est en bon etat The house is in good repair. Si vous louez. faites faire un etat des Heux = If you let, have an inventory made of the premises, fixtures, &c. Je fats pen d'etat de ses menaces = I care but little for his threats. // est en etat de se defendre = He is able to take care of himself. lien fait une affaire d'etat He makes a mountain of it. Les choses restent en Fetat = Things remain in statu quo. Elliptically : dans Fetat ou elles etaient, As they were. Je Fai trouve dans tous ses etats [familiar] = I found him in a great state of excitement. Eteindre. Sole et satin, velours, hermine, eteignent le feu de la cuistne = [See CUISINE.] s'Etendre. -Je ne veux pas ufetendre sur ce sujet=\ will not dwell on this subject. Eteuf. II court apres son eteuf= He endeavours to recover his loss. // renvoya Feteuf= He sent back the ball, giving his man as good as he had brought. He gave him a Roland for his Oliver. Etincelle. Petite etincelle engendre grand feu = Let us beware of small beginnings. Etiquette. Ne jugez pas sur Fetiquette Do not judge from appearances. // tient a F etiquette = He stands upon ceremony. Etoffe. // y a de Fetoffe chez ce gar$on = This is a promis- ing lad. Etoile. Us ont du coucher a la belle etoile = [See COUCHER.] // pretend leur faire voir des etoiles en plein midi = He is trying to bamboozle them. Une etoile filante A shooting star. on. " Alexanclrie, etant devenue la seule etape, cette etape grossit " [MONTESQUIEU, Esprit des Lois, xxi.] Later on, the word etape expressed the supply of food and forage given to the troops, and finally, the quarters where the soldiers on march stop for the night, and where they receive their ration. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 179 Etoupe. Cela a mis lefeu aux etoupes = \\. added fuel to the flame. Etourdir. // a mange une cotelette pour etourdir la grosse faim He ate up a mutton chop to stay his stomach. Les dentistes aujourd'hui ?y prennent tres bien pour etourdir la doukur= Dentists nowadays manage very well to beguile the pain. s'EtOUfdir. // cherche a s ^etourdir = He seeks to forget his troubles. Etre. Monsieur y est-ill Non, Monsieur rfy est pas = \s the gentleman in ? No, my master is not at home. Je n'y suis pour personne I am not at home for any one. fy suis = I am ready. Oh ! fy suis maintenant=Q\\\ I see now; I under- stand. Je n'y suis pour rien - I have had nothing to do with it. Ny suis-je point encore 1 = [LA FONTAINE.] Don't I reach it yet ? j&tes-vous des no tres 1 Oui,fen .$# = Will you be one of our party ? Yes, I'll join. fy suis pour quelques actions = I have a few shares in the concern. // n'en est rien = That is not the case. // n'en sera rien = There will be nothing of the kind. // n'en a rien ete Nothing came of it. // en est de vous comme de tout le monde = It is with you as with everybody else. II en est de meme de nous= It is the same with us. fa y est = That's it ! All right ! Nous en avons ete pour notre peine = We had our trouble for nothing. Voila ce que f'esfThat is the consequence of it. Vous voyez oil fen suis = You see how I am situated. Ou en ites-vous de votre livre 1 - How are you getting on with your book ? Ou en etions-nous hier ? = Where did we leave off yester- day? 180 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Serait-ce que le luxe s'en va ? = Can it be because luxury is going out ? Cela n 'est pas pour nous deplaire = That is not calculated to displease us. Nous sommes tres bien ensemble = We are on very good terms together. // ne m'est rien = He is neither kith nor kin to me. // est a se griser dans quelque trou - [A. DE MUSSET, Fantasia.] He is engaged intoxicating himself in some wretched hole. Ou en sont les choses actuellement ? = How do matters stand now ? N'etait, rfeut etc cette circonstance = Were it not, had it not been for this circumstance. Tache delicate, s'il en fut jamais = A difficult task, if ever there was one. // est des moments ou les minutes semblent des sticks a celui qui croit saisir la victoire [Due D'AUMALE.] There are times when minutes seem like centuries to him who believes that he is about to snatch victory. Prenne qui voudra le monopole d'exploiter FEgypte du jour et de depouiller les fellahs, PEgypte, dans ses quarante siecles, est a la France de par le genie de Champollion et de Marie tie = QAMES DARMESTETER, Essais Orientaux.~\ Let those who like assume the monopoly of using modern Egypt to their own profit and of stripping the fellahs, Egypt, in her forty centuries, belongs to France by the genius of Champollion and of Mariette. Cela etant=Such being the case. Toujours est-il que . . . = The fact remains that . . . // etait unefois . . . = There was once upon a time . . . Quoi qu'il en s0it=Be that as it may. He bien ! soit - Well, let it be so. Si ce n'est que = Except that. On ne peut pas ctre et avoir ete = You cannot eat your cake and have it still. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS l8l Etrenner. On vous attend pour ctrenner le nouvel hotel= They arc waiting for you to be the first to use the new hotel. Etres. -Je connais tons les elres de la maison * I know all the ins and outs of the house. Etrier. II a maintenant le pied dans f etrier =1A.Q is now in a fair way to success. // est ferine sur ses etriers = He stands on good ground ; He is steady in his views. fai ete Men aise de lui tenir les etriers I was glad to give him a lift. Vous ne pouvez pas partir sans boire le vin de I' etrier = You cannot go without drinking the parting cup. [See COUP.] Se lancer a franc etrier dans le vaste domaine des con- jectures = To launch at full speed in the vast field of conjectures. II faut toujours avoir son paquet pret et le pied a I 1 etrier pour voyager dans Pautre monde = [VOLTAIRE.] One must always have one's bundle ready, with one foot in the stirrup, to set off for the next world. Le pied de /*AWrTh.e left fore-foot of the horse. litriller. Nous avons ete rudement etrilles dans cet hotel= We got unmercifully fleeced at that hotel. litrivieres. On lui a donn'e les etrivieres = They gave him a good thrashing. Etroit. -Us sont a Petroit, Us vivent a /' ' = What a fright you have made of yourself ! Faible. Je connais le fort et le faible de V affaire = I know the ins and outs of the affair. // a toujours eu un faible pour elle = He always was partial to her. // a les reins trop faibles pour un pareil poste He is not up to the mark for such a post. Faillir. -J'aifailli tomber=\ nearly fell down. Faim. -Je meurs de faim = I am starving. On les a reduits par la faim = They got starved out. Us se sont laisses mourir de faim = They starved them- selves to death. La faim chasse le loup hors du bois = Hunger will break through stone walls. C'est la faim qui epouse la soif= It is one beggar marry- ing another. Faire. Que faire? = What is to be done? Po^^rquoi faire ? = What for ? Comment faire ?= How am I to go to work ? FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 185 On fait ce qu 'on pent '= One does one's best. 11 a eu vitefait de s'en aller- He soon got away. Cela ne me fait ni chaud nifroid = It's all the same to me. Faites de votre miettx, c'est tout ce qu'on vous demande = Do your best, that's all that is required of you. Qdest-ce que cela me fait? = What is that to me ? J'ai beau dire : rien riy fait= My talking is of no use : it has no effect. 11 ferait beau le voir oser desobeir= I should like to see him dare to disobey. Qu'est-ce que cela fait ? Mais, cela fait beaucoup = What difference does it make? Why, it makes all the difference. C'est bienfait ; cela vous apprendra = It serves you right ; it will teach you to know better. 77 est un peu mou : on le fait aller comme on vent He is rather soft : you can do with him what you like. // rien fait qu'a sa tete = He is very self-willed. C'en est fait = It is all over. // a encore fait des siennes \_farces understood] = He has been at his tricks again. // en fait de belles = He behaves nicely, very. // Fa fait arreter, puis fusilier = He got him locked up, then shot. // ria que faire de votre argent = He does not want your money. // fera son chemin tout seul= He will get on in the world by his own merit. Mon fils ain'e faisait jusqd a cent milles par jour sur sa bicyclette - My eldest son would ride no less than one hundred miles a day on his bicycle. Que voulez-vous que fy fasse ? = I can't help it ; how ^ can I ? A chose faite point de remede^'Wha.t is done cannot be helped. // rien fera rien He will do nothing of the kind. Oil avez-vous ete pour etre ainsifait? = Where have you been to be in such a state, in such a mess ? J^ai fait toutes les boutiques pour trouver le pareil=\ tried every shop to match it. 1 86 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Notre jeune auteur fera un jour plus large, plus etoffe = Our young author's composition will some day have a wider grasp and more substance. // nefait que de venir= He has only just arrived. // nefait qu'aller et vem'r=He keeps going to and fro. Us font regulierement la Saint-Lundi= They never work on Monday. Us font la noce = They enjoy themselves. // nous a fait faire antichambre - He kept us dancing attendance. Je suis fait a son humeur I am used to his temper. // est malfait= He is ill-shaped. Vous aurez fort a faire You will have a good deal of trouble. Qui bien fera, bien trouvera = Industry shall be re- warded. Lais sez-moi j air e = Leave it to me. Laissez-le faire Leave him alone. // fait ires cher vivre maintenant a Paris, et surtout dans la banlieue Living in Paris is now very dear, and especially so in the suburbs. Si faire se peut= If it can be done. Us nefont $u'un = They are hand and glove together. II n'a fait ni une ni deux ; il les a chasses = He stood no nonsense ; he turned them out. Comme vous le faites //= He fell on his back the heels uppermost. Cette affaire ne tient ni a fer ni a clou That busi- ness has been badly settled ; has been done loosely. Quand on quitte les marechaux, on pay e les vieux fers = Before employing new tradesmen, the old ones should be paid off. FeYir. Sans coup ferir - Without striking a blow. [See note on SANS.] Ferre". // est ferr'e a glace sur la geometric = He is thoroughly conversant with geometry. C'est un avaleur de charrettes ferr'ees = He is a fire- eater. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 197 Fesse-Mathieu.* C'estunfesse-mathieu = He is a regular skin-flint. Vous avez, dit-on mcme, acquis en phis d'un lieu Le titre d'usurier et de Fesse-Matliieu = [REGNARD.] They even say that you have acquired in more than one place the title of usurer and of skin-flint. Fete. -Je me fais une fete de les recevoir=\ look forward with great pleasure to their visit. // ne s'etait jamais vu a pareille fete = He had never come in for such luck. Ce riest pas tous les jours fete = Christmas comes round but once a year. Aux bonnes fetes les bons coups = The better the day, the better the deed. La fete passee, adieu le saint = The saint's day over, farewell the saint ! Feu. Au feu 1 atifeu ! Fire ! fire ! 21 se mettrait au feu pour les servir = He would go through the fire to serve them. J'en mettrais ma main au feu = I would swear to it. Us lefont mourir a petit feu = They are killing him by inches. * Fcsse- Mathieu. Here is, quantum valeat, an explanation of this odd expression : Before his conversion, the Apostle St. Matthew was a publican, and in that capacity he made large profits, as is the case to this day in that corporation. Thus it came to be said of an usurer, II fait Saint Mathieu. In the course of lime, and in conformity with the usual drift of things, the saying got popularly corrupted into fesse-mathieu. It is in that form that it has come down to us, and the very disparaging term is now constantly employed to designate those people who make an illicit profit with their money. The epithet is also applied now to stingy people. M. Edouard Thierry, however, traces the expression to a memorial festival of the Middle Ages called Fete Mathieu, when a kind of large wooden cash-box, called "la caisse de Saint Mathieu," was carried in the procession to collect the contributions of magistrates and others. The lookers-on would say, " Here come the fete-mathieu ; " and eventu- ?\\y fesse-mathieu was substituted by some "gavroche" of the period, as those things invariably happen. 198 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS // n'ajamais vu Sefeu = He never smelt gunpowder. // n'a ni feu ni lieu = He has neither house nor home. La campagne engagee a si grand fracas contre la Chambre des Lords semble avoir fait long feu = The campaign begun with so much noise against the House of Lords seems to have completely miscarried. Us ont mis tout le pays a feu et a sang = They put the whole country to fire and sword. Nous tirons trap souvent les marrons du feu pour les autres pays = VJo. too often pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the benefit of other countries. Cela a mis lefeu aux etoufes=[See ETOUPE.] Ce discours mit le feu aux poudres = That speech pro- voked a great uproar. // ne faut pas jouer avec le feu = One should not play with edge tools. Je n'y at vu que du feu = I was so dazzled that I saw nothing. Le public riy a vu que du feu = The public could make nothing of it. 11 ajetefeu etflamme = ^Q flew into a passion. Get ecrivain semble avoir jete tout son feu = This writer seems to be used up. Fairefeu qui dure = To be sparing of one's resources. On compte cent feux dans ce village There are one hundred houses in this village. Lefeu le plus couvert est le plus ardent = In the coldest flint there is hot fire. Still waters run deep. Ce n'est qu'un feu de paille = It is a mere flash in the pan. La troupe a fait feu = The soldiers fired. // n'y a point de fumee sans feu, ni de feu sans fumee = There is no smoke without some fire. Faites dufeu dans le salon Light a fire in the drawing- room. // n'est feu que de gros bois = No serious business can be done without capital. [See Bois.] // n'est feu que de bois verf=The energy of youth is often useful. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 199 Le jeune Napoleon, nous dit k po^te, etait de feu pour ralgebre et de glace pour le latin * = Napoleon, when a boy, the poet tells us, was all fire for algebra and all ice for Latin. Se Jeter dans le feu pour eviter lafumee - To jump out of the frying-pan into the fire. Si Pon n'est pas brule par le feu, ou est noirci par la fumee = Bad company is so far fatal, that if you escape being contaminated, you do get your fair name blackened. Mon jo li petit chien est marque defeu = M.y pretty little dog is tan-spotted. Feuille. Limprimeur a tire pour moi une bonne feuille - The printer struck off a fair sheet for me. Elle tremble comme une feuille = She trembles like an aspen-leaf. Feve. // a trouv'e lafeve an gateau = He has made a lucky discovery. He has hit the mark. Fi. Pourquoi enfairefi ? - Why turn up your nose at it ? Adieu, done. Fi du plaisir Que la crainte peut corrompre ! = [LA FONTAINE.] Farewell, then ! Away with the pleasure that fear can spoil. Oh, le Ttlain t fi done ! = Oh, the naughty boy ! For shame ! Ficelle. II connait toutes lesficelles du metier- He knows all the tricks of the trade. Fiche. Oest une fiche de consolation = It is a little bit of comfort. A getwux I cl genoux ! an milieu de la classe, L' enfant mutin, Dont r esprit est defeu pour ralgebre, et de glace Pour le latin ! A in si par la it le matt re a Celeve indocile ; Car Pecolier Etait dn petit nombre ardent et difficile A se plier. A. DE BEAUCHESNE. 200 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Fichu.* Un fichu drole = h.r\ awful rascal. Fieff. Cest un fripon fieffe - He is an arrant knave. Fier.t Fiercomme un Ecossais = As proud as a Scotchman. Fier comme Artaban \ = As proud as a peacock. * Un fichu drolt ; une fichue corvt?e=An awful rascal; a wretched job. This word fichu, which properly designates a small article of female attire, a "neckerchief," is also a low term, which, however, is too commonly used not to find its place in this work. I will venture to relate here an anecdote as an ft tide de maurs, and at the same time as an illustration of the exact bearing of this questionable word. During the latter days of the Second Empire, the fashion pre- vailed, in and out of France, of ladies' evening dresses being made extremely long at the bottom, whilst par centre they were open extremely low at the top (which once made Archbishop Whately remark at Dublin that he had never seen anything of the kind since he had a wet nurse !) At an official ball in Paris, a " lady " wearing such a dress got it trodden upon by a gentleman, who most assuredly couldn't help it. The in- censed dame turned round upon the unlucky party, exclaiming loudly and fiercely : "Fichu maladroit, va 1 " The gentleman, who was one (to my personal knowledge), quietly retorted: "J^ot/a un fichu, Madame, qui serait bien niieux a sa place sur vos epaules que dans votre bouche ! " a splendid thrust, it must be admitted, and a capital specimen of aouble entente. t Fier comme un cossais. This saying, not of very common use now, does not apply to the Scotch community, of which I for one, as indeed all French people, can only think and speak with special respect. It is an old proverb, which simply refers to the Archers of the old Scotch Guard, whom Louis XI. (1461-1483) loaded with favours. This Scotch company (composed more or less exclusively of Caledonians) having become the most ancient of the four companies which formed the body- guard of our French kings, its members came to look upon themselves as superior to the others. Hence the proverb, which we find recorded in Rabelais (1483-1553) : " Mais d'aultres pays sont ici venus ne S9avons quels oultrecuydez, fiers comme Escossoys." RABELAIS, livre v. chap.i<). J Fier comme Artaban. The hero of this rather popular saying is Artaban, king of Parthia, the last of the Arsacides. After having been vanquished by Caracalla (A.D. 217), he made peace on very favourable terms with that Emperor's successor, and was so elated at what he considered a triumph that he took a double diadem and proudly assumed the title of Great King. Some fourteen centuries later, Artaban's name was brought before the public by a romance of Macllle. de Scuderi (1607-1 701 ), called Arlamene, ou le Grand Cyrus, wherein the same Artaban is made to play a rather bombastic part, which, of course, did not escape Boileau's severe criticism. The expression Fier comme Artaban may, therefore, date only from this later period. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 2OI Elle a eu unefierepeur='Sh& was terribly frightened. C'est egal) il faut un fier toupet pour avancer pareille cfiose='We\l, it takes a deal of impudence to put forth such a statement. Fiert&* 11 en est qui dans leur mepris de la fierte etalent une fierte encore plus grande There are some who despise pride with a greater pride. Fifcvre. C'est unefi^vre de cheval=\\. is a violent fever. Tomber de fievre en chaud mal To fall out of the frying-pan into the fire. Figue. Moiti'e figues, moitie raisins = Half in jest, half in earnest. I Is ri oseront pas faire /afigue = They will not dare show contempt. Fil. Ce sont des finesses cousues de fil blanc = Those are tricks easily seen through. Nous leur donnerons du fil a re/ordre = \Ve will cut out work for them. We will give them some trouble. Us suivent le fil de feau = They swim with the stream. I Is ont renoue le fil de V intrigue = They gathered up the broken threads of the intrigue. Cela n'a tenu qu'a un fil It hung only by a thread. Defil en aiguille = From one subject to another. // if est pas prudent dialler de droit fil contre le sentiment connu de pareils homines - It is not safe to go straight against the known views of such men. * // en est qui dans leur mepris de la fierte etalent une fierte encore plus grande ; " Tal sprezza la stiperbia con una maggior superbia" is an Italian proverb, which, as Dr. Trench judiciously remarks, might almost seem to have been founded on the story of Diogenes, who, treading under his feet a rich carpet of Plato's, exclaimed : "Thus I trample on the ostentation of Plato ; " " With an ostentation of thine own," was the other's excellent retort ; even as on another occasion he observed, with admirable wit, that he saw the pride of the Cynic peep- ing through the rents of his mantle : for indeed pride can array itself quite as easily in rags as in purple ; can affect squalors as earnestly as splendours ; the lowest place and the last is of itself no security at all for humility, and out of a sense of this we very well have said : As proud go behind as before. To this I would add : Who can imagine that the indecorous blouse of a certain late Socialist deputy of the present time was a token of humility? 202 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Filer. II faut filer [familiar] = We must be off. II ajug'e a propos de filer doux = 'H.e thought proper to lower his tone. Le temps et r argent filent vite = Time and money vanish rapidly. Ilsfilent leparfait amour = They are passionately in love. Du temps que Berthe filait [i.e., quand les princesses s'occupaient de travaux manuels\ = In the good old times. Filet. I In' a pas le filet ; 11 a eu le filet bien coupe = He has a well-oiled tongue ; He is not tongue-tied. Un filet de vinaigre = A dash of vinegar. Fille. Fille oisive a mal pensive = An idle brain is the devil's workshop. La plus belle fille du monde ne pent donnerque ce qu'elle a = No one can give more than he has. Fillette. Bonjour lunettes, adieu fillettes = A spectacled old party should give up doing the gallant. Fils. En republique on favorise generalement les hommes qui sont les fils de leurs ceuvres = In a republic self- made men are generally favoured. C'estbien lefils de sonpere = He is a chip of the old block. Fin [Subst.]. La fin couronne Pcsuvre All's well that ends well. Cela serf a plusieurs fins = That answers several pur- poses. On n'en voit pas /aj# = There is no end of it. X telle fin que de raison = At all events ; For such purpose as may be required. Qui veut la fin, veut les moyens If you want the end you must use the means. La fin, disent les cyniques, justifie les moyens = The object in view, the cynics say, justifies the means employed. En toute chose ilfaut considerer la fin = [LA FONTAINE.] We should always look ahead think of the con- sequences. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 203 Je touche a la fin de mes peines My troubles will soon be over. 77 a tout fait pour arriver a ses fins He left no stone unturned to gain his point. Je ne doute pas gu'il ne mine V affaire a bonne fin = I have no doubt he will succeed in his enterprise. II a promts de payer fin courant =1^.0, promised to pay at the end of the present month. II a fait une belle fin = He died a glorious death. Telle vie, tellefin As they live, so they die. A la fin ; a la fin desfins = K\. last. Une fin de non-recevoir [legal] = A plea for the non- acceptance of the adversary's demand. Fin [Adj.]. Us savent le fort et le fin de I' 1 affaire = They know the long and the short of the affair. Fin contre fin fait mauvaise doublure = Diamond cut diamond. Le fin mot d*une affaire = The secret of a thing. C'est un fin matois, un fin renard= He is a shrewd fellow, a cunning old fox. Plus fin que lui n'est pas bete = He is no fool, far from it. Us jmiaient au plus fin ^"^^^ vied in cunning. I Is etaient en partie fine = They had got up a secret pleasure party. Une pluie fine = A drizzling rain. Le fin fond de la mer = The very bottom of the sea. Un fin gourmet = A good judge of wine. // a P oreille fine = He has sharp ears. On nous represente ce systbne politique comme le fin du fin = They would have us consider that political system as the very acme of sagacity. Financer. On leferafinancer= They'll make him come down with his money [familiarly, They'll make him fork out.] Finesse. Puissent mes lecteurs etre en train de se penetrer des finesses idiomatiques de la langue fran$aise ! = May my readers be in the way of mastering the idiomatic niceties of the French language ! 204 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Finir. Tout est bien qui finit Men All's well that ends well. Qui bien engrene bien finit = He who begins well ends well. Finissez done = Have done. // a fini par consentir= He consented at last. C'est a ri en plus finir= It is endless. As-tu fini tes manures ? [familiar] = What do you mean by it? Have done with your nonsense. Fixe. Le barometre est au beau fixe =\$QQ BEAU.] -Je suis fixe sur son compte = I know what to think of him. . C'est une affaire flambee = The affair has fallen through is a failure. llestftambiTA& is a ruined man. Mon argent estflambe= My money is lost. Flamberge. Us ont mis les flamberges au w/ = They drew the sword. Flamme. Porter le fer et la flamme dans un pays To waste a country with fire and sword. Flanc. Elle prte le flanc au ridicule = She lays herself open to ridicule. Je suis sur le flanc = I am laid up. Us sont la qui se battent les flancs = There they are contriving and striving. Par le flanc droit t Par le flanc gauche t = To the right about ! To the left about ! Flanquer. Si ce gamin vous ennuie, flanquez-le a la porte [familiar] = If that urchin bothers you, turn him out. // lui aflanqu'e une gifle [familiar] = He gave him a box on the ear. Flatteur. Tout flatteur vit aux depens de celui qui Pecoute = All flatterers live at the expense of their listeners. Fl&che. line sait plus de quelbois fairefleche = [See Bois.] II en est reduit a fairefleche de tout bois = He is put to the last shifts. Tout bois n'est pas bon a faire fleche = You cannot get blood out of a post. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 205 Fleur. C^est la fine fleur de la ville=I\. is the cream of the town. Les hirondelles volent a fleur de terre = Swallows fly close to the ground. Je me rappelle bien les yeux a fleur de tete du vieux monsieur = I well recollect the goggle-eyes of the old gentleman. L? affaire a passe a fleur de corde = The thing was carried after a hard struggle. Dans la fleur de I' age In the prime of life. On park de lui comme de la fleur des pots He is spoken of as the very pink of dandies. Fleurette.* Conterfleurettes^^Q say pretty things. To talk amorous nonsense. Certes, pour un amant, lafleurette est mignonne, Et vous me traitez la de gentille personne = [MOLIERE, Le Misanthrope.] Surely, for a lover this is a pretty love-speech, and you do treat me as a lady. * Confer Jleurettes. I incline with some philologists to trace fleurette to the old verb fleureter, which occurs in Philippe de Commines with the meaning of " to talk nonsense." Fleurette may well indeed, like fleur, stand for a " pretty little thing," and we actually find an analogous expression in the Latin Rosas loqui, which can even be traced to the Greeks. I venture further to think that this old vrordfaureter may do duty as the root of the English verb "to flirt," notwithstanding Dr. John Ogilvie's idea an unpleasant one of connecting both the verb "to flirt" and the corresponding noun with "fleer" or "leer." OGILVIE'S Student's Dictionary, p. 270. I would add that if my above suggestion holds good, the English verb " to flirt," thus traced to a French origin, would supply in its recent French adaptation as fiirter (so familiar now to the readers of the Figaro and other joitrnaux mondains] one of many instances of an old French word returning to its original home after having played truant, and assumed a foreign garb for centuries. A propos of this French adaptation of "to flirt," I cannot help lamenting the growing tendency to introduce a string of exotic words thoroughly superfluous in our splendid language, universally and justly admired by all unbiassed critics as so clear and so neat, and I have the weakness to think, so perfectly adequate to all requirements. That such English words as spleen, as humour, as steeplechase, and all of a 206 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Floras. // fait flores = He is getting on well. He is cutting a dash. Plot. // a Hen du mal a se remettre a flot = He finds it hard work to set himself up again. A longs flots = Copiously. Flute. Accordez vos flutes = Settle the matter between you. Ce qui vient par la flute s'en retourne au son du tambour = Lightly come, lightly go. Fluter. lls flutent Men [familiar] = They are regular tipplers. like national character, should be introduced in their national garb into French, that is all very natural and legitimate ; but what is the need of interlarding our prose with those new-fangled nouns "une interview," "des interviewers," and the verb "interviewer," which certainly do look and sound rather barbarous ? And I ask the youthful contributors of the Gmilois and its fellows, why affect to speak of " le grand hall " when we have halle and salle, which mean just the same thing, whilst I make bold to remark not one French person in a thousand could contrive, or would even attempt, to pronounce a T Anglaise, with the requisite English aspiration of its h, this unwelcome intruder? A Parisian speaking of "le hall St. Lazare," in preference to the graphic Salle des Pas Perdus, does seem to me supremely ridiculous. Again, what fair excuse can be adduced for the intrusion into French of the word "ticket," which is itself (like the aforesaid "To flirt") a deserter from France, that is, a disguised descendant of etiquette I was grieved to find this runaway of olden times taken up and publicly patronised in its Anglo-Saxon uniform by our official world at the time of the last Exhibition (in 1889). Surely billet answers every possible purpose. Why, then, naturalise this foreign substitute, whose patrons might well be asked, in the spirit of Alceste : " Sur quel fonds de nitrite et de vertu sublime Appuyez-vous en hii Fhonnenr de votre estiine ? " All such unnecessary duplicates should be exorcised, not indeed on patriotic grounds, which may well be put out of question here, but for the sake of harmony in the language, and as a protest against affectation. Equally objectionable, of course, is the introduction into English of so many foreign words or phrases which do not express a given idea or fact more tersely or more vividly than the equivalent English words or phrases to which they are preferred. I have always admired the force of Lord Brougham's compliment to Mr. Fox, implied in the statement that the great Whig orator "shunned words borrowed from ancient and modern languages, and affected the pure Saxon tongue." FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 2O^ Fluxion. Fluxion de poitrine = Inflammation of the lungs. Foi. -Je n'ajoute aucune foi a ce rectt=\ attach no credit to that story. Us rfont ni foi ni lot = They regard neither law nor gospel. Oest un homme de bonne foi '= He is an honest man. Mafoit Ma foi, non/ = Upon my word ! No, indeed ! Ce papier en fera foi '=It will be proved by this paper. En foi de quoi= In testimony whereof. Foin. Chercher line aiguille dans une botte de foin = To look for a needle in a stack of hay. Qiiand il n'y a plus de foin au ratelier, les chevaux se battent = Want makes a strife 'Tween man and wife. // a du foin dans ses bottes = He is very well off. C'esf un gaillard qui a mis du foin dans ses bottes = The fellow has feathered his nest. Foin des facheux souvenirs ! = Away with the painful recollections. Foire. La foire n'est pas sur le pont= There is no great hurry. Us s'entendent comme larrons en foire = [See s'EN- TENDRE.] Fois. Une fois riest pas c0ufame=Qoce does not make a habit. One swallow does not make a summer. Folie. // 1'aime a lafolie= He loves her to distraction. Fond. On ne peut faire fond sur ce qu'il dit= No reliance can be placed on what he says. La maison a etc detruite de fond en comble = The house was burnt down to the ground. // est ruine de fynd en comble He is utterly ruined. 11 possede V anglais a fond = He is thoroughly master of the English language. L'auteur avait fait fond sur le public dii Mardi= [F. SARCEY.] The author had relied on the Tuesday public. 208 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS La Commission veut alter au fond des choses = The Committee wants to sift the matter through. Nous courions a fond de train = We were running at full speed. Le navire a etc coule a fond '= The ship got sunk. Jls ontfail une charge afond= They attacked vigorously. Fonde\ -Je suis fonde a le croire = \ have reason, authority to believe it. Cela demontre le Men fonde de mon calcul= [See BIEN.] Fondre. Lours a-t-il dans les bois la guerre avec les ours ? Le vautour dans les airsfond-il surles vautours ? = [BOILEAU.] Does the bear in the woods wage war against the bears ? Does the vulture in the air pounce upon the vultures ? Fonds. // a vendu son fonds de commerce = He has sold his business. // a place sa fortune a fonds perdu = He has sunk his fortune in an annuity. Travaillez, prenez de la peine : C'est le fonds qui manque le mains = [LA FONTAINE.] Work and take pains, it is the safest investment. // riest pas en fonds en ce moment : = He is hard up for cash just now. Biens-fonds = Landed property. Le fonds social = The capital-stock. Fontaine. Ne dites jamais : Fontaine, je ne boirai pas de ton eau You never know what you may come to, what you may be driven to. For. -Je suis persuade que vous pensez comme moi dans votre for interieur =\ am satisfied you agree with me in your innermost thoughts, in petto. Force. -Je ne suis pas de force a hitter contre lui= I am no match for him. Vous rietes pas de cette force-la = You are not up to that. A FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 209 11 est de premiere force au cricket He is a first-rate cricketer. Force m'a etc d'y renoncer = I was compelled to give it up. J*en veux a toute force = I insist on having some. // faut a toute force empecher ce scandale = You must prevent that scandal by all means in your power. // leur a adresse force remerdments et compliments - He showered thanks and compliments upon them. Moyennant quoi, votre salaire Sera force reliefs de toutes les f aeons = [LA FONTAINE.] In return for which, your salary shall be no end of pickings of leavings from the table of all kinds. P our moi, satisfaisatit mes appetits gloutons> J'ai devore force moutons [LA FONTAINE.] As for me, indulging my ravenous appetite, I have devoured many sheep. // faudra bien qu'il consente, de gre ou de force = He shall have to consent, willingly or unwillingly. Esperons que force restera a la /<$>/= Let us hope that the strong arm of law shall prevail. A force de zele et de travail By dint of zeal and industry. A force de sagesse on pent &tre blamable = [MOLIERE.] Wisdom may be carried to an excess. La force prime le droit = Might is right. Nous etions a bout de force = We were exhausted. Ce trait est de sa force : Je le reconnais bien la = That is exactly like him. C'etait un cas deforce majeure=\\. was a case of abso- lute necessity. Faire force de voiles Faire force de rames = Literally, To crowd on all sail To tug vigorously at the oar : Figuratively, To work hard, with tooth and nail. A force de temps et de soins = With time and attention. Elle a repris des forces = She picked up strength. VOL. i. o 210 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Us I'ont emporte de vive force = They carried it by main force. Nous etions en force = We mustered strong. Dans la force de I' age = In the prime of life. Un vrai tour deforce = A regular feat. Forcer. -Je n'aime pas qdon me force ainsi la main I do not like to be thus driven, compelled to do a thing. On a force /?/.$ = The pace was quickened. On a force la consigne = The order was broken through. L'auteur a un peu force la note The author exag- gerates slightly. Travaux forces = Penal servitude [not hard labour] in- flicted on a convict. Forfait. /'at traite a forfait=\ have contracted by the job. Forger. A force de forger on devient forger on Practice makes all things easy. Fort. Dans le fort de la melee = In the thickest of the fight. Dans le fort de la colere il s'esf oublie = In the heat of passion he forgot himself. Ne sortez pas au fort de la chaleurT)o not go out in the hottest time of the day. Nous fimes voile au fort de Phiver We set sail in the depth of winter. Pour le coup, Jest vraiment trop fort or emphatically, c'est par trop fort ; = Now , this is really too bad. A plus forte raison - All the more reason ; a fortiori. De plus en plus fort Worse and worse. Voila qui est fort = That is coming rather strong. // est fort comme un Turc - He is as strong as a horse. Les forts de la /#// detait plus fort que moi= I got angry, I could not help it. Le plus fort est fait = The hardest part is done; the worst is over. // sait lefort et le faible de r affaire = [See FAIBLE.] II y a fort a faire pour en arriver la = There is a great deal to do to reach that point to bring about that result. // se fait fort d'en venir a bout - He undertakes to manage it. II y aiirait fort a dire d'un cote comme de Vautre Much might be said on both sides. La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure = [LA FONTAINE.] Might is right. Where force bears the sway, there is no room for reason. Fortune. Plus la fortune rit, plus on doit trembler = The more fortune smiles upon you, the more you should tremble. II faut faire contre mauvaise fortune bon ceur=We must bear up against ill-luck make the best of a bad bargain. Venez done diner avec nous a la fortune du pot Do come and take pot-luck with us. Fosse". Au borddu fosse la culbute=\$ee CULBUTE.] Fou. Ilestfou a Her = He is raving mad. La piece a eu un succes fou The play had an enormous success. II y avaitun monde fou - There was an immense crowd. II a paye ce tableau un prix fou He paid an enormous price, an unreasonable price, for that picture. Un rirefou = h. tremendous laughter. Plus on est de fous, plus on rit = The more the merrier. Muraille blanche, papier de fou = Fools write their names on the walls. Nomina stultorum semper parietibus adsunt. 212 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Fouet. 11 fait claquer son fouet = He makes the most of himself. Fouetter. -J'ai Men d'autres chiens a fouetter = I have other fish to fry. // n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat There is no occasion to make such a fuss ; i.e., not enough to whip a cat for. Et maintenant, fouette, cocker ! = And now, fire away ! Go ahead ! Fouille". // excelle a creer des types curieusement fouilles He excels in bringing out characters curiously worked out in their minutest details. Fouler. Us foulent aux pieds tout sentiment de justice They trample under foot every feeling of justice. Four. 11 fait noir comme dans unfour [See FAIRE.] 'a ete un four complet* = It was a complete failure. On ne peut etre en meme temps au four et ait moulin = One cannot be in two places at the same time. Ce n'est pas pour vous que le four chauffe = There is nothing for you. Don't you wish you may get it ! Vous viendrez cuire a monfour=^ [See CUIRE.] Fourche. // leur afallu passer sous les fourclies caudines f = They had to submit to the most humiliating conditions. * The expression Faire four, which has become' of common use, was originally applied exclusively to the failure of a theatrical perform- ance. In olden times, when the actors found there was not a sufficient audience assembled, they would return the money, and turn out the public. This was called fat re four. Now, it is well known that Italian comedy was formerly an im- portant element in the public amusements of Paris ; hence the very probable introduction of the Italian word fuori, i.e., out, out of doors, which may still be heard in the Peninsula when actors are called out : " Fuori ! ftiori I " From fiiori the transition to the French four is an easy and natural one. Be this as it may, Faire four now applies to the failure of any enterprise, and answers to that other word of Italian importation, fiasco, which has the same melancholy significance, and is itself in such frequent use that it ought not to be so completely ignored in almost all French dictionaries. t This proverbial saying, Passer sous les four ches caudines, refers to a well-known episode of Roman history, as related by Livy. The Furculce Caudina, thus called from Caudium, a city of Samnium, FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 213 Fourchette. C'est une belle fourchette He plays an excellent knife and fork. Fourgon. La pelle se moque du fourgon = The pot calls the kettle black. Fourmi. -/'at des fourmis dans les jambes = I have pins and needles in my legs. Fourni. Une chevelure bienfournie = A thick head of hair. Fourre. // nfa porte un coup fourre = He has done me a secret injury ; he has injured me behind my back. Ce rfest qrfune paix fourree * = It is only a patched-up peace. Fourreau. La lame chez lui use le fourreau His mind is too active for his body [literally, The blade wears out the sheath.] se Fourrer. II faut qu'il se fourre par tout = He must needs thrust himself in everywhere. // ne sait ou se fourrer= He does not know where to hide himself. Frai. Voulez-vous dufrai ou de la laite ?- Which will you have, some hard roe or some soft ? Ces pieces de monnaie gardees en reserve par la Banque de France riont naturellement subi aucun frat, Men que frapp'ees depuis plusieurs annees = Those coins kept back by the Bank of France have naturally undergone no loss in weight or appearance, although coined several years ago. South Italy, were two narrow defiles or gorges, united by a range of mountains on each side. The Romans went through the first pass, but found the second blocked up ; on returning, they found the first simi- larly obstructed. Being thus hemmed in by the Samnites, commanded by C. Pontius, they surrendered at discretion, B.C. 321 (after a defeat, according to Cicero), and were compelled to pass under the yoke. * The name of Paix fourree, also called Paix pldtree, was given to the peace concluded at Longjumeau with the Huguenots under Conde and Coligny on the 23rd March 1568, being so called because it was patched up in a great hurry at a time of great confusion. Like the following treaty of peace between the same parties, this one was also called une paix boiteuse et mal assise (see note on BOITEUX) ; for the sinister Catherine of Medici had only signed it to gain time for another war against the Protestants. 214 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Frais. Nous prenions le f rat's aux fenetres = We were taking the air at the windows. II commence afairefrais = It is beginning to get cool. Mettez ce vin au frais = Put this wine in a cool place. // est frais et gaillard pour son age = He is hale and hearty for his age. Le pain frais ne me vaut rien Ne\v bread is not good for me. Us se sont mis en frais They went to expense. // a fait de grands frais pour Pimpressionner favorable- ment=He made great efforts to impress her favour- ably. Mais il en a etc pour ses frais = But he lost his time and pains : he failed entirely. Le directeur n'a pas fait ses frais The manager did not cover his expenses. Avec ces dynamiteurs la liberte fera malheureusement tous les frais de la securite = With those dynamiters freedom shall unfortunately be sacrificed for the sake of security. Franc. Un franc vaurien = K thorough scamp. Unefranche bevue = A downright blunder. Deux jours francs = Two whole days. Un paquet franc de port = A parcel carriage paid. // est franc du collier = [See COLLIER.] Franc, ais. Je vous le dis en bon fran$ais = I tell you so plainly in good French ; in plain English. // nous a refus a la bonne franquette = He received us cordially without ceremony. Frapper. Champagne frappe = Iced champagne. se Frapper. La guinee, dont la fabrication remonte a 1663, ne se frappe plus - Guineas, which were first made in 1663, are no longer coined. Fraude. I Is Pont passe en fraude = T\\ey smuggled it. Frein. On me laissa ranger mon frein dans mon cachot= [Gil Bias.} They left me to fret at leisure in my dungeon. Friand. C'est un morceaufriand=\\. is a tit-bit. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 21$ Friche. Cette terre est en friche = This piece of ground lies fallow. Prime. Ce depart pour FAmeriqiie n'esf qu'une frime This departure for America is a mere pretence. Ce ri'etait que pour la frime = It was only a make-believe. Frire. // n'a plus de quoi frire = He is quite ruined. F riser. Sa raideur frisait F impertinence = [E. ABOUT.] His stiffness bordered on impertinence. Elle f rise la trentaine = She is getting on fast for thirty. La balle lui a frise Fepaule = The ball just grazed his shoulder. Froc. De chagrin il prit lefroc=\n his sorrow he turned monk. 11 jeta lefroc aux orttes = ^Q gave up his profession. Froid. Cela nefera ni chaud nifroid= [See CHAUD.] Arrtere ceux dont la bouche Souffle le chaud et le froid t = [LA FONTAINE.] Away with those whose mouth blows hot and cold ! Cela fait froid dans le dos = It chills you in the back. C'esf un gaillard qui n'a pas froid aux yeux = He is a plucky fellow who is not to be intimidated. Pourquoi lui battez-vous froid ? = [See BATTRE.] Dieu donne le froid selon le drap * = God gives the cold according to the cloth. Dieu mesure le froid a la brebis tondue = God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. * Dieu donne le froid selon le drap. Of this proverb my late revered colleague, Dr. Trench, says : " It is very beautiful, but attains not to the tender beauty of our own, ' God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.'" Now, it seems to me that we have here a difference in the wording without a distinction in the sense, and I submit that the very old French proverb, Dieu donne le froid selon la robbe ( I purposely keep the old spelling), is quite as beautiful in its spirit as the English version ; for the robbe refers to the more or less of shearing, and we find the saying in these words quoted as being a very old French proverb in Henri Estienne's Premices, p. 47, a work which dates from the beginning of the i6th century. Moreover, we have long had the exact equivalent of Dr. Trench's favourite in its ipsissima verba : Dieu mesure le froid a la brebis tondue. 2l6 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS Fromage. Entre la poire et k fromage = At dessert. Front. Ilntine toutes ces differentes entreprises de front = He carries on all those various concerns simultaneously. llheurte de front toutes les idees revues = He runs counter to all received notions. Quel front ! = What impudence ! Quoi 7 vous avez le front de trouver cela beau ? = [MOLIERE.] What ! you dare to find that beautiful ? Us marchaient tous de front '= They all walked abreast. Frotter. Ce document sent I'ame violente et rusee du demi- barb are frotte de civilisation This document betrays the violent and cunning spirit of a half-barbarian, veneered over with civilisation. // s'est fait frotter d'importance = He got a good drubbing. SC Frotter. -Je ne veux pas m'y frotter = I am not going to meddle with it. Qui sy frotte s'y pique = Touch me who dares. Gather thistles, expect pricks. Fruit. Rien n'est bon comme le fruit defendu = There's nothing so good as forbidden fruit. Stolen fruit is sweet. C'est un fruits sees de St. Cyr* = He was plucked at the St. Cyr school. Fume*e. Nos esp'erances s'en sont allees en fumte = Our hopes all came to nothing. // n'y a pas de fumee sans feu - There is no smoke without fire. * M. Genin, in his " Aotes sur le Dictionnaire frMtffis," explains the origin of the expression frtiiis sees, which is now of frequent use. In the early days of the Polytechnic School there was a student from the South whose father was a wholesale dry fruit merchant. This young man, who had no taste for mathematics, did little or no work, and to his comrades' remarks about the consequences of his indifference he would frequently reply : ' ' What will it matter to me if I fail ? I shall go in for fruits sees, like my father." And, to be sure, that became his lot, and ever since the expression remained, and a young fellow plucked at the final examination, or who turns out a failure in any school or college, is called a fruits sees. FRENCH AND ENGLISH IDIOMS AND PROVERBS 217 // n'y a pas de feu sans fum'ee = A strong passion always betrays itself. // etait au banquet, mat's il a mange son pain a la fum'ee du r0/=He was present at the entertainment, but he did not partake of it. . Entrepreneur de pompes funebres = Undertaker. Fur. Au fur et a mesure que . . . = In proportion as. As soon as ... Fureur. La-dessus, il est entr'e en fureur = Thereupon he got into a fury. Cela fait fureur en ce moment- It is quite the rage just now. // a la fureur du jeu = He has a passion for gambling. Furieux. C'est un furieux mangeur- He is a prodigious eater. Fuseau. Le fuseau doit suivre le hoyau The wife must emulate the husband's industry. Literally, The spindle must follow the mattock. Des jambes de fuseau = Spindle-shanks. Fusde. Void une belle fusee a demeler - Here is a fine bone to pick ; a nice intrigue to unravel. Fusil. Fusil a deux coups = Double-barrelled gun. Fut. Cette btire a un gout de fu t= This beer has a twang of the cask. Futd. C'est unfut'e matois=T&& is a cunning old fox. Futur. Le futur epoux ; les futurs conjoints = The in- tended husband; the husband and wife that are to be. Fuyant. Un front fuyant = A receding forehead. INDEX TO THE PRINCIPAL NOTES. A PAGE ETRE marque a 1'A i Abondance ........ 3 Adieu . . . . . . . . 7 A demain les affaires se"rieuses ..... 8 Essuyer un affront ....... 9 Querelle d'Allemand . . . . . .12 Faute d'un point Martin perdit son ane . . .16 Ecrire comme un ange . . . . . .17 Ressembler aux anguilles de Melun . . . -17 Assiette . . . . . . . . .22 Aujourd'hui ........ 24 Sans aveu .- . . . . . -27 Se ranger a 1'avis de quelqu'un . . . . .28 Etre marque au B . . . . . . -3 Bas -33 Bas-bleu ......... 34 Batonnier des Avocats . . . . . -35 Bec-jaune ........ 37 Faire passer la plume par le bee .... 38 Le bon billet qu'a La Chatre . . . . -41 Boire a tire la Rigault . . . . .42 Le vin est verse", il faut le boire .... 43 Etre du bois dont on fait les flutes .... 44 Paix boiteuse et mal assise ..... 45 Rire comme un bossu . . . . . .49 Malin comme un bossu .... .50 A bon vin point d'enseigne . . . . .51 Bourgeois . . . . . . 5 2 Loger le diable en sa bourse . 52 Battre la breloque ..... -56 Beaucoup de bruit, peu de besogne . . 59 L'ane de Buridan 61 220 INDEX PAGE II ressemble au camelot 64 II a regu un camouflet 64 Un canard ........ 65 Faire la cane ........ 66 Aller a Canossa . . . . . . .66 De pied en cap ..... -66 Carrosse ......... 68 Ce que c'est que de nous ! 71 Bonne renommee et ceinture dore"e . . . .72 Charbonnier est maitre chez lui . . . -77 Faire Charlemagne . - . . . . . .78 Non, c'est le chat ! ....... 81 Faire des chateaux en Espagne . . . .81 L'occasion est chauve . . . . " -83 Un chien de temps Un temps de chien ... 87 St. Roch et son chien . . . . . -87 Entre chien et loup ....... 88 Mon petit chou ....... 89 Etre ne coiffe ........ 94 Colin-Maillard . . ... . . . .94 Colin-Tampon ....... 95 Emploi idiomatique du Conditionnel . . .100 La coqueluche du quartier . . . . .104 Coquille . . . . . . . . .105 Corde de pendu . . . . . 106 Etre de sac et de corde .... .107 Gris comme un Cordelier . . . . .107 Cordon bleu ...... .108 Coute que coute . . . . . . .117 Le battu paie 1'amende ... .118 Le cri des animaux ....... Faire des cuirs ....... Le chant du cygne . ...... Se dechausser pour manger ..... Depuis que ........ Aller au diable au vert Tirer le diable par la queue ... Diantre ...... Etre le din don de la farce ..... Diseur de bons mots, mauvais caractere . INDEX 221 PAGE Distraire ; distraction . . . . . .144 Demander, doter, ignorer, injurier, &c. . . .148 Voir double . . . . . . . .149 Chat e'chaude craint 1'eau froide . . . 155 Ecoute-s'il-pleut . . . . .158 Un elzevir; un dahlia, &c. . . . . . 159 En . . . . . . . . . 162 Encore . . . . . . . . 164 Notre ennemi, c'est notre maitre . . . .167 Entendre raison, entendre la raison . . . .169 Envie, a 1'envi . . . . . . .172 Epee de chevet . . . . ._-.". 173 Esprit d'escalier . . . . . . 175 Espiegle . . . . . . . 176 Etape . 177 Etres de la maison ....... 181 Fastidieux . . . . . . . .192 Le premier conseil d'une femme . . . -194 Souvent femme varie . . . . . -195 Fesse-mathieu . . . . . . . .197 Napoleon a 1'ecole . . . . . . .199 Fichu drole Fichue corvee ... . . .200 Fier comme un Ecossais ...... 200 Fier comme Artaban . . . . . .200 Fierte de Diogene . . . . . . .201 Center fleurettes . . . . . . 205 Importation de mots etrangers ..... 206 Faire four . . . . . . . .212 Passer sous les fourches caudines . . . .212 Paix fourree . . . . . . . -213 Dieu mesure le froid a la brebis tondue . . .215 Fruits sees 216 END OF VOL. 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