Fabliaux et Contes du Moyen Âge 1913/Notes
Fabliaux et Contes du Moyen Âge 1913
NOTES
Introduction
12.3. Nous ne nous en portions pas plus mal : en = pour cela, ’on that account’.
12.12. Entendu parler des veillées : the veillées are the long winter evenings, when the peasantry devote their time to indoor occupations, often meeting at each other’s houses, where they enliven the time with tales and songs.
12.14. Et qu’on avait mangé la soupe : what does que stand for here ?
12.31. La grande salle aux voûtes de pierre : explain aux, and give other examples of this use of à, e.g. on p. 71, I. 15.
13.2. Châtelains = le châtelain et la châtelaine, and includes also their family.
13.4. Un jongleur de passage : see Preface, p. vii.
13.10. Le Jura, les Flandres, le pays basque : le Jura is a mountain range, 700 kilom. long, between Switzerland, Southern Germany, and France ; les Flandres, in the plural to designate loosely the various territories once known as la Flandre française, la Flandre allemande, and la Flandre wallonne ; le pays basque, the districts on both slopes of the Western Pyrenees inhabited by the Basques, an Iberian people of extreme antiquity, about half a million of whom still speak a language which does not belong to the IndoEuropean stock.
13.11. La patience d’un bénédictin : the Benedictine Order of monks, founded in the sixth century, has always been famed for its scholarship ; its members have produced a large number of historical works of great value.
13.15. N’étaient pas pour les effrayer :’did not frighten them.’
13.20. Perrault (1628-1703) : author or collector of the best known fairy-tales (Puss-in-Boots, etc.).
13.21. Mme d’Aulnoy (1650 ? — 1705) and Mme de Beaumont (1711-1780) also wrote fairy-tales which have remained popular in France.
13.22. Le Roman de Renart, the story of Reynard the Fox, a series of satirical tales in verse of the thirteenth century, of Flemish or Germanic origin, which have been retold in every European language.
13.24. Des liseurs de profession : liseur, as opposed to the more usual form, lecteur, means one who reads widely, for the purposes of study and research.
13.31. Huon de Bordeaux : a thirteenth-century epic poem ; Huon, having offended Charlemagne, is compelled to perform perilous tasks in which he succeeds by the help of Oberon, king of the fairies.
13.32. Gaston Paris : a great French philologist and editor of old French texts, who died in 1903.
Les Trois Aveugles de Compiègne
15.1. Compiègne : a town of what is now the dept. of Oise, on the river of that name ; it was there that Joan of Arc was captured in 1430.
15.3. Senlis : also in the dept. of Oise ; the town contains many buildings of antiquarian interest.
15.5. Clerc : clerk in holy orders.
15.10. Qui ne voient goutte : this expression is the only one still in use, in which is still to be found the old negative form ne… goutte, lit.‘not a drop.’ Similarly, ne… pas, ne… point, ne… mie originally meant ‘not a step’, ‘not a point’, ‘not a crumb.’
15.16. Un écu : a gold or silver coin, so called because it bore the écu, i.e. the escutcheon or arms of France.
16.25. Soissons : a town now in the dept. of Aisne, and on the river of that name. It played a prominent part in French history, and was already an important place when Cæsar invaded Gaul.
Auxerre [ɔseːr] : chief town of the dept. of Yonne, and on the river of that name ; its wines are well known.
18.6. Dix sous : the sou has always been a small copper coin, the twentieth part of the silver livre (now franc) ; its purchasing power was, of course, much greater in the Middle Ages than to-day, and it was divided into either twelve or fifteen deniers. The écu which the beggars had received was probably a silver écu equal to three livres or sixty sous, the purchasing power of which may be estimated from the fact that the whole entertainment of the three men amounted only to ten sous !
C’était là le moment : c’est là, before a noun, is equivalent to, and replaces, cela est.
18.24. Riait… à se pâmer : lit.‘was laughing to the point of swooning’, i.e.‘was dying of laughter’. Notice this use of à, and compare : elle était laide à faire peur ; il fait un vent à tout casser ; pleurer à cœur fendre, etc.
19.1. Ces bonnes gens : give the rule for this use of the feminine adjective.
19.8. Beau sire : beau is thus used in old French, and repeatedly in this text, as a mere word of courtesy, which may be left untranslated.
20.20. Il lui a pris… un accès de folie : impersonal construction equivalent to : un accès de folie l’a pris.
20.24. Et qu’il est plein de religion : what does que stand for here ?
21.17. Qu’il n’a que faire d’orémus : equivalent to : qu’il n’a pas besoin d’orémus.
Les Trois Larrons
23.4. Laon [lã] : chief town of the dept. of Aisne.
24.4. Sans la faire envoler : ‘to fly away’ is s’envoler ; explain why the reflexive pronoun is omitted here.
25.3. Que celui qui en vole un autre : Understand : c’est un excellent voleur que celui qui… “he is
an excellent thief who…” Note this use of c’est… que, a very common construction in French.
25.9. Vous échapperiez vingt fois… que je serais pris : “Though you escaped twenty times… I should be caught.” Note this use of the conditional followed by que ; thus also : je le pourrais que je ne le voudrais pas, “I would not though I could.” See also note 61.15.
27.30. Qu’à son grand étonnement : what does que stand for here ?
29.30. Remis de leur première frayeur : the verb is se remettre d’une frayeur ; explain the omission of se.
30.25. Ce serait à ne jamais finir : “it would be never-ending” ; compare note 18.24.
Le Vilain devenu Médecin
It was from this story that Molière got the first idea of his play, Le Médecin malgré lui.
31.1. Un vilain : in old French this word means ‘peasant’, ‘rustic’, and not ‘wicked, ugly, bad’, as it does to-day.
32.15. Comment donc faire : Understand : comment donc faut-il faire ? Compare : Que dire ? ‘what am I to say ?’ Où aller ? ‘where was I to go ?’ etc.
32.19. J’en serais quitte pour lui demander pardon : ‘I would get out of it (lit. be quits) by begging her pardon.’
33.27. Demoiselle Ade : we should now say Mademoiselle Ade.
34.10. Vous n’en tirerez aucun parti : ‘you will get nothing out of him.’
35.18. Deux grands sergents : sergent in old French has the meaning of ‘servant’, ‘official’ (Lat. servientem) ; the word now means the same as Engl. ‘sergeant’, and is used also in sergent de ville, ‘policeman.’
36.1. Il la fit asseoir : from the verb s’asseoir ; compare note 24.4.
37.3. Et que je les renvoie chez eux : This subjunctive may be understood as expressing a wish, or as the first pers. sing, of the imperative mood of renvoyer.
37.15. Ce n’est pas une petite besogne que de rendre la santé : compare note 25.3.
38.2. Et mon homme… d’ouvrir la porte : equivalent to et mon homme ouvre la porte. This infinitive construction (with de), equivalent to a statement, is called infinitif de narration.
Griselidis
41.1. Lombardie ; Piémont : Lombardy was a great plain of Northern Italy, of which Milan was the capital. It was bounded on the east by Venetia, on the north by the Alps, and on the west by Piedmont, the capital of which was Turin.
45.12. Encore plus qu’on ne l’estimait : give the rule for this use of ne.
45.15. Qui n’applaudît : notice the omission of pas in this construction.
46.12. Quelque chose qu’il vous plaise ordonner : quelque chose means here ‘whatever thing’, and not ‘something’; chose is feminine.
47.5. Peu s’en fallut qu’il ne renonçât à : ‘he all but gave up.’
47.8. Bologne : the town of Bologna, at the foot of the Apennines, was of great importance throughout the Middle Ages ; it was famous for its university, and in the 16th and 17th centuries for its school of painting.
49.27. Rome : i.e. the Roman Church, or the Pope.
Du Convoiteux et de l’Envieux
56.14. Allons, bel ami : see note 19.8.
56.30. C’est une justice que le mal : see notes 25.3 and 37.15.
Les deux Chevaux
57.1. Amiens : now the chief town of the dept. of Somme, on the river of that name. Its beautiful cathedral dates from the 13th century.
58.18. Cent sous : see note 18.6.
Les Jambes de Bois
61.6. Je le fis expliquer : this is the verb s’expliquer ; see notes 24.4 and 36.1.
61.15. Le chemin serait pavé d’épines que j’y marcherais : see note 25.9.
La Mule sans Frein
62.1. Artus, or Arthur, the well-known King Arthur of the Round Table.
62.2. Carduel : one of the four cities in Wales associated with the name of King Arthur.
63.26. Maitre Queux : ‘Sir Kay.’ Queux in old French meant ‘cook’, and hence steward, or officer of the household.
66.2. Et chacun de se mettre aux fenêtres : see note 38.2.
66.11. S’alla cacher : we should now say : alla se cacher.
66.16. Gauvain : ‘Sir Gawain’, King Arthur’s nephew.
70.28. Jusqu’aux cercles : down to the iron hoops which formed the inner frame of the helmet.
70.31. Les lacets de son heaume : the leather cords which fastened the helmet to the collar of the suit of armour.
71.10. Elle fit placer Gauvain : the verb is se placer ; see notes 24.4, 36.1 and 61.6.
71.15. La demoiselle à la mule : compare, in the Introduction, la grande salle aux voûtes de pierre.
71.18. Fixez-vous près de moi et me vouez ce bras : this construction, in the second of two imperatives joined by et, was the regular one until the 18th century ; we should now say : et vouez-moi ce bras.
72.6. La reine Genievre : Queen Guinevere.
Le Bourgeois d’Abbeville
74.7. Abbeville : a town on the river Somme, and now in the dept. of that name. The so-called Treaty of Paris, between Louis IX of France and Henry III of England, was arranged there in 1259.
76.2. Templier : a Knight Templar. This military and religious order, founded in Palestine in 1118, soon spread throughout Europe, acquired a dangerous importance, and was suppressed in 1311.
79.26. Qui s’expose : equivalent to celui qui s’expose.
Lai du Palefroi vair
83.1. En Champagne : one of the old provinces of North-Eastern France, famous for its wines.
84.21. Mie : old French said m’amie when we now say mon amie ; m’amie became ma mie ; thus originated the word mie in the special sense of ‘sweetheart.’
86.1. Qui ne s’honorât : explain this use of the subjunctive instead of the conditional.
86.24. Allez le trouver et lui confiez : see note 71.18.
91.13. Tout le monde de se lever : see notes 38.2 and 66.2.
Aucassin et Nicolette
104.10. Valence : now the chief town of the dept. of Drôme, on the Rhone.
104.11. Beaucaire : town of the dept. of Gard, on the right bank of the Rhone, and opposite to Tarascon. It was famed for its fair, which brought trade from every part of Europe.
106.31 Plus que cerises : the omission of the article is an archaism.
111.28. Fourrures de vair ou de gris : vair was the fur of a squirrel, of a bluish-grey tinge on the back, and white below, which was used to trim the garments of people of high degree ; gris was the fur of the grey squirrel.
119.14. Et lui de la serrer : see notes 38.2 and 66.2.
120.1. Tenant ainsi embrassées ses amours : ses amours, though in the plural, means ‘his love’. Notice that according to the rule, amour is masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural (embrassées). The rule is frequently disregarded at the present day.
121.11. Elle ne voulait pas d’un païen : notice this use of de after vouloir.
122.1. Jouer du violon : notice that ‘to play a musical instrument’ is always jouer d’un instrument.
122.17. Ouïr : this verb is now archaic, having been replaced by entendre.
122.24. Ne sais : the omission of the pronoun, subject of the verb, is frequent in old French.
125.5. Vous faire voir choses : see note 106.31.