Dear List
In response to Yigit Yavuz:
The meaning of both expressions is pretty clear I think, but I have some doubts as to whether one of the expressions is a VN coinage or a genuine French usage.
Feuilles d’alarme looks obvious from the context: a device to
scare birds, made of some form of flat material that will move in the wind and glitter in the sun or make a noise -
feuille meaning “leaf” or “sheet” (e.g. of paper).
But not a scarecrow - the normal French word for “scarecrow” being
épouventail.
The obvious modern parallel would be CDs hung on a string, which twist in the wind and glitter.
There is also “effaroucheur” meaning something that scares away or frightens and I think this is used of the machine that makes loud bangs to scare away birds
from airports.
My quick dictionary hunt has not, however, yielded
feuilles d’alarme as an actual French usage. I wonder if it is a VN coinage?
Can a native French speaker help?
As for “Volant en arrière” – literally this should mean “flying backwards” – “volant” being the present participle of “voler” (= to fly) and “en arrière” meaning
backwards.
“Volant” as a noun can also mean the steering wheel of a car, but the phrase would make no sense (“steering wheel to the rear”) if that was its meaning here.
“Voler” can also mean “to steal” but “stealing backwards” makes little sense either here.
A warning: French is not my first language, so please ensure that you get confirmation from someone who is a professed expert.
Barrie Akin
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]
On Behalf Of Yigit Yavuz
Sent: 01 October 2013 13:11
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] french terms in pale fire
Dear colleagues,
My Turkish traslation of Pale Fire will soon be published by Iletisim Publishing House in Istanbul.
I need your help for two expressions in French:
feuilles-d'alarme and volant en arrière.
"He claimed to have improved the glitter and rattle of the so-called feuilles-d'alarme used by grape growers and orchardmen to
scare the birds."
"From far below mounted the clink and tinkle of distant masonry work, and a sudden train passed between gardens, and a heraldic butterfly volant
en arrière, sable, a bend gules, traversed the stone parapet, and John Shade took a fresh card."
What explanations may be given as translator's notes?
Thanks!
--
Yiğit Yavuz
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