French Property News – August 2019

36 French Property News August 2019 http://www.completefrance.com

F

ifteen years ago, when we were thinking
of moving to France, I was doing some
gardening. As I worked, I tried to think of
the French words for what I was doing. Garden
= jardin, flowers = fleurs, petals = pétales,
plants = plantes, herbs = herbes; no difficulty
there as the words are
nearly the same.
I came unstuck at
‘weeds’. Just then, a
neighbour who had a
good level of French
passed by. I hailed her
with, “Quel est le mot
pour les mauvaises
herbes?”. Her reply
gave me hope for the
future: “les mauvaises
herbes!”. I realised
that I could attempt
to describe the
problem and succeed
in finding the right
word, without even
knowing it!

French lessons
If your pastime is gardening, then you have a
great way of digging a little deeper into the
French language.
At the moment, I know an adult student who
works in the laboratories at my local hospital in
France. He also is very knowledgeable about
plants. We have been doing a series of lessons
on herbs and their medicinal properties which
brings together his work and leisure interests.
I realised there is a lot of Anglo-French
shared vocabulary. Early in the year we looked
at dandelions. The name is said to come from
the indented petals or leaves that resemble
lion’s teeth – les dents de lions. However, the
name in French for this harbinger of spring is
pissenlit. English children have always chanted
‘you’ll wet the bed!’ if anyone dared to pick a
dandelion, a reference to the plant’s diuretic
qualities. I find this crossing over of English and
French vocabulary fascinating.
William the Conqueror was responsible for
bringing thousands of French words into the
English language, and our country used two
languages up until the time of Shakespeare,
500 years later. When did French people give
up the name dent de lion in favour of pissenlit?

Every other European country uses a name that

is similar to dandelion, except France.

In the UK children blow the seeds off a

dandelion head in order to tell the time. French

children predict the number of years their

marriage will last!

Wise words

Sage is a plant that will

make the user healthy

and wise. A sage femme

is a midwife or wise

woman. Soyez sage is

used to encourage

children to be well

behaved. Despite both

languages using the

same word, the name for

the plant in French is

sauge with a slightly

different spelling. The

saying goes ‘qui a de la

sauge dans son jardin, n’a

pas besoin d’un médecin’–

whoever has sage in his

garden will never need a doctor!

I have a lawn overrun with creeping yellow

cinquefoil. The leaves have five lobes (cinq

feuilles). Other British plants with thousands of

small leaves are named ‘milfoils’, and three-

leaved clovers are ‘trefoils’.

Roses got their name from the French

because their floral ancestors were generally

pink. English violets, whether white, pink or

mauve are named after their French forbears,

violette, that were generally purple.

Spare a thought for the pansy whose French

name is pensée (literally meaning ‘thought’).

Perhaps the delicate markings on their faces

remind us of someone we know.

In May, a delicate purple flower appears on

waste land. The grey-green leaves look a bit

like smoke. French people call it fumeterre

• smoke from the ground, which became
  fumitory in English.
  As soon as I had identified herb robert in my
  flowerbeds, I began to spot it on every grass
  verge and in every other garden. It is an
  inconspicuous plant in the geranium family,
  with small purply-pink flowers. The five petals
  surround tiny yellow central stamens and are
  exactly what a child would draw as ‘a flower’.
  The seed pods look like tiny storks’ heads

REAL LIFE

If you’re a passionate gardener it won’t take long

to decipher the French words for the plants filling

your garden, as Joy Brodier discovers

Coming

+!%''

Fumitory is said to look like smoke

Salvia officinalis or common sage

Wild forest violet – a beautiful shade of ‘violette’

Sage, the wise herb

Joy Brodier

Joy Brodier

Joy Brodier

Jeanne Emmel Getty Images/iStockPhoto

Vasyl Rohan Getty Images/iStockPhoto