04-16-2014, 02:39 AM | #1 |
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Help with French Word please
In After Dark by Wilkie Collins, published in the 1850s, a French gambler uses the word Credié as an exclamation. I can't find it in Larouse; can anyone translate it into English please?
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04-16-2014, 04:01 AM | #2 |
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Unknown here as well.
I wonder if it's some deformation of "crédieu" Ah ! That's right : http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/fran...n/cr%C3%A9dieu Last edited by EowynCarter; 04-16-2014 at 04:04 AM. |
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04-16-2014, 10:22 AM | #3 |
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Alex,
EowynCarter is right, and you can for probably translate Crédieu! by Goddammit! (Or by a swear word expressing anger). Last edited by Arios; 04-16-2014 at 10:34 AM. |
04-16-2014, 12:49 PM | #4 |
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I agree. I believe crébondieu is itself a corruption of sacré Bon Dieu.
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04-16-2014, 03:23 PM | #5 |
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Hi Mike,
Nice find. Crébondieu and sacré Bon Dieu are not in my "old" digital dictionary Le Petit Robert. So I should add (to be more precise on the global meaning): "swear word expressing the nervousness and maybe the anger". BTW, a subtle French "érudit" based in Edinburgh, this is not trivial. Cheers! |
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04-17-2014, 02:35 AM | #6 |
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Thanks very much everyone for your help. It's not that I want to translate it for the ebook I'm designing; I just wanted to know for my own satisfaction. I suspected it might be a naughty word from the context.
I'll leave the accent where it is in my first post, since that's what's used in the original book. |
04-17-2014, 09:20 AM | #7 |
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There's a bunch of similar old fashioned swearwords.
In the vein of crédié, crédieu, you have also crévindiou or crévindié, where "Dieu" is transformed into "dié" or "diou" to avoid blasphemy. You can also see "vindié" ou "vindiou". This transformation comes usually from peasanry, bottom class. Another transformation is "bleu" (like "blue"), like "palsambleu" "parbleu", "morbleu", "sacrebleu", "tudieu", "corbleu", "ventrebleu" and that one comes more from higher ranks. You can sometimes switch "bleu" for "diou" or "dié", just to change the information about the swearer, but it doesn't always work because "how it rings" was taken into consideration. Not to mention pronunciation might change aswell ("crédié" > "crebleu" no accent). As Mike L pointed at, those "jurons" are corrupted contraction of longer swear formula. Tudieu > Par la vertu de Dieu Jarnidieu > Je renie Dieu Corbleu > Par le corps de Dieu Têtebleu > Tête de Dieu Ventrebleu > Par le ventre de Dieu Palsambleu > Par le sang de Dieu Morbleu > Par la mort de Dieu Parbleu > Par Dieu (and gave the more regular word "Pardi") Sacrebleu > Sacre Dieu (Fête-Dieu) Boudiu > Bon Dieu Vindiou > Vingt Dieux (means more "by the innumerable gods", or would be a word play with "Vain Dieu" which means "Shallow God"). You also have some really irreverencial ones, like "Foutredieu" ("fuckgod" or "god's semen"), "Fichtredieu" or "Fouchtredieu". I suppose the same thing could be found in english. Also, "Crédié" (I'm suprised to see it written without accent on the first "e", but I guess the gambler has a french sub accent) is one of the less naughty. You can rank the naughty level of the swearword by how much it disrespects the notion of God, or how much you are swearing on something awful. "Crédié" is just "Holy God", meaning "I swear, by the Holy God!". Compare with "By the death of God", or "By the innumerable Gods" (in a monotheistic context) ^^ Last edited by Doonge; 04-17-2014 at 09:56 AM. |
04-17-2014, 11:11 AM | #8 |
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You're welcome Alex,
With so many informations now, it should be possible to write a complete novel pertaining to the ancient French swear words passing silently in the dark of history... |
04-17-2014, 04:09 PM | #9 |
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That's terrific information, Doonge. I'll bookmark your post, and will no doubt re-visit it many times.
And you're right that we have similar constructions in English. A couple that come immediately to mind are: - Strewth > God's Truth - Bloody > By My Lady Mike Last edited by Mike L; 04-17-2014 at 04:13 PM. |
04-17-2014, 04:46 PM | #10 |
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Thanks Doonge and Mike L. I've learned many thinks in that topic. I had no idea where bloody was coming from. That's interesting.
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