Chapter 20
9. général B * * *. General Berthier, Major-General of Napoleon's army which invaded Russia; he became Prince and Marshal of France (1753-1815).--il changea de manières. _De_ is used after _changer_ when the object is changed for another of the same kind (if the object is preceded by a modifier, such as a possessive pronoun, _changer_ alone is used).
15. sa croix. The cross of the Legion of Honor; the cross is not usually worn, but in its stead a small bow of ribbon.
21. école de Fontainebleau. The reference is not to the present military school (artillery and engineers) at Fontainebleau, which was founded in 1871, but to the school which was moved from there to Saint-Cyr in 1806, and which corresponds to the school at West Point in the United States.
2.--5. Cheverino. «Le 5 septembre un combat se livra pour la possession d'une redoute russe sur le tertre de Chévardino, et fit perdre aux Français 4 ou 5000 hommes, aux Russes 7 ou 8000. Il annonçait du moins que les Russes avaient pris position et se disposaient, pour sauver leur capitale, à livrer bataille.» Lavisse et Rambaud, _Histoire générale du IVe siècle à nos jours_, vol. IX, p. 787. The battle of Borodino, known also as the battle of the Moscova, was fought two days later, September 7, 1812, and Napoleon arrived at Moscow on September 14. On account of the other references in the text to Napoleon the following note may be found convenient.--Born in Corsica in 1769, he first distinguished himself by driving the English from Toulon (1793). He became General-in-Chief of the Army of Italy, and won the celebrated battles of Arcola (1796), Rivoli (1797), etc.; became First Consul in 1799 and Emperor in 1804; victor in the battles of Austerlitz (1805), Iéna (1806), Eylau (1807), Friedland (1807), Wagram (1809), he became the ruler of western Europe. He led the Grande-Armée into Russia in 1812-1813, and never recovered from this disastrous campaign. Europe rose against him; he was deposed in 1814 and sent to the Island of Elba, whence he escaped to France in 1815 and ruled, during the Hundred Days, until he was finally defeated at Waterloo, June 18, 1815. Banished to Saint Helena, he died there in 1821.
12. auprès duquel. _Auprès de_ expresses a relation nearer than that expressed by _près de_.
14. il en coûtera bon. _En_ is often added to _coûter_ when the latter is used impersonally.
3.--5. la fatigue l'avait emporté. In this idiom the pronoun refers to an unexpressed noun (_prix, choix_, etc.).
25. aussitôt que l'ordre...eut été donné. The past anterior is a literary tense; it is used to express completed action after certain temporal conjunctions and _à peine...que_, also with _encore, plus tôt, sitôt_, when they are negative and followed by _que_ and when the period of time is mentioned (_il eut bientôt fait son devoir_); in all these cases the pluperfect is used if the action is repeated. The past anterior is not used in conversation.
30. éprouvasse. The imperfect subjunctive is a literary tense and is to be avoided in conversation; it may be so avoided by using the present subjunctive and thus violating the rule for the sequence of tenses or by using a circumlocution (particularly obnoxious to a Frenchman's ear are all the forms of this tense in the first conjugation, except the third person singular).
4. -4. madame de B * * *. Possibly Mérimée was thinking cf his friend Madame la comtesse de Beaulaincourt, with whom he corresponded. The _Revue des Deux Mondes_ (August 15, 1879) published a collection of eleven letters written to her by Mérimée (see also Filon, _Mérimée et ses Amis_, 2e éd., Paris, 1909). More probably he refers to Madame de Boigne, who lived in the street mentioned; he used to read his stories in her Salon.
7. en voir de grises. For the use of a feminine adjective referring to no expressed noun compare: _j'ai échappé belle_, I had a narrow escape; _il se remit à courir de plus belle_, he began to run harder than ever, etc. The feminine adjective in such phrases cannot always be explained by saying that _manière, occasion, chose_, etc., have been omitted. Similar phrases occur in Italian, Spanish, Old French and Romanian. Meyer-Lübke, _Grammaire des langues romanes_, vol. III, § 88, suggests _res, causa_, or a similar substantive as omitted in the primitive Latin construction. In certain French phrases the reference seems to be to _balle_, an expression borrowed from play--_donner la balle belle_, then _la donner_ (or _bailler_) _belle à quelqu'un_, to impose on anyone.
30. ajouta-t-il. The letter _t_ which occurs in such interrogative forms is not introduced for the sake of euphony, nor is it a survival of the Latin _t_ of the third person. It arose by analogy with such forms as _est-il, sont-ils, donnent-ils_, where the letter forms a part of the verb.
6.--7. au travers de. _Au travers_ should always be followed by _de_, _à travers_ should never be followed by _de_; the meaning is the same in each case.
18. que je l'entendis prononcer. Although the second verb has an object, the object of entendre need not be in the indirect form; with _faire_ in this construction the object of _faire_ must be Indirect.
7.--1. je n'ai presque plus. Notice that _presque_ is placed between _plus_ (_pas, rien_, etc.) and the verb.
26. le général C * * * va vous faire soutenir. _Vous_ is the object of soutenir, but in this construction the pronoun object of the second verb is regularly placed in front of _faire_. General Compans was in command of two regiments at the assault of the Redoubt, he was one of Napoleon's distinguished generals; he was made a prisoner at Waterloo and afterwards became a peer when the Bourbons were restored (1767-1845).
LE COUP DE PISTOLET
8.--19. je ne sais quel. Note the omission of _pas_ in this phrase which stands for _quelque_; note also the omission of _pas_ after _savait_ in the next sentence (see also note to p. 201, 1. 13).
9.--18. personne... n'eût fait. The imperfect and the pluperfect subjunctive sometimes occur in conditional sentences contrary to fact, but only in literary style.
22. lui demandait-on s'il s'était battu, il répondait... que oui. _Si_ is avoided in the first clause by means of inversion, otherwise two successive clauses introduced by _si_ would occur; _que_ is used before _oui_ because _oui_ substitutes a clause (_il s'était battu_); notice that no elision occurs before _oui_.
31. tous. When _tous_ is used without a following noun, _s_ is Pronounced.
12.--14. celui-là. The meaning here is "sldquo;still another" or "aldquo;a third."
25. précipitamment. This is not an exception to the rule that _-ment_ is added to the feminine form of the adjective to form the adverb; adjectives having only two terminations in Latin, that is, those that had the same form for the masculine and feminine (_grandis_, etc.) had the same form for both the masculine and feminine in Old French; _précipitant_ is both masculine and feminine in Old French and becomes with the addition of _-ment précipitamment_ by assimilation (see also note to p.87, l. 17).
13.--4. il la fit partager à toute la compagnie. _Compagnie_ is the direct object of _fit_.
14.--1. R... Mérimée uses both this form of abbreviation and the form which occurs on p. 1, l .9 (cf. also p. 17, l. 26). 16.--7. de n'avoir pas. _Pas_ is usually placed before the infinitive.
18.--12. dépit... des pires. Mérimée tries to reproduce a Russian pun by means of a play on these words. He gives the following note: «Il y a, dans le russe un jeu de mots impossible à traduire: sdelatsa pianitseiou _s'goria_, t. c. samym _gorkim_ pia-nitseiou.»
20.--24. il y a bien quatre ans que je n'ai touché. Note that while _pas_ is omitted in this phrase it is used below (p. 21, l. 27) in _voilà cinq ans que je n'en ai pas eu_; compare also: _il y a cinq ans que je me mariai_ (p. 22, l. 18), where there is no negative idea.
21.--10. prendre son verre d'eau-de-vie avant la soupe. Mérimée gives the following note: «C'est l'usage en Russie de prendre de l'eau-de-vie un peu avant le diner.»
22.--6. serait-ce vous. The conditional here expresses uncertainty; it should be rendered in English by "cldquo;could" not by "wldquo;would."
24.--14. reviens-nous. Note the use of the indirect object (instead of _à nous_) with a verb of motion.
GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Miromesnil (Seine-Supérieure), 1850-Paris, 1893
De Maupassant was a godson and disciple of Flaubert, thus his name is closely connected with the Naturalistic School, which goes back to _Madame Bovary_, Flaubert's masterpiece. The leading writers of this school are: Flaubert, the de Goncourt brothers, Daudet (only in portions of his work), Zola and Maupassant. Maupassant is known as a writer of short stories and as a novelist. His work is at times pessimistic and morbid, in this respect he represents the worst side of the Naturalists; he had, however, a remarkable power of observation and the "sldquo;saving gift of irony," and was a master of style, the chief characteristics of which are strength and simplicity. In the artistic composition of the short story he is probably unsurpassed. Important works: _Des Vers_ (1880), _Une Vie_ (1883), _Bel Ami_ (1885), _Mont Oriol_ (1881), _Pierre et Jean_ (1888), _Fort comme la Mort_ (1889), and especially several collections of _Contes_.
Edition: Havard, 9 vols.; Ollendorff, 8 vols.
LA MAIN
27.--20. qu'entourent partout de hautes montagnes. Note the inversion in the relative clause.
28. ce terrible préjugé corse. Compare Mérimée's _Colomba_.
28.--10. on prétendit que c'était. _Prétendre_, "tldquo;to maintain," has the construction of a verb of saying, _prétendre_, "tldquo;to require" or "tldquo;to insist on," takes the subjunctive.
29.--6. qui fumait. Note the relative clause where in English the participle would be used.
11. cette pays, cette rivage. Illustrations of the frequent mistakes in gender made by the English.
17. j'avé ...bôcoup. Illustrations of the errors made by the English in pronouncing French vowels; _avais_ is pronounced _avè_ and _eau_ in _beaucoup_ should not be drawled; this latter remark applies generally to French vowels. Nô (l. 24) represents the fa to nasalize; c'été (for _c'était_, l. 24) illustrates the error mentioned in regard to _avais_; une drap japonaise (p. 3 2), wrong gender; ma (p. 30, l. 17) for _mon_; c'été, vené, avé (11. 17, 18), illustrate mistakes already mentioned; arraché la peau, that is, _la peau avait été arrachée_; une caillou coupante, wrong gender; aoh, represents the English tendency to diphthongize simple vowels; très bonne pour moi, cette = _c'est une très bonne chose pour moi_; je été (l. 30) for _j'étais_ or _j'ai été_.
UNE VENDETTA
37.--13. revenir, retourner. These words are not synonymous.
39.--5. pour la lui entrer dedans. _Entrer_ is here transitive; it is used intransitively in the preceding paragraph.
26. dès qu'elle apercevait. The imperfect is used to express the repetition of the action; this and the following paragraphs offer good material for a study of the use of tenses.
L'AVENTURE DE WALTER SCHNAFFS
41.--1. l'année d'invasion. The reference is to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. This war was largely brought on through The instrumentality of Bismarck, who went so far as to falsify French telegrams; it resulted in the defeat of France and the loss of the Alsace-Lorraine territory. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, was overthrown and the present Republic was established.
9. il aimait se lever tard. _Aimer_, except in poetry or unless used colloquially as in this instance, is usually followed by the infinitive with à; sometimes it is followed by the simple infinitive,. in this case it is usually in the conditional or it is accompanied by certain adverbs (_mieux, autant, bien, assez_, etc.); it may even be followed by the infinitive with _de_ when the infinitive gives the cause (_je vous aime d'avoir fait cela_).
46.--21. des petites bêtes. In familiar style, or when the words form really only one idea, partition is expressed by _de_ and the article even when an adjective precedes the noun.
47.--16. on aperçut l'ennemi. Apercevoir refers especially to the sense of sight, _s'apercevoir de_ to a mental process (_il s'aperçut de son erreur_).
48.--4. cessèrent. Note the plural verb though the singular subjects are not connected by _et_.
17. mangeaille, _-aille_ is a derogatory suffix; the force of the various French suffixes, to which little or no attention is paid in the ordinary French grammars, may be seen in the _Dictionnaire général_, vol. l, pp. 43 ff. and pp. 48 ff.; also in Ayer, _Grammaire comparée de la langue française_ (4th edition), pp. 300 ff.
49.--25. mon colonel. The possessive pronoun is used by French soldiers in addressing superior officers.
TOMBOUCTOU
63. -12. bonjou. The letter _r_ is as difficult for Tombouctou as it is for the negroes in the Southern States. Tombouctou's language is like the Pidgin-English used in the Orient, he pays no attention to syntax, but puts his verbs in the first conjugation and in the> infinitive, that is, he knows only one form of the verb (_aimé, cherché; reconné_, etc.); the mistakes will be easily seen (Bézi, p. 53, l. 18, is for _Bézières_; Empéeu, p. 54, l. 7, is for _Empereur_; gives and capules, p. 57, l. 11, are for _grives_ and _crapules_; povisions, p. 58, l. 3, for _provisions_, etc.); gadé, pésonne = _garder, personne_ (p. 60, l. 5); pati, p. 60, l. 21, is for _parti_, one verb which he does not put in the first conjugation; moi fait mangé colonel, that is, he was the colonel's cook; Algéie, for _Algérie_.
EN MER
64.--13. faut couper. Popular omission of the subject pronoun.
19. coupe pas. An example of the popular omission of _ne_.-- je vas, for _je vais_; the first person is formed on analogy with the second and third (_vas, va_).
66.--13. iau. Dialectic for _eau_.
19. drait. Dialectic (Norman) for _droit_; this peculiarity may be seen in Canadian French, which is partly Norman in origin; the Latin _i_ and _ë_ became in Old French _ei_, this sound developed in Modern French into _oi_, but the Norman dialect retained the Old French sound (represented here by _ai_).
23. aiguë. Note the diaeresis, which indicates that _u_ is pronounced in this word.
67.--3. à c't'-heure. For _à cette heure_, a popular phrase for _maintenant_; this also illustrates the popular tendency to slur over syllables and to omit completely the pronunciation of mute e.
11. j'pourrions t'y point. For _ne pourrais-je point?_ The uneducated often use the first person plural with _je; t'y_ (sometimes written _ti_ and _il_) represents the interrogative particle also used by the uneducated, it arose by analogy with the sound of the final syllable in such phrases as _est-il?, sont-ils?_
68.--17. il était regardant à son bien. Compare the English construction: "hldquo;he was looking after his property"; this use of the French present participle is incorrect.
LES PRISONNIERS
70.--21. tous, boulangers, épiciers, etc. The French are fond of ridiculing these classes of tradespeople, particularly the _épiciers_, the _notaires_ and the _pharmaciens_; such soldiers would be far from the martial type.
72.--5. sept~huit. For _sept ou huit_; v'là, for _voilà_, illustrates the popular tendency to slur over syllables.
13. oufrez. For _ouvrez_; the Germans in speaking a foreign language confuse voiced and unvoiced consonants, that is, b, d, g, j, v, become p, t, c, ch, f, and vice versa; these errors will be easily detected (ché = _j'ai_; manché = _mangé_, etc.).
73.--6. Un brave homme. Compare _un homme brave_; adjectives having secondary meanings precede their nouns when they have the figurative meaning and follow when the literal meaning occurs.
7. fous nous ferez à mancher. That is, _vous nous ferez manger_ or _vous nous donnerez à manger_.
74.--6. c'est les loups. Popular for _ce sont les loups_. 12. ché. For _je_.
77.--11. entre eux. Note that there is no elision with _entre_ except in compound verbs (_entr'ouvrir_, etc.).
32. qué qui font. _For qu'est-ce qu'ils font_ (_il_ and _ils_ are often pronounced _i_ even by the well educated).
78.--14. pi is for _puis_, t'as, for _tu as_; the other errors have already been noted.
80.--25. Potdevin. Note de Maupassant's choice of names (_cf. Maloison_, etc.).
83.--21. médaille militaire. See note to p. 195, l. 24.
LE BAPTÊME
86.--3. les femmes, c'est jamais prêt. A further example of the popular omission of _ne_ and of the use of a singular verb instead of the agreement of the verb with the real subject.
5. qui avait appelé le premier. _Le premier_ is in apposition to _qui_.
7. all' viendront point. _All'_ represents the vulgar pronunciation of _elles_ with the tendency to omit completely the mute _e_; the omission of _ne_ has already been noted.
27. sage-femme. Compare _femme sage_, and notice the importance of the correct position of the adjective.
86.--29. le sel symbolique. Used in the Catholic christening ceremony.
87.--10. m'sieu. A further example of the slurring over of syllables by the uneducated (qu' for _que_, m' for _me_, vot' for _votre_, Etc.).
12. dans les estomacs. That is, _dans l'estomac_, the plural may be by analogy with les entrailles.
17. grand'mères. Etymologically the apostrophe is an error. The adjective _grand_ had no distinct feminine form in Latin (_grandem_) nor in Old French (_grant_), consequently no _e_ has been omitted; the feminine form of Modern French (_grande_) is due to analogy with feminine adjectives where _e_ represents a Latin _a_ (_bonne_, from _bona_, etc.), the form _grand'_ is merely a preservation of the Old French form; _cf. grand'rue_, main street, _grand merci_, I thank you kindly (where the apostrophe is not written), also such adverbs as _prudemment, précipitamment_, etc. (see also note to p. 12, l. 25).
TOINE
90.--2. Toine-ma-Fine. A further illustration of de Maupassant's choice of proper names. 24. bé, pé. _Bé_ is for _boire_, _pé_ for _Père_, illustrating the dialectic omission of _r_ and the Norman pronunciation of _oi_ (see note to p. 66, l. 19).
91.--7. arrondissement. See note to p. 176, l. 15. 32. qu'al'est. For _parce qu'elle est_ (see note to p. 85, l. 7).
92.--1. i for _il_ (see note to p. 77, l. 32).
29. c'qu'arrivera. For _ce qui arrivera_, notice the incorrect use of _que_ as subject (no elision would occur with _qui_).
93.--4. la mé. The article may be used in familiar or disrespectful address (for _la mère_).
94.--23. té. For _toi_ (see note to p. 66, l. 19); compare also mé for moi (l. 25); c'est-il, incorrect for _est-ce que_ (see also note top. 67, l. 11).
95.--1. pu. For _plus_.
6. guètez. For _guettez_; in the same sentence both y and i represent _il_ (see note to p. 77, l. 32).
96.--16. li. For _lui_.
23. a. For _elle_ (see note to p. 85, l. 7).
28. pourqué. For _pourquoi_; pisque (l. 29) for _puisque_.
91.--6. qué que tu veux. For _qu'est-ce que tu veux_.
32. quasiment t'une lourdeur. _t'_ here shows that a liaison has been made. The question of liaison is difficult for a foreigner, some book on pronunciation (such as Geddes, _French Pronunciation_, Oxford Press) should be consulted.
98.--1. on entendit entrer. Notice that the indefinite subject of the infinitive is omitted.
18. un lapin qui bat du tambour. An allusion to the drumming of rabbits.
23. il dut couver, il dut renoncer. The past definite of certain verbs expresses accomplishment, "hldquo;he had to do it and he did it"; _devait_ would not express the accomplishment of the action.
100.--31. qué. For _quel_.
101.--3. combien qu'i en a. For _combien qu'il y en a_, that is, _combien y a-t-il_?
5. cette famille nouvelle. When _nouveau_ is placed after the noun, it means "rldquo;recently appeared," not "oldquo;other"; _nouveau_ should also be distinguished from _neuf_, which means "uldquo;unused" and follows its noun.
11. son enveloppe. The use of _son_ before a feminine noun beginning with a vowel arose by analogy with _bon: bon ami, bonne amie_, therefore _son ami, son amie_.
LE PÈRE MILON
103.--4. la guerre de 1870. See note to p. 41, l. 1.
105.--14. tretous. A dialectic survival of an Old French form (in Old French _trestot, trestout_, etc., are at times used for _tout_, etc.; the word is derived from _très_ and _tout_).
28. qu'il était. The uneducated are fond of introducing que in phrases where it is unnecessary. Other dialectic peculiarities in this paragraph which have not been noted are: pu de chinquante for _plus de cinquante_, the Picard dialect resembles the Italian in the pronunciation of the soft _c_, on the other hand the French _ch_ is pronounced in the Picard dialect as hard _c (k)_, _vache_ becoming vaque; itou is another instance of a dialectic survival of an Old French word (in Old French _itel_, "sldquo;such, similarly, also," occurred, formed on analogy with _icel=celui; itel_ and _tel, icel_ and _cel_ were used without difference of meaning, _i_ is a relic of the Latin _ecce_ originally added to the word for the sake of emphasis); li is for _lui_. The following errors in syntax occur in this passage: The first sentence should read, _Je revenais un soir, alors qu'il était peut-être dix heures, le lendemain après que vous étiez venus_ (or _arrivés_) _ici_. After the phrase, _Je me dis_, read, _Autant de fois qu'ils me prendront vingt écus, autant de fois je leur revaudrai ça. De sorte_ or a similar phrase should be supplied before _qu'il n'entendit_, also before _qu'il n'a pas seulement dit_.
109.--2. pu, pus. Both stand for plus, the spelling of the latter form represents the frequent pronunciation of _s_ in plus when it stands before a pause.
8. l'Empereur premier. For Napoléon Premier.
16. où que. _Que_ is superfluous; after chez mé (l. 17), insert _de sorte_ or _de telle façon_.
27. le vieux. See note to p. 93, l. 4.
32. toute coupée. In this construction _tout_ does not take the feminine form if the following adjective begins with a vowel (tout ancienne, etc.).
ALPHONSE DAUDET
Nîmes, 1840--Paris, 1897
Daudet has given the impressions and the experiences of his early life in the two volumes with which he established his reputation: _Le Petit Chose_ and _Lettres de Mon Moulin_; in the former he describes the struggles of his boyhood, and in the latter the customs and legends of his native Provence. The books which he published later are of a different character, marked by the influence of the Naturalistic School, but unlike the other members of this school, he was endowed with a spontaneous, sympathetic nature, which enabled him to feel what he described. Thus while de Maupassant describes with the greatest art what he observes, Daudet sympathetically describes what he observes and feels. He had too much originality ever to come completely under the influence of the Naturalists. His short stories usually deal with some incident of the Franco-Prussian War (_Le Siège de Berlin, La Dernière Classe, La Vision du Juge de Colmar_, etc.) or with life in the Midi (_Lettres de Mon Moulin_). _Le Curé de Cucugnan_ and _Le Sous-Préfet aux Champs_ are taken from _Lettres de Mon Moulin_ (1869), the remaining three stories of the collection are taken from _Contes du Lundi_ (1873). His best novels are given in the following list; in these he has often been compared with Dickens and Thackeray.
Important works (besides the collections of short stories mentioned): _Les Amoureuses_ (verse, 1858), _Le Petit Chose_ (1868), _Aventures Prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon_ (1872), _L'Arlésienne_ (drama, 1872), _Fromont Jeune et Risler Aîné_ (1874), _Jack_ (1876), _Le Nabab_ (1877), _Les Rois en Exil_ (1879), _Numa Roumestan_ (1881), _L'Évangéliste_ (1883), _Sapho_ (1884), _Tartarin sur les Alpes_ (1885), _La Défense de Tarascon_ (1887), _L'Immortel_ (1888), _Port Tarascon_ (1890).