[Lexicog] Fw: French 'gueule'

[Lexicography List Facilitator]

David Frank has suggested that 'gueule' in French might mean 'snout',
and shows that this is certainly the case in his study of St. Lucian
Creole.

This is not the usual meaning of the term in more or less 'standard'
French, however, where the word for 'snout' is usually one of the
following terms: 'museau', 'mufle', or 'groin', with, of course, some
possible differences between them.

The 'museau' is usually somewhat pointed and is used for certain
mammals as well as fish, the 'mufle' usually refers to the
end/extremity of the 'museau' in mammals, and the 'groin' is usually
the 'museau' of a pig or a boar. All three are demeaning if used for
human beings, with 'museau' and 'groin' meaning '(ugly) face' or
'snout' and 'mufle' meaning 'boor, lout'. (There are also many
familiar terms in French for a human being's nose. One example is
'blair', as in 'Ote [o circumflex accent] ton blair de là que je voie
la Tour Eiffel!' = 'Get your big nose/schnoz/beak out of there so I
can see the Eiffel Tower!')

The French term 'gueule' comes from Latin 'gula', where it meant
'gullet', 'throat', 'palate', or 'maw', among others. French has been
fairly faithful to these original meanings, and the term usually
refers to the mouth of certain meat-eating animals and other
quadrupeds as well as to the mouth of fish and some large reptiles.

By analogy, it can also be used for the opening of an oven, a cannon,
or a tunnel, for example.

Of course, it can also refer to the mouth or to the face of a human
being. So, a 'fine gueule' means a 'gourmet' and a 'gueule cassée'
was used for soldiers who suffered facial wounds in World War 1. The
term is quite popular in modern French and is used in a large number
of expressions, although it is usually used only in very relaxed
situations. For example, 'to have a hangover' can be translated into
French as 'avoir la gueule de bois' (sometimes shortened to 'avoir la
G.D.B.') = 'to have a wooden mouth.'

Finally, and apparently unrelated to the feminine 'gueule', there is
also a French term 'gueules', from Persian, which is masculine
singular and refers to the red color used on a coat of arms ('gules'
in heraldic English).

George Aubin





Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/