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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History / chateau
French term or phrase:basse-cour sablée
In the description of the courtyard of a chateau :
Autrefois basse-cour sablée, elle se caractérise aujourd’hui par une cour pavée, compartimentée de quatre carrés de gazon ponctués aux angles de topiaires d’ifs.
I imagine this is where the stables and coach houses would be. (packed) dirt farmyard is the best I can come up with. sand farmyard sounds even stranger.
Alas, deadline is looming, so any comments are greatly appreciated!
Sand-covered is what I went with, and I circumvented the whole "ancient basse-cour" problem as follows:
Once sand-covered, the courtyard is now stone-paved...
Many thanks to everyone for your help. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
David, I agree: there was a convent there founded by... Saint Louis, who had a castle and whose son died there ;))) And yes, Mara, your solution is absolutely fine.
Yes, Philippe, the first references to Fontainebleau date back to the 12th century! I thank you all for your help. I'm having a lot of fun researching this, but alas my deadline is here. Thanks to your help, I think I've found a good way around the problem: Something along the lines of "Once sand-covered, the courtyard/forecourt is now stone-paved..."
PFB (X)
F. goes back a long time: Saint Louis (Louis IX) had a place there. So there was a medieval castle, and there must have been an outer bailey, common in those days, and that became a forecourt later on. ;-)
... will depend on the period your sentence refers to. It says "autrefois", in the past, and therefore it must be bailey. ;-)
10:06 Nov 18, 2005
PFB (X)
I don't know how old F. is, but if there used to be a medieval castle there, as is the case of most castles, then the "basse-cour" was the outer bailey of that castle, and has now become the forecourt of the more recent one. Your choice of translation...
Hi Philippe and Alexandra. I really like the sound of bailey, but according to Webster's it is a courtyard within the external wall or between two outer walls of a castle. This is actually in reference to the grand entrance to the Chateau de Fontainebleau (there is an excellent 360-view of it here: http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/pages/page_id18100... so I don't know if it can be considered a bailey.
It would help if you told us which ch�teau this is, or at least whether it is a ch�teau fort or a more recent 'stately home' type.
09:37 Nov 18, 2005
PFB (X)
Sorry, no room for this in my "agree with Alexandra". Ref: These earlier castles included 2 baileys: the inner and outer bailey. PARTS OF THE CASTLE. Portcullis- protected the castle gateway. ... www.bow.k12.nh.us/CyberBUS/ castle%20and%20castle%20items
09:26 Nov 18, 2005
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
2 mins confidence:
basse-cour sablée
sandy farmyard
Explanation: ..
Neil Crockford Local time: 11:22 Native speaker of: English
Alexandra Hague Local time: 12:22 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Sand-covered is what I went with, and I circumvented the whole "ancient basse-cour" problem as follows:
Once sand-covered, the courtyard is now stone-paved...
Many thanks to everyone for your help.
9 mins confidence:
basse-cour sablée
poultry yard
Explanation: I don't think I would say dirt or sanded as a poultry yard is generally dirt or sand anyway.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 30 mins (2005-11-18 09:23:35 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I don't think farmyard is right in this context as it encompasses all the livestock while basse cour is just for small animals. You could maybe say a dry sand poultry yard
Various beds, or heaps, of sifted ashes or very dry sand, should be placed in the yard, in which the fowls may have the comfort and benefit of rolling and bathing themselves; and a place of refuge should be provided for such hens or chickens as the cock has taken a dislike to. www.scotfood.org/cookery/chapter20.htm - 34k
suezen Local time: 12:22 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 36
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