s'inscrit d'emblée sous le signe de la gageure
English translation: appears from the outset to be a gamble
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| 23:57 Jan 29, 2008 |
| French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: B D Finch France Local time: 13:30 | ||||||
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Answers
9 mins confidence: 
peer agreement (net): -1
peer agreement (net): -1is immediately registered under the wager's signature Explanation: A literal translation to the best of my ability... Any comments welcome... |
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3 hrs confidence:
any attempt is automatically seen as doing the impossible Explanation: Hello, s'inscrit = is consistent d'emblée = right away (automatically) sous le signe de la gageure = in conditions defining an impossible task Literally, we have then: is consistent with conditions defining an impossible task. So, in natural English, we'd saying something like this: "This is automatically considered/would be automatically considered an impossible task/achievement." I hope this helps. |
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10 hrs confidence:
appears from the outset to be a gamble Explanation: That's how I'd say it. |
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10 hrs confidence:
renders it futile/hopeless from the very start Explanation: ... a hopeless case/venture/cause... OR for st more literary: ...tilting at windmills -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 hrs (2008-01-30 11:13:21 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Another possibility: instantly indicates its futility/hopelessness instantly puts it into the ranks of tilting at windmills OR any combination of the above! -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 hrs (2008-01-30 11:15:04 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- SORRY, I forgot to say: instantly makes it a LOST CAUSE |
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27 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
peer agreement (net): +2would appear to be an impossible task Explanation: Variants: - ... Herculean task - would be taking on an impossible challenge - is a venture for only the very bravest - would be vainglory - would be courageous to the point of foolishness And so on. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 hrs (2008-01-30 14:59:52 GMT) Post-grading -------------------------------------------------- Post-grading: Just to point out that a "gageure" is as often as not more than just a wager. A wager one has a fair to middling chance of winning. A "gageure" can be considered to be lost from the outset. The question text implies the latter to me. For Indiana Jones, leaping across a 5m wide crevasse might be a wager; for me it's a "gageure". gageure - 1. Action, opinion qui semble impossible or incroyable : 'Cest une gageure! Nous avons à donner une fête qui est une véritable gageure dans ce désert'. 2. Pari impossible : 'Cela ressemble à une gageure. Soutenir la gageure' (= persévérer dans une entreprise hasardée" [Larousse Lexis] Admittedly this is very different to the Petit Larousse def.: GAGEURE Promesse de payer telle chose si l'on perd un pari : 'tenir une gageure' . 'C'est une gageure' - si dit d'une chose si étrange, si singulière, qu'on est tenté d'y voir une sorte de pari". In fact, the definitions are SO different, I can't help wondering if the meaning evolved between publication of my Petit Larousse in 1978 and my Lexis in 1988. I wonder what more recent dictionaries say. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 hrs (2008-01-30 15:11:43 GMT) Post-grading -------------------------------------------------- From a variety of web sources : gageure, nom féminin Sens Défi qui semble irréalisable [Littéraire]. Synonyme pari Anglais wager gageure Sponsored Links Regime Exclusif ! Le Régime du Dr Cohen pour Perdre 6 Kg en 30 Jours www.Regime-Savoir-Maigrir.fr n.f. challenge idioms: • c'est une véritable gageure the odds are dead against it gageure (nom féminin) Promesse de payer une somme, de donner un objet quelconque qui est l'enjeu d'un pari. Se dit d'une action, d'un projet dont on ne comprend pas le motif ou qui paraissent irréalisables. Ce mot doit être prononcé "gajure". gageure (nom féminin) Promesse de payer une somme, de donner un objet quelconque qui est l'enjeu d'un pari. Se dit d'une action, d'un projet dont on ne comprend pas le motif ou qui paraissent irréalisables. Ce mot doit être prononcé "gajure". GAGEURE, subst. fém. Étymol. et Hist. 1. a) Fin XIIe s. faire wageure « convention par laquelle deux ou plusieurs parties s'engagent à verser une certaine somme ou à donner un certain objet (enjeu) à la partie qui aura raison » (Cantique des Cantiques, éd. C.E. Pickford, 2939); b) XIIIe s. wagour masc. « la chose gagée elle-même » (Le Dit de la gageure, 123 ds Fabliaux, éd. A. de Montaiglon et G. Raynaud, t. 2, p. 196, 123), attest. isolée, de nouv. 1636 gageure fém. (MONET); 2. 1678 soutenir la gageure « persévérer dans une entreprise difficile » (Mme DE SEVIGNE, Lettre du 28 avr., éd. L.-J. N. de Monmerqué, t. 5, p. 437); 3. 1684 « action, projet, opinion si étrange, si difficile qu'on dirait un pari à tenir » (ID., ibid., t. 7, p. 317). Dér. du rad. de gager*; suff. -ure*. gageure nom commun - féminin ( gageures ) S'écrit aussi: gageüre Définition : 1. défi difficile à relever (soutenu) [Remarque d'usage: la prononciation correcte est [y]] (un sauvetage financier qui tient de la gageure) Gageure (eure se prononce ure) n. f. XIIe siècle, wageure. Dérivé de gager. 1. Promesse que des personnes se font réciproquement de donner au vainqueur d'un pari, d'une contestation ce dont elles conviennent en gageant. Accepter, soutenir, tenir la gageure. Gagner, perdre une gageure. Par méton. Vieilli. Ce qui est mis en gage. Quand paierez-vous la gageure ? 2. Fig. Action, entreprise qui, aux yeux d'autrui, semble un pari ou un défi sans chance de succès. C'est une gageure. Accepter cette offre serait une gageure. And of course I meant that for Indy it might be a "gamble". -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 15 hrs (2008-01-30 15:34:58 GMT) Post-grading -------------------------------------------------- IMO, yes, "long shot" is more like it, given what I read into that short excerpt. Though "long shot" is rather more familiar, maybe, than what some people claim is the "langage soutenu" nature of "gageure" (which may well explain some of the varying interpretations). Up to you to decide from the fuller context what they are saying. Just wanted to point out what might have escaped you, if your dictionaries are not telling you the same as mine. |
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