un joug de boeuf

English translation: ox yoke

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	un joug de boeuf
English translation:	ox yoke
Entered by:	Hervé du Verle

00:59 Apr 13, 2004

French to English translations [PRO]
Folklore / traditional practices for the sick

French term or phrase: un joug de boeuf

strange usage
article on euthanasia - how some regions "shock" dying patients into death:
Dans le Limousin, on lui pose un joug de boeuf sur le front."

RHELLER KudoZ activity Questions: 123 (none open) Answers: 6154 United States
Local time: 03:09

ox yoke

Explanation:
Once I read the paper, and unless the journalist made a mistake... there is no doubt and I suppose that 60 lbs on the head won't help an old patient to get up...

Selected response from:

Hervé du Verle
Local time: 05:09

Grading comment

Thanks to everyone - sorry it took me so long...the yoke o'laylay really got me. It was just too obvious - I kept thinking they were talking about meat!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +8

ox yoke

Hervé du Verle

3 +1

yoke

Charlie Bavington

COMMENT

Tony M

yoke harness

Louise Dupont (X)

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

56 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +8

ox yoke

Explanation:
Once I read the paper, and unless the journalist made a mistake... there is no doubt and I suppose that 60 lbs on the head won't help an old patient to get up...

Hervé du Verle
Local time: 05:09
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks to everyone - sorry it took me so long...the yoke o'laylay really got me. It was just too obvious - I kept thinking they were talking about meat!

55 mins confidence:

yoke harness

Explanation:
selon le GDT

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Note added at 56 mins (2004-04-13 01:55:52 GMT)
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I also found neck yoke

Reference: http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/ressources/gdt_bdl2.html

Louise Dupont (X)
Canada
Local time: 05:09
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

yoke

Explanation:
Rita, mate - do you have any particular reason to think this is not quite literally a "yoke"?
'Cos "joug de boeuf" just seems to me to be a more longwinded way of saying "joug" tout court - as if anybody is going to put a yoke on a goat or a hamster or whatever, but there you go....!

Anyway, couple of biblical equivalents for you - JdeB seems a *relatively* common term in French biblical texts when English just has "yoke" e.f. for Matthew 11, v 29 :
http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/saints/bernard/tome05/gill...
and
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionofthe...

(of course, there may be no biblical element to this at all, just seemed a possibility!)

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Note added at 1 hr 34 mins (2004-04-13 02:33:44 GMT)
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Not sure how this would \'help\' in the circumstances you describe, other than in some judeo-christian imagery way I can\'t quite see either at 3.30 a.m. - a sort of extra bit to the last rites under these circumstances.
The alternative - that it is quite literally the weight of the yoke which is meant to achieve the desired effect - seems pretty gruesome.

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Note added at 1 hr 44 mins (2004-04-13 02:43:37 GMT)
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Unless it\'s a (regional?) name for a herb or something they use to poison the person....?

Charlie Bavington
Local time: 10:09
Native speaker of:

English

5 hrs confidence:

COMMENT

Explanation:
I entirely agree with the other answerers' suggestions of '(ox) yoke', but just wanted to add my little bit of local info, as I live in the Limousin and actually have 2 of these in my barn!
We would usually think of it as just a yoke, of course, but do remember that yokes were also used by people (milkmaids with churns, etc.) and also for donkeys (and I guess draught horses too, though these would have been rarer in our region)
As to the wood used, I get the impression it's smooth and fine-grained, but I don't think it's oak (even though that is very common wood here). Mine have woodworm, which suggest it's not chestnut either; I wondered maybe about beech, or perhaps false acacia (both commonly-used woods today)
A double (and in my case, adjustable) yoke for oxen is quite a huge and weighty affair, but like the other answerers, I can't really imagine why it would be used, unless symbolically --- maybe it's considered very bad luck to carry the yoke yourself (i.e. you're too poor to afford the oxen); or maybe the idea is that life is a burden, that one would be eager to shake off... Or maybe it's just to make sure you're never going to get up again!
I'll ask my elderly neighbour if she's heard of this practice.

Tony M
France
Local time: 11:09
Native speaker of:

English

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English translation: ox yoke

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