ancien

English translation: the elder

08:25 Jun 25, 2009

French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Genealogy / From a heritage book

French term or phrase: ancien

From a 17th century heritage book (town families' geneology), appears next to a name and occupation:
"Jean Borel laboreur, ancien"
"Jean Borel husbandman, retired? elderly?"

Hermien Desaivre KudoZ activity Questions: 209 (3 open) (6 without valid answers) (12 closed without grading) Answers: 17 South Africa
Local time: 19:59

English translation:the elder

Explanation:
Just a guess.

Selected response from:

aubreydewet
South Africa
Local time: 19:59

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

the elder

aubreydewet

ancient

swanda

former

Colin Rowe

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

ancien (this context)

the elder

Explanation:
Just a guess.

aubreydewet
South Africa
Local time: 19:59
Native speaker of:

Afrikaans

Notes to answerer

Asker: Hi - this is possible, but elsewhere this distinction is given as (father) and (son) - although this text is a mixture of French and German - essentially German - and the other references to father or son are in German. It does make sense. The entire text is research into whether two people mentioned in different contexts was indeed only one person. Thanks, Aubrey and Bourth.

Asker: It looks like thsi is going to turn out being "elder" as in "church elder".

Asker: I've discoverfed it might also refer to church elder, the client has not come back to contradict me - I'll award points to you.

7 mins confidence:

ancient

Explanation:
*

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Note added at 8 mins (2009-06-25 08:34:28 GMT)
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ancient wisdom: la sagesse des anciens

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-25 09:47:29 GMT)
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then I would say "senior"

swanda
Local time: 19:59
Native speaker of:

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: Hi Swanda - thanks for your answer; this context doesn't seem to refer to this meaning.

2 hrs confidence:

former

Explanation:
I rather suspect that this means "former husbandman[/ploughman/plowman]"

"ancien laboureur" gets quite a few Google hits, mainly from genealogical sources, e.g.

Famille COLLINET - [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]... d'Etienne BÉNARD, procureur fiscal, fermier à Moisselles en 1771 (il est dit *ancien laboureur* demeurant à Attainville en 1780), et de Geneviève GOUY. ...
genealog.fr/ferlab/collinet.html

Example sentence(s):

...procureur fiscal, fermier à Moisselles en 1771 (il est dit *ancien laboureur* demeurant à Attainville en 1780)

Reference: http://genealog.fr/ferlab/collinet.html

Colin Rowe
Germany
Local time: 19:59
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

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