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belle heaumière

English translation: wife of the helmet maker/seller

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:belle heaumière
English translation:wife of the helmet maker/seller
Entered by: Catharine Cellier-Smart

10:21 Jan 23, 2011
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
French term or phrase: belle heaumière
this from François Villon's, Les Regrets de la belle Heaumière

the text goes as, "When he reads Villon's 'Testament', he can think only of how ugly the 'belle heaumiére' sounds, wrinkled and unwashed and foulmouthed."

what i actually need is just the literal translation of this 'belle heaumiére'
vitaminBcomplex
Local time: 06:31
wife of the helmet maker/seller
Explanation:
according to my dictionary

heaume being "casque d'homme d'armes, Au Moyen Age"



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Note added at 50 mins (2011-01-23 11:11:10 GMT)
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see photos here http://tinyurl.com/49xpw28
Selected response from:

Catharine Cellier-Smart
Reunion
Local time: 07:31
Grading comment
thanx!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3wife of the helmet maker/seller
Catharine Cellier-Smart
5beautiful wife of the armour-helmet maker
Agirard
4the "beautiful" old helmet maker's wife
Atelier de Mots
4the once beautiful helmet maker's wife
Atelier de Mots
Summary of reference entries provided
Read all about it!
Bourth (X)

Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


49 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
belle heaumiére
wife of the helmet maker/seller


Explanation:
according to my dictionary

heaume being "casque d'homme d'armes, Au Moyen Age"



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 50 mins (2011-01-23 11:11:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

see photos here http://tinyurl.com/49xpw28

Catharine Cellier-Smart
Reunion
Local time: 07:31
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
thanx!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  BrigitteHilgner: "beautiful wife ..."
1 min
  -> Yes. Thank you Brigitte.
agree  Tony M: Though not forgetting, of course, that it might actually be a female helmet-maker! From the description, she doesn't sound very likely to be anyones wife! Cf. the lady 'forgeronne' in the film 'A Knight's Tale'
8 mins
  -> Did cross my mind she could be a female helmet-maker, but given the historical period I dismissed the idea (rightly or wrongly !).
agree  Alison Sabedoria (X): Could be a wife who helped her husband or who took over his trade as a widow.
5 hrs
  -> thank you Wordeffect, interesting illustration
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
belle heaulmiére
the "beautiful" old helmet maker's wife


Explanation:
I think you have a spelling error here. Should be "heaulmiere" with an "l" and the accent grave, which I cannot do here. (Or maybe both spellings are OK.) In either case, Rodin's famous "Gates of Hell" (bronze doors, c. 1910) includes a shriveled, bent, nude female figure of an old courtesan often called "la belle heaulmiere." The "belle" is used satirically as the woman is really quite ugly and used up. I think this intended contradiction would have to be conveyed somehow in your translation, as would her age, in order to convey an accurate image of the term. I've put quotes around "beutiful" to suggest it is not used literally here.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2011-01-24 02:16:08 GMT)
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Bourth's "find" certainly offers a thorough and fascinating explication! Distilling all that into English is quite a challenge... perhaps, given ALL the cultrally-embedded allusions here, it would be best to leave it in French... and add a footnote. (?)

Atelier de Mots
Local time: 05:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
belle heaumiére
the once beautiful helmet maker's wife


Explanation:
Posting this as a new idea for incorporating all the allusions of this rather complex term!

Atelier de Mots
Local time: 05:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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22 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
beautiful wife of the armour-helmet maker


Explanation:
Helmet maker does not reflect the true meaning of 'Heaume', and is too generic a term.

Agirard
Local time: 04:31
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
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Reference comments


11 hrs peer agreement (net): +2
Reference: Read all about it!

Reference information:
http://www.paperblog.fr/849780/villon-la-belle-heaulmiere/

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Note added at 21 hrs (2011-01-24 08:01:15 GMT)
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Common enough change:
palm - paume
psaume - palm
voûte - vault
aumône - alms

I think it only strikes us particularly because hea(l)me has vanished from today's French.

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Note added at 21 hrs (2011-01-24 08:15:18 GMT)
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I remember practically nothing of my readings of Villon in my Old French Masters, and nothing at all of this, if I did indeed read it. But looking at the sequel, Ballade de la belle heaumière aux filles de joie, and remembering Villon's 'lewdness', I can't help wondering if heaumière might have caused some smutty mirth (for a reason I cannot explain), in the way reference to la saucissonnière, who is mentioned in the Ballade, might today (for a reason I can). Some play on gentilhommière? (a word which for me has a particular resonance since I've known the local B&B by that name is run by a gay couple!).

Bourth (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 110

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Tony M: Well found! Makes me feel quite sorry for the old gal!
15 mins
agree  Veronica Coquard: Thank you, Bourth! We learn something every day!
18 hrs
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