mal de pierre

18:48 Jun 13, 2013 

Some comments:
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1) I'd actually intended to award the points to Carol (who gave two possible answers), but pressed the wrong button. Sorry!
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2) Paul has responded to the St Benedict link I posted which does say a cure for gallstones, so I think his answer is valid.
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3) Phil's answer is very likely what will end up in the translation after review. I should have posted this question in FR->FR as what I was really asking was what illnesses have been called "mal de pierre" in French.

13:53 Jun 11, 2013 

In my own defence, I don't think this is misleading. I wanted to know what were the possible meanings of "mal de pierre" because I hadn't been able to figure out what either it or "stone sickness" were.

And clearly the Theseus author was using it metaphorically - there are no natural stones which make one pass out in the way he describes. I thought the actual quotation was more likely to mislead than to help.

13:50 Jun 11, 2013 

I was merely trying to provide an explanation of what it may actually have been, since this is what I assumed was being asked for

13:48 Jun 11, 2013 

It means "stone sickness".

13:46 Jun 11, 2013 

see my added note, plus part of the Wiki article:

The name silicosis (from the Latin silex, or flint) was originally used in 1870 by Achille Visconti (1836-1911), prosector in the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.[3] The recognition of respiratory problems from breathing in dust dates to ancient Greeks and Romans.[4] Agricola, in the mid-16th century, wrote about lung problems from dust inhalation in miners. In 1713, Bernardino Ramazzini noted asthmatic symptoms and sand-like substances in the lungs of stone cutters.

13:45 Jun 11, 2013 

I think this question is thoroughly misleading, and doesn't make sense unless you read the discussion entries. If you still need a translation (though its meaning seems pretty obvious to me), you should repost it without including all that extra context, which is not relevant.

13:42 Jun 11, 2013 

I didn't think it was going to help, but here it is:

"... ils s'engagèrent sous une forêt de hautes colonnes qui répandait un terrible parfum de pierres. Ces effluves donnaient la nausée et l'ombre tombait des chapiteaux sur les corps nus en majestueuses draperies de glace. [...] Thésée, aussi fort que ses compagnons, perdait cœur sous un « mal de pierre » innommable, atroce, sans rapport avec aucune angoisse connue."

13:34 Jun 11, 2013 

Could you give us the actual sentence from your Theseus story?

13:33 Jun 11, 2013 

put us ALL off track, methinks!

Just shows the need for context right at the beginning

13:28 Jun 11, 2013 

^&%*^%* Theseus again. The victims are overcome by some sort of noxious fumes from stone columns and faint. Fair enough, the author does put "mal de pierre" in inverted commas to indicate his little joke, but it sent me off searching the Labryinth of the Internet on a completely fausse piste.

I specifically filtered out Milena Agus from my search!!!