Valérie KARAM Oct 22, 2016:

I agree with Tony, this is just a sort of informal proper name for a specific place, like "la colline aux marmottes" or "la grange aux loups" so the translation shouldn't be too technical neither for the kind of tree nor for the animal. The wild boar tree seems like a good option.

Germaine Oct 19, 2016:

Matthew, L'emploi de "du [des? ]feuillus" dans cette phrase me surprend un peu; je me serais attendue à "fourré" (thicket), "bosquet", "bocage" ou "taillis" (copse (grove), coppice), mais bon...

En français, une expression comme "les feuillus/le fourré/le bosquet aux marcassins" indique simplement qu'on trouve (ou trouvait!) des marcassins dans cet endroit (ça ne désigne pas un type d'arbre particulier). Bien que les feuillus sont généralement (il y a des exceptions) des arbres à "feuilles caduques" (deciduous), i.e. qui tombent à l'hiver, ce n'est pas ce qui est décrit ici. De toute façon, comme on l'a déjà mentionné, le terme "deciduous" n'a pas vraiment sa place dans un conte.

Dans la mesure où la découverte du bébé a lieu à l'occasion de la cueillette de myrtilles, on n'est pas dans une forêt amazonienne, dense et touffue. Vous traduisez. C'est un conte. Perso, je m'en tiendrais à l'image plutôt qu'au mot.

Isabelle Cluzel Oct 19, 2016:

Agree with Tony as usual :) When you google "sanglier + feuillu" you find such entries: "Habitant des forêts de feuillus et des forêts résineux-feuillus en Europe et en Asie, les sangliers...", "On le rencontre surtout dans les grandes forêts de feuillus en taillis sous futaie, parsemés de coupes récentes qui lui donnent un couvert dense."
In English I found "woodlands", "heavily brushed areas", "deciduous and mixed forests, with the most favourable areas consisting of forest composed of oak and beech enclosing marshes and meadows", "well developed, broad-leaved and mixed forests", "deciduous forests". But as someone pointed out "deciduous" is too technical - Tony's suggestion seems the most relevant.

Tony M Oct 19, 2016:

In fact... ...in view of the fact it is 'du' (sg.) and 'feuillus' (pl.) makes me thing even more strongly that it is 'the wood (made up of deciduous trees) where the baby wild boar play'

Tony M Oct 19, 2016:

"the wild boar tree" I think the fact that this is "le feuillu aux marcassins" seems to me to suggest it is the rural name for one particular tree — the one where the baby wild boar hang out!

Not sure there's much mileage in emphasizing the 'baby wild boar' — there's a nice specific word for it in FR, but in EN it merely becomes clumsy.
And ditto earlier comments about 'feuillu' — it's a nice piece of realistic detail in the original, but becomes stuffy and clumsy when translated literally.

I see this as being some kind of informal proper name for that tree, like we might say 'pixie glade' in EN.

Of course, unless it is contradicted elsewhere or forms part of the storyline, you could always choose some particular tree — I think that would be within poetic licence — and so make it 'the wild boar oak' or something like that.

HERBET Abel Oct 19, 2016:

c'est feuillu au singulier, donc "prés du feuillu", comme Didier le dit
Sinon "prés des feuillus"
Thicket = plutôt taillis/fourré, Phil
Woodland c'est un petit territoire de terre avec des arbres
"Hardwood tree" peut-être
Je traduirais en disant "big tree", "deciduous" c'est trop technique
Ou the "large leaves tree"
Des idées

Helen Shiner Oct 18, 2016:

Thanks, Phil Done.

philgoddard Oct 18, 2016:

Helen You should put that as an answer. Feuillu means broadleaf rather than deciduous but, as you say, that's neither here nor there.

Jennifer White Oct 18, 2016:

Not forest and woodland in the same sentence Near the thicket where wild boars made their home (as Helen suggests)

Didier Fourcot Oct 18, 2016:

proper understanding More qualified natives will appreciate your English wording, however your understanding of French source is perfect for me, perhaps better than source because "le feuillu" should be singular. For the meaning, see:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/lexicographie/feuillu
but I suspect Helen is right: this rather means dense then deciduous

ormiston Oct 18, 2016:

I agree, and would even say Near woodland frequented by young (wild) boar

Helen Shiner Oct 18, 2016:

suggestion near the trees where the young wild boars lived/made their home - does it really require 'deciduous'? It's a fairy tale, not a dendrological treatise. Just a thought.