For the love of….
Might? Money? Friends? Words?
For the love of words.
Today I was faced with a word, “godet.” A friend was making a flamenco dress and kept referring to the godets that were necessary. I insisted that the word godet was not an English word. I learned that I was right by using a dictionary but in using a French dictionary it was there, with several definitions, among them, for dressmaking, “flare.” That was the exact purpose of a “godet”, to make a flare or flares for a skirt or dress. The English dictionary provided one definition for flare as: “to become wider, ‘her skirt flares from the waste.’ ”
I have found that over time, I have increased my active vocabulary by using the dictionary. By looking up a particular word, given a little time, I always look at words that proceed and follow the particular word being searched. This, at times, produces some entertainment and a few laughs. This happens in and through other languages, as well. On the page for godet, I find, godaille: feast, revel, guzzle; godailler: to go pub crawling, to gormandize, feast; godailleur: pub crawler, great guzzler. Yes, I have met a few in my time! Farther down the page, godiche, godichon: awkward, simple, lout, bumpkin. Yes, I have met a few of those as well! Still, on the same page, goret: little pig, dirty urchin, dirty pig of a man. Well, yes, a description that I could have used on one man! So here we have, on one page, a godailleur, godichon and a goret, all in one man; a guzzler, a lout and a dirty pig of a man. Good descriptions!
My French vocabulary certainly has increased. Four new words all found on the same page!
For the love of words.
Today I was faced with a word, “godet.” A friend was making a flamenco dress and kept referring to the godets that were necessary. I insisted that the word godet was not an English word. I learned that I was right by using a dictionary but in using a French dictionary it was there, with several definitions, among them, for dressmaking, “flare.” That was the exact purpose of a “godet”, to make a flare or flares for a skirt or dress. The English dictionary provided one definition for flare as: “to become wider, ‘her skirt flares from the waste.’ ”
I have found that over time, I have increased my active vocabulary by using the dictionary. By looking up a particular word, given a little time, I always look at words that proceed and follow the particular word being searched. This, at times, produces some entertainment and a few laughs. This happens in and through other languages, as well. On the page for godet, I find, godaille: feast, revel, guzzle; godailler: to go pub crawling, to gormandize, feast; godailleur: pub crawler, great guzzler. Yes, I have met a few in my time! Farther down the page, godiche, godichon: awkward, simple, lout, bumpkin. Yes, I have met a few of those as well! Still, on the same page, goret: little pig, dirty urchin, dirty pig of a man. Well, yes, a description that I could have used on one man! So here we have, on one page, a godailleur, godichon and a goret, all in one man; a guzzler, a lout and a dirty pig of a man. Good descriptions!
My French vocabulary certainly has increased. Four new words all found on the same page!
posted by croweagle at
10:19 PM
3 Comments:
a "godet" in french, can also be a glass ! referring to a convivial moment..."viens prendre un godet avec moi !" means.."come and have a drink together !" ..French language is full of words with a multiplicity of meanings...it's a rich language !
By
Anonymous, at 2:42 AM
"Un godailleur un peu godiche offrit un godet dans un pub, à un véritable goret qui se tenait au bar".."A pub crawler, a bit bumpkin, offered a drink, in a pub, to a true dirty pig of a man, who was at the bar"...lol !! and there is a verb "goder"..but decency prevents me from saying what it means ! lol!!! French slang...
By
Anonymous, at 2:51 AM
So......I finished my Flamenco dress with 8 "flares"
I learned a new word too ;)
By
Anonymous, at 12:07 PM
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