tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post607043602227903915..comments2024-03-28T15:08:14.799+08:00Comments on From the Narrow Desert: La vie c'est "chouette" . . . mais avec "qui"?Wm Jas Tychonievichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-82275195378055207312022-12-01T23:10:37.164+08:002022-12-01T23:10:37.164+08:00@WG
Interesting links!
Fleur des champs should b...@WG<br /><br />Interesting links!<br /><br /><i>Fleur des champs</i> should be the French equivalent to <i>flos campi</i>, from the Vulgate Song of Solomon (“rose of Sharon”) in English, quoted by Waite in explaining the roses and lilies he had added to his Magician card.<br /><br />According to the Mike Clelland book on owls, quite a few people have had the experience of a dead loved one’s appearing in the form of an owl.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-32170276017270789592022-12-01T18:25:23.945+08:002022-12-01T18:25:23.945+08:00Hah, to think this sync line picked up again partl...Hah, to think this sync line picked up again partly due to a meme from a game I barely played!<br /><br />I found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCwU0cmn6NY" rel="nofollow">version of that song partially in English</a>, but some lines are hard to make out, and in my search I could only find the full French lyrics. My French is limited to a few words so I went to my usual <a href="https://simplytranslate.pussthecat.org/" rel="nofollow">online translator</a>, which allows use of four different translation engines; comparing results from the three that worked (DeepL was the dud) was an interesting exercise. One stand-out was the line <i>Que l'on soit côté fleur des champs ou côté violence</i>, which ICIBA interpreted as "Whether you are wildflowers or violence" -- versus the other engines' "Whether [we are/you're] on the flower side or [on] the violence side" -- bringing to mind Blodeuwedd, as we've recently discussed. (On another note, going by <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/NopeMovie/comments/w7pi13/jodie_foster/ihkz2dg/" rel="nofollow">a Reddit post</a> that came up while searching, owls come up repeatedly in <i>NOPE</i>.)<br /><br />Looking up the word <i>chouette</i>, <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chouette" rel="nofollow">Wiktionary</a> narrows its use to "species of owls without ear tufts" and categorises it as a feminine noun, while the given ear-tufted counterpart, <i>hibou</i>, is masculine. Somehow I was surprised to see a <i>chouette</i> disambiguation page on Wikipedia; what grabbed me there was "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Trail_of_the_Golden_Owl" rel="nofollow">the Golden Owl quest</a>", a 1993 book of puzzles that lead to an owl statuette buried somewhere in France, which still hasn't been found. The statuette's sculptor, Michel Becker, also illustrated the book.<br /><br />For a bonus, on November 19 I'd stopped by the Daily Mail for some regular news article, and something in the tabloid-gossip sidebar caught my eye. INXS has come up in my syncs several times, but besides what I've mentioned in email, it's always been through their music <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11446607/INXS-Kirk-Pengilly-says-Michael-Hutchence-appeared-dreams-just-days-death.html" rel="nofollow">until now</a>. One of the band members had dreamt of Michael Hutchence soon after his death: "Michael visited me in a dream as an <i>owl</i> in a field and he said that he is fine and he is free and not to worry, sort of thing."WanderingGondolanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-82605225875639145422022-11-27T20:01:42.916+08:002022-11-27T20:01:42.916+08:00Owls are also associated with a Mesopotamian image...Owls are also associated with a Mesopotamian image of a naked woman who may be Inanna or Lilith, and to whom archaeologists have given the rather Mozartian moniker "Queen of the Night."<br /><br />https://www.worldhistory.org/article/658/the-queen-of-the-night/Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-86218081108809470822022-11-27T19:57:32.296+08:002022-11-27T19:57:32.296+08:00@Henri
Civette che allettano -- "little owls...@Henri<br /><br /><i>Civette che allettano</i> -- "little owls that entice" -- what a strange turn of phrase!<br /><br />One of the definitions given for <i>chouette</i> is <i>femme âgée, méchante et désagréable</i>, "a mean, old, disagreeable woman," which makes much more metaphorical sense.<br /><br />@ben<br /><br />Etymolgically, <i>comet</i> means "long-haired" and was sometimes an epithet of Aphrodite, so I suppose it makes sense in the context in which Mozart places it.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-71569118501681262662022-11-27T16:26:41.654+08:002022-11-27T16:26:41.654+08:00@Henri
Comets you say?@Henri <br /><br />Comets you say?bennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-31919067614756355012022-11-27T16:10:00.742+08:002022-11-27T16:10:00.742+08:00I remember right around the time you had started p...I remember right around the time you had started posting owl syncs, I was looking at the libretto for Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and was struck by a (to me) odd reference to owls ("civette") in "Aprite un po'quegli occhi". In the context of a general warning/rant regarding the untrustworthiness of women, there's a passage that goes:<br /><br />Son streghe che incantano<br />Per farci penar,<br />Sirene che cantano<br />Per farci affogar,<br />Civette che allettano<br />Per trarci le piume,<br />Comete che brillano<br />Per toglierci il lume.<br /><br />So the comparisons start with "Witches/Sirens/Owls/Comets". Apparently "civetta" also means "flirt, coquette" in Italian, which I've never thought of as a particularly owlish characteristic.<br /><br />I'd briefly considered commenting at the time; the mention of "chouette" here reminded me.<br /><br />Incidental Disclaimer: Despite the name, I'm not much of a French speaker.Henrinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-91933950317187138902022-11-26T02:26:57.119+08:002022-11-26T02:26:57.119+08:00@William
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubert_of_...@William<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubert_of_Avranchesbennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-78214389436608984962022-11-26T02:05:43.688+08:002022-11-26T02:05:43.688+08:00That one went over my head, ben.That one went over my head, ben.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-43612671242525292442022-11-25T21:44:29.380+08:002022-11-25T21:44:29.380+08:00Did you know that Saint Michael, Archangel, Prince...Did you know that Saint Michael, Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Host, once poked a hole in a man's head because he got ticked off with him?bennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5953806385060168124.post-74835944532291515652022-11-25T21:22:51.242+08:002022-11-25T21:22:51.242+08:00hehehehebennoreply@blogger.com