Glossary: A-C
Glossary: D-F
Glossary: G-J
Glossary: L-M
Glossary: N-P
Glossary: R-V
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introduction to the Glossary of French Terms
Glossary, part 5
Naïvement
Niais Noblement
Pathétiquement
Pesamment
Pindariser,_en_pindarisant
Piquer,_piqué
Pitoyablement
Pointer,_pointé
Posément
Proprement
Naïvement (naively, artlessly)
Naïf, naïve [adj.: naive] True, sincere,
a good resemblance, naturel, without makeup, without artifice. It is said
of a painting, of a speech that presents something as it is. ... Every thought
that is naïf is natural, but every natural thought is not
naïf. The great, The Sublime are not naïf and cannot
be so. Naïf implies a je ne sais quoi that is petty or
less lofty. ... There is a distinction between natural and naïf.
Natural involves a more vague idea and is generally the opposite of studied
or forced, while naïf is the opposite of thought-out and is based
on feelings. — Furetière, 1690
— Natural, without makeup, without artifice. ... It is used in
this sense almost exclusively in poetry. ... It also means something that
is a good representation of truth, that imitates nature well. ... It also
means something that is not planned out, not studied. ... It is used
disparagingly and means simple, niais, too ingenious. — DAF,
1694
Naïveté [n.: "naiveté"]
Ingenuousness, simplicity of a person who does not use disguises. ... It
is also used for that natural simplicity with which something is expressed
or represented according to truth and verisimilitude. It also means a simplicity
that is niais. — DAF, 1694
— Causes one to say what one thinks freely. It is ingenuousness
itself, characterized by traits that it would be in one's interest to disguise
because they sometimes give us an advantage over those who cannot control
[those traits]. ... This man, so secretive at heart, seems a stranger to
dissimulation, to the point that he is almost honnête. In behavior,
as well as in style, this naïveté is the triumph of artfulness
in those to whom it does not come naturally. — Trévoux,
1771
Naïvement [adv.: "naively"] Means frankly,
without disguise, without subterfuge. — Trévoux, 1771
Niais (silly, simple, foolish person)
Niais, niaise [adj.: "silly, foolish"] Is said
in its strict sense only about birds who are removed from their nests by
falconers and who have not yet been let loose. ... Figuratively, means
simple-minded, having as yet no experience of the world. — DAF,
1694
— Is also used figuratively as a noun. A clever and adept man
who pretends to be simple-minded is said to be "playing the niais."
And proverbially, a man who is adept and alert as far as his own good is
concerned and who acts like a simpleton is called a niais de Sologne: "He
is one of those niais de Sologne [a rural area of France] who only
makes errors in his own favor." — DAF, 1762 [Note: the niais de
Sologne as the model of the shrewd peasant, is mentioned as early as
Richelet, 1681]
— A niais is someone who, for lack of experience and
knowledge, does not know what to think, what to say or how to behave. ...
You will recognize him by his simple manner, his naive words, his uncontrolled
gestures, his free behavior, that of someone to whom everything is strange
and who goes about things rondement. He is a new man. ... He is surprised
and left speechless by novelty. ... The frank country-fellow, brought with
all his loyal and rustic simplicity into the polite and deceitful world of
the city, will be niais until he learns differently. The person who
is niais is your plaything: if he is not an absolute imbecile, wait
until he has acquired manners and experience; he may well cease to be
niais. — Abbé Roubeau, 1775
Noblement (nobly, loftily)
Noble [adj.: "noble"] Someone elevated above
commoners by his birth or by letters of a ruler. It is sometimes more
specifically applied to someone who is noble as the result of letters rather
than birth. ... Also means illustrious, elevated above other things of the
same sort. — DAF, 1694
— In painting and sculpture, is said about the elevation of ideas
transmitted through works in these arts. — DAF, 1762
— Having nobility, great, courageous, having something that reveals
he is a person of quality. This word is used about style and speech. —
Trévoux, 1771
Noble [n.: "nobleman"] A gentleman. He whose
privileged position places him above commoners, as a result of either birth,
office or princely favor. ... Nobles of race, of the blood, of lineage, are
preferred above the other sorts. — Furetière, 1702
Noblement [adv.: "nobly"] In a noble manner.
— Richelet, 1681
— Like a gentleman: "to live noblement." Also means in
an excellent and noble manner. — DAF, 1694
Pathétiquement (with pathos, pathetically)
Pathétique [adj.: "pathetic"] That stirs
the passions; is rarely used other than when talking about speeches and orators.
— DAF, 1694
— Passionate, touching and capable of moving and stirring the
passions. ... [In music] is said of something touching, expressive, capable
of stirring pity, anger [and every other passion]. — Furetière,
1702; bracketed words were added in 1727
— Pathetico means pathétique, touching,
expressive, passionate, capable of arousing pity, compassion and all the
other passions that stir the human heart. Thus one says stilo pathetico,
canto pathetico, fugo pathetico. Chromatic music with its major and
minor semitones that both descend and rise is very appropriate for this,
as is also a good handling of dissonances on all augmented and diminished
intervals. A variety in tempi [mouvements], sometimes vif and
sometimes languishing, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, and so on, also
contributes a great deal to it. — Brossard, 1703
Pathétique [n.: "something pathetic"]
A genre of dramatic and theatrical music that tends to portray and arouse
strong passions and especially douleur and sadness. In French music
the genre pathétique [pathetic genre] is expressed entirely
in drawled, strident and yowling sounds and by such a slow tempo that any
feeling of the mesure [beat] is erased. This leads the French to believe
that everything slow is pathétique, and that everything
pathétique must be slow. They even have airs that can be either
gay and playful or tendre and pathétique, depending
on whether they are performed rapidly or slowly. But Italian music lacks
this advantage. Every song, every melody has such a distinctive character
that it cannot be robbed of it. Its pathétique, shown through
stress and melody, is perceived in every sort of meter and even at the most
rapid tempi. ... Each Italian air has such a clear tempo that it cannot be
altered without destroying the melody. The air thus disfigured does not change
its character, it loses it. It is no longer a song, it is nothing. If the
character of the pathétique does not depend on tempo, neither
can it be said to depend upon the genre, or the mode or the harmony, since
there are pieces that are equally pathétique in all three genres
[i.e., divisions of the tetrachord], in the two [major and minor] modes,
and in every imaginable harmony. The true pathétique lies in
the passionate stress [accent], which is not determined by rules, which genius
finds and the heart feels, although Art can in no way provide a law. —
Rousseau, 1768
— A strong portrayal that moves, touches, agitates and carries
the listener away. — Trévoux, 1771
Pathétiquement [adv.: "with pathos"]
In a manner that is pathétique. — DAF, 1694
Pesamment (heavily, ponderously)
Pesant, pesante [adj.: "heavy, weighty"] This
word is said about people and means lourd, with little fire or vivacity,
little brilliance. — Richelet, 1681
— Weighty, lourd. It is the opposite of léger.
... An elderly man is said to "become pesant," meaning that age is
beginning to make him less active, less mobile. The same is said about an
old horse, meaning that he no longer has the same
légèreté, the same vigor. ... Figuratively, one
says that "a man's esprit is pesant, his conversation is
pesante," meaning that his mind is sluggish and coarse, that his
conversation is boring. — DAF, 1694
Pesamment [adv.: "heavily"] See lento,
tardo. ... Musique pesante, that is to say one in which the tempi
[mouvements], and consequently the notes, are slow and of long duration.
— Brossard, 1703
— In musical terms, means slowly, in a manner that is not
vif and animé. — Trévoux, 1771
Pindariser, en pindarisant (speak affectedly like Pindar
the poet)
Pindariser [inf.: "to speak with affectation"]
To speak in a manner that smacks of affectation, but an affectation that
is a bit ridiculous. — Richelet, 1681
— To pay too much attention to one's speech, to assume extraordinary
ways of speaking, and carefully chosen words, to the point of becoming ridiculous
through wanting to pride oneself on speaking well. This term is rarely used
in books. — Furetière, 1702
— To speak with affectation, to use words that are too elaborate.
— DAF, 1762
— A term used in everyday speech, always pejoratively, to mean
speaking with affectation, to assume extraordinary ways of speaking, far-fetched
turns of phrase and unusual and not very natural expressions. ...
Pindariser is synonymous with straying from nature. — Trévoux,
1771
Piquer, piqué (to prick, sting; staccato, detached
notes, overdotted)
Piquer [inf.: "to prick, make a hole"]. To prick,
to make a slight hole with something pointed. ... We say piquer a
horse to mean spur a horse and urge him to a gallop. ... Piquer is
also said about things that affect the tastebuds in such a way that the tongue
seems to be pricked. And so we say that "the wine pricks" to mean that it
makes the tongue tingle agreeably. ... Figuratively, means to annoy, to irritate,
to anger. — DAF, 1694
— There is a third manner [of performing half-beats] in which
the first half-beat is made much longer than the second, but then the first
half-beat should have a [notated] dot. This third manner is called
piquer or pointer. — Loulié, Principes,
1696
Piquant, piquante [adj.: "prickly"] Something
that pricks. We say that something beautiful is piquant to mean that
it moves us greatly. — DAF, 1694
— Is also said figuratively ... in referring to things of the
esprit that have something fine and vif: "There is nothing
piquant in his writing." ... In painting, piquant is applied
to something that arouses a more lively approval than is customary. —
DAF, 1762
Piqure [n. "a prick"] A little piqure
[prick] with a penpoint is called a point [dot]. — Dupont,
Principes, 1718, p. 11
Piqué, piquée [adj.: "pricked"]
Staccato,... means approximately the same thing as spiccato. That
is, players of all string instruments must make dry bow strokes that are
not dragged and that are clearly detached or separated from one another.
It is almost what we call in French piqué or
pointé. — Brossard, 1703
— A manner of playing dotted notes and stressing the dotting.
Notes piquées: Series of notes ascending or descending diatonically
or on the same tone, over each of which a dot is placed; sometimes it [the
dot] is elongated to indicate that they must be played equally by tonguing
or bowing with dry and detached strokes, without lifting the bow or pushing
it back, but by making it move and jump on the strings as many times as there
are notes, in the same direction as he began his bowing. — Rousseau,
1768
[Note of P.M. Ranum: this passage draws an important distinction
between piquer as strongly dotted notes, and notes piquées
with dots above them that may or may not be played equally. Rousseau is
unambiguous here: a dot above a note indicates that the note be detached.
But only if the dot is "elongated" should it be tongued or bowed "equally."
In short, in a passage marked piquer, as in some of Hotteterre's preludes,
conjunct notes would be played unequally; and when dots appear over such
notes, they should in addition be detached.]
— Eighth notes are equal [in C or cut-C tempo] and the sixteenths
are piqué ... Quarter notes [in 3/2] are piqué,
that is, they are played unequally. — Lacassagne, 1766, pp. 56-57
— From pic, which means pointed, sharp, something that
pierces, pricks or stops, we have piquer. The Romans used the word
... pungere, which led to our French word poindre [an archaic
synonym of both pointer and piquer]. Piquer means to
pierce, to damage lightly with a pointed object and by this means to make
a little hole that does not go very far into a thick and solid object. ...
We use poindre in the sense of pierce, as the sun pierces the clouds.
Words derived from poindre [e.g., poignant, "poignant"] designate
something very piquant, very piercing, very sharp, more or less deep
and painful. ... And so a puncture is merely a prick; a compunction is a
sharp pain. A poignard [dagger] is a cruel weapon that causes great pain,
etc. And so poignant means more than piquant. A stitch in your side
does not prick [piquer] you, it pierces [poindre] you and causes
sharp pain, as if you were being cut open, not pricked with a few pins. ...
Something piquant is at times even agreeable, it wakes you up, tickles
you; you are always injured, always suffer from something poignant. ... The
difference between these two words ... is that piquant refers to a
cause, to something that pricks you; and poignant refers to the pain you
suffer. ... Poignant is above all used to express the effect of an internal
cause, while piquant describes the action of an external cause. —
Abbé Roubeau, 1788
Pitoyablement (feeling pity or compassion)
Pitié [n.: "pity"] The passion of the
soul that is moved by tendresse, compassion, upon seeing the pain
or the misery of another person. ... Pity is a sort of sadness mingled with
love for those who suffer. ... Sometimes involves disdain and scorn. We usually
look with eyes full of pity or scorn upon those who do not share our opinions.
— Furetière, 1702
— Pitié, to arouse pity, see pietoso.
[Pietoso means in a manner capable of arousing pity or compassion]
— Brossard, 1703
Pitoyable [adj.: "pitiful"] Worthy of pity,
arousing pity by words that are tendre and passionate. — Richelet,
1681
— Naturally inclined to feel pity: "A soul that is
pitoyable toward the poor." This meaning is outdated. ... It also
means to arouse pity. — DAF, 1762
Pitoyablement [adv.: "pitifully"] In a pitiful
manner, wretched, puny. — Richelet, 1681
Pointer, pointé (to dot, dotted)
Pointe [n., fem.: "a point"] The pricking and
sharp end of something. ... Is said about wine and means a certain
piquant and agreeable flavor: "This wine lacks pointe." ...
"A sauce that has no pointe" is one that is not spicy enough. —
DAF, 1694
Point [n., masc.: "a dot"] In music serves to
make the preceding note half again as long as normal [in the sense of "half
again as long as a quarter note," and so forth]. ... Points are also
placed below [sic] certain musical notes to show that they should be detached.
— Trévoux, 1771
Pointer, pointé/ pointée [inf.:"
to prick"; past participle: "pricked"] To prick [piquer] with something
that is pointed [pointé]. — Richelet, 1681
— To jab something with a sword point. — DAF, 1694
— Pointé, pointée is said in music about
a note followed by a pointe [dot]. The dotted note is worth half again
its normal value. —DAF, 1762
— By means of a dot, to make a series of naturally equal notes
alternately long and short, for example a succession of eighth notes. In
order to pointer a note, you add a dot after the first, an extra flag
to the second, a dot to the third, a flag to the fourth, and so on. In this
manner the same value [i.e., a quarter note] that they formerly possessed
is maintained for the pairs; but this value is distributed unequally over
the two eighth notes, so that the first or long note has three-quarters of
the value, and the second or short note has the remaining quarter. In order
to pointer them in performance, you play them unequally in these same
proportions, even when they are noted equally. In Italian music all eighth
notes are always equal, unless they are shown pointé. But in
French music we play eighth notes equally only in four-beat measures; in
all others we always dot the notes a little, unless croches égales
is indicated. — Rousseau, 1768
Posément (soberly, sedately)
Posé, posée [adj.: "poised"] One
says that a man is posé and esprit is posé,
when someone is wise and prudent and never says or does anything hastily.
— Furetière, 1702
— Is used solely in speaking of people and means modest, cool
and collected, serious — DAF, 1762
Posément [adv.: "sedately"]
Doucement, prudently, — Richelet, 1681
— See grave, lento, adagio — Brossard, 1703
— Doucement, lentement, without hurrying — DAF,
1762
— Adagio is an Italian adverb that means à l'aise,
posément, and it also is the way one should beat the mesure
of the airs to which the word is applied. — Rousseau, 1768
— Doucement, without haste, distinct slowness, gravity
— Trévoux, 1771
Proprement (appropriately, decorously, cleanly)
Propre [adj.: "clean, proper"] Neat, appropriate
— Richelet, 1681
— Is also said about something that is appropriate: "You must
try on this suit to see if it is propre." ... It also said about something
that is neat, appropriate, decorated: "This apartment is very propre
[neat], the furniture is very propre [appropriate], the clothes are
very propre [appropriately ornamented]." — Furetière,
1702
Propreté [n.: "appropriateness"] The
concern for neatness, decorum or ornamentation, as far as clothing, furniture
or something else is concerned. — Vaugelas, 1647, I, pp. 56-57
— Propreté is part of decorum. ... If you wish
to be propre, your clothing must be appropriate to your build, your social
position, your age. — Courtin, Traité de la civilité,
1670, p. 64.
— The quality of something that is propre, that one carefully
keeps proprement and neatly. ... People with bon goût
care more about propreté than about adornment. —
Furetière, 1702
— The performance of French singing with the appropriate ornaments,
which are called the agréments du chant. ... Singing or playing
proprement means executing a French melody with the appropriate ornaments.
This melody does not in the least depend upon the sheer strength of the sound;
and, having no character of its own, it only assumes one through the expressive
turns one gives it during performance. These turns [agréments du
chant] are taught by singing masters. — Rousseau, 1768
Proprement [adv.: "properly"] In a manner that
is agréable and propre; in an honnête and
reasonable manner. — Richelet, 1681
— One says a person plays the lute proprement when one
wishes to praise him for playing well, but not with the utmost perfection.
— Furetière, 1702
— A great number of trills, balancements, ports de
voix, slurs, martellements, passage-work and other
propretés [ornaments] should only be used in airs, and even
then with moderation. They render the goût [savour] effeminate,
prevent accurate intonation, distort the mesure, throw the harmony
off, and always leave the pupil confused. — Montéclair,
1709
— Employed in several totally different ways. It sometimes means
the same thing as "precisely." ... When one says that a man speaks
proprement, that he expresses himself proprement, it means
that he speaks with exactness and precision, that the words he uses express
exactly what he means. ... When one says that a person dances, sings, plays
an instrument or works proprement, it simply means that he does not
do it perfectly, but accurately, de bonne grâce, and in an
agréable and appropriate way. — Trévoux, 1771
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