So I was doing some research for a text I need to translate from French to English (written in 1844) and I found myself getting lost in the net that is Wikipedia. Some of the words in the text are archaic (like "leagues" instead of the modern metric system).
I stumbled upon a page describing the new calander made during the French Revolution. Like the metric system they tried to make everything simple, so instead of 7 days a week there were 10 and this theory even extended into time. Each day was divided into 10 hours, each hour was 100 minutes they even showed a picture of this funny clock... Crazy French.
They named the months after the seasons for example:
Autumn:
Vendémiaire (from Latin vindemia, "vintage") Starting Sept 22, 23 or 24
Brumaire (from French brume, "mist") Starting Oct 22, 23 or 24
Frimaire (From French frimas, "frost") Starting Nov 21, 22 or 23
and I liked what someone added to the page:
"In England, people against the Revolution mocked the calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety."
If you're interested in reading further here is the site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar
4 commentaires:
That's wild, I'd never heard that before. Did you know that the days of the week are named after the planets? One of my profs explained that during class last week. Lundi comes from lune, Mardi comes from mars, Mercredi-Mercure, Jeudi-Jupiter, Vendredi-Venus, and Samedi-Saturne. And then I think Dimanche comes from Dieu.
the same is true in English:
Sunday - Sun day
Monday - Moon day
Tuesday - Tir's day (Norse god of war)
Wednesday - Woden's day (Norse top god)
Thursday - Thor's day (Norse god of strength and thunder)
Friday - Frigga's day (Norse god of love)
Saturday - Saturn's day (Roman god of agriculture)
Actually in French the days are named after planets which were named after gods. Funny eh?
Thanks, the teacher asked if it was the same in English, and I said I wasn't sure, but I thought the days came from German!
Hi Karina! Recipe for Apple Tiramisu is here:
http://gomad-ch.blogspot.com/2004/11/apple-tiramis.html
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