A Selection from the Comedies of MarivauxMarivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de
General
A Selection from the Comedies of Marivaux
Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de
Comedy plays
[35] REPARTE, 'Reply,' from _repartir_, used in the sense of _repondre,
repliquer, riposter_. Compare: "Je ne _repartis_ rien a ce discours mais
mes yeux recommencerent a se mouiller" (_Marianne_, 3e partie).
[36] QU'IL ME FAIT BESOIN, 'That I need it.' FAIRE BESOIN = _etre
necessaire_. Common to the writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Compare: "S'il vous faisait besoin, mon bras est tout a vous"
(Moliere, _le Depit amoureux_, v, 3).
[37] SANDIS. See note 20.
[38] QU'UNE AUTRE. The edition of 1740 prints _qu'un autre_, but this must
be a mistake.
[39] D'OU VIENT. See _le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard_, note 220.
[40] JE VOUS FEROIS UN FORT BON PARTI, 'I would settle a handsome sum on
you both.'
[41] DERECHEF, 'Once more.' Compound of _de, re_, and _chef_ (Lat.
_caput_). Growing obsolete, and replaced in modern French by _de nouveau_
or _encore une fois_.
[42] JE VOUS Y BROUILLEROIS, 'I would get you into trouble with her.'
Aside from the fact that _y_ should be avoided in speaking of persons, the
preposition used after the verb _brouiller_ is properly _avec_ and not
_a_, as is understood in the use of _y_.
[43] ELLE ME FAIT TANT D'AMITIE, 'She inspires me with so much love.'
[44] DECONFORTEZ, for the more modern _decouragez_.
[45] N'EN TENEZ COMPTE. _Tenir compte_ may be used in the negative without
the addition of _pas_ or _point_. Compare: "Il n'en a tenu compte."
(Racine, _les Plaideurs_, I. i.) The negative is to-day, however,
generally completed.
[46] LA GARONNE. A river in the southwestern part of France, rising in the
valley of Aran, in the Spanish Pyrenees, then flowing northward and
northwest past Toulouse, Agen, and Bordeaux, to its juncture with the
Dordogne, with which it merges its waters to form the Gironde. A not
uncommon term for the Gascons is _Enfants de la Garonne_.
[47] GARE, "Take care." From the verb _garer_. _Prenez garde que_ is the
more natural modern expression.
[48] MALEPESTE, 'Confound it.' Compare our exclamation, 'plague on it.' It
is an antiquated expression composed of _male (feminine)_ and _peste_.
Obsolete. Admitted by the French, Academy in 1762, but not included in the
dictionary of 1878.
[49] JE N'AVOIS GARDE D'Y ETRE, 'I had no idea whom you meant.' The idiom
_n'avoir garde de_ means 'to be unable' or 'to be far from' (Littre,
"garde." 7 deg.).
[50] JE NE LUI EN VEUX POINT DE MAL, 'I don't wish him any harm.'
Pleonastic for _je ne lui veux point de mal_.
[51] DONT. Better _que_. See _le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard_, note 175.
[52] J'Y AI MIS BON ORDRE. See _le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard_, note 104;
_le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard_, note 169.
[53] IL NE S'Y JOUERA PAS, 'He will not try that.' _Se jouer a quelque
chose_, 'To attempt something' (Littre, 31 deg.).
[54] D'OU VIENT.See _Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard_, note 220.
[55] VOUS TENIR, 'To confine yourself,' _Vous en tenir_ is the modern
form.
[56] VUE. The text of 1740 gives the form _vu_.
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