Pub Crawl

[macausland]

Thanks for the information.

[macausland]

I've just been watching Maigret on youtube.

'Maigret et la dame d'Etretat'

Within minutes of the start of the film there are spectacular shots of the 'arches' on that coastline.

There are two from what I can see. The one I hope has posted and another that looks more like a giant mammoth with a squarish 'arch'.

In the film the fancy 'gothic' arch seems to have battlements on the top. No doubt created by high tides which were as particular in carving that feature as they were in creating a pointed arch in one area and a square arch in the other. Ther seem to be many other features in the cliffs including what looks like a group of faces at one point as well as 'windows', square cut of course high up in the cliff face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRq0lOJSS_A

This link should take you to the video.

Maigret does appear to ignore the natural features although I did shout 'C'est derriere vous, monsieur' but my French dialect is obviously different from his so he ignored me, naturally.

[Boreades]

On topic, this morning's Pub Crawl was via the White Horse pub in Uffington. (One day I will write an article on Moving Luggage On The Ridgeway)

The White Horse is just within a megalithic flintstone's throw of three curiosities
1) the 400 year-old schoolroom that featured in Thomas Hughes’ book ‘Tom Brown’s School Days’
2) Woolstone's All Saints Church is on the pathway to Dragon Hill
3) the late poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman, lived in Uffington, along with other other interesting places. The Betjeman family moved to Farnborough in 1945, then to Wantage in 1951, then onto Trebetherick in Cornwall

Also, it's getting close to a Significant Time Of Year for folks on Dragon Hill (Autumn Solstice), so the OBOD Camp at Uffington Wood campsite is growing nicely.

[hvered]

In the film the fancy 'gothic' arch seems to have battlements on the top. No doubt created by high tides which were as particular in carving that feature as they were in creating a pointed arch in one area and a square arch in the other. Ther seem to be many other features in the cliffs including what looks like a group of faces at one point as well as 'windows', square cut of course high up in the cliff face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRq0lOJSS_A

This link should take you to the video.

Maigret does appear to ignore the natural features although I did shout 'C'est derriere vous, monsieur' but my French dialect is obviously different from his so he ignored me, naturally.

You might have tried remonstrating with him in Walloon. In French, this part of the coast is La Côte d'Albâtre, I thought it was 'albatross' but apparently means alabaster (a white or winged balustrade?).

Anyway, I looked behind and noticed Etretat is conveniently on a straight line between Portland Bill and Troyes via Paris/ St Denis and L'Ile de France. Whatever the case, Etretat seems to have an affinity with the Isle of Wight, which may or may not mean 'white' but certainly gives pride of place to St Catherine, the saint most associated with Normandy.

[macausland]

As Walloon is a version of French, sneered at of course, he should have understood me. I could have tried Flemish but apparently old Norse should have sufficed.

There's an interesting discussion on the etymology of Etretat on a French wiki site. Most of it contradictory but this bit is perhaps pertinent as it involves the physical structure of the place and its relationship with 'stacks'.

'Jean Renaud est le seul a donner une version radicalement différente de l'étymologie du lieu. Le second élément serait issu du vieux norrois stakkr « rocher élevé, en mer » bien attesté près des établissements vikings : stakk aux Shetland, stac aux Hébrides, et que l'on retrouve sur la côte du Cotentin sous la forme état, comme l'État à Chausey ou l'État, rocher au large de Jobourg (cf. stack). Le premier élément serait peut-être le vieux norrois stútr utilisé dans le sens de « dressé, projeté ». Selon lui, le nom a dû s'appliquer à la fameuse aiguille d'Étretat : le « rocher dressé »39'

The word 'needle' once more makes its appearance as in the south west of England and the far north east of Scotland.

It is also close to Le Havre which seems to be on a direct line with the Isle of Wight. If these arches were indeed artificial perhaps they are markers for sailors who recognise they are getting close to their destination?

Is 'Wight' related to 'Wig, Wick, Uig etc'? As in Wigton, Wigtown, Wick and so on?

The Romans knew it as Vectis so the pronunciation seems to have been set at least as far back as them if not before.

As for the Alabaster bit, that seems rather like good old Albion of the perfidious type.

I hope Boreades doesn't mind all this gabble while he's in the pub leaving his blog unattended.

I came across a 'learned' article which I've downloaded in pdf format regarding old legends etc of Etretat. I'll get my Walloon dictionary out and have a go at it.

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k379770b

[Mick Harper]

Would patrons kindly translate French extracts. Some of us didn't spend five years having a daily French lesson at a well known south-east London grammar school with extra tuiton in Oral plus an expensive exchange with a French bloke who treated us like dirt and therefore if there is anything to be gained from compulsory education ought really to be able to read simple passages in a closely related language.

[Boreades]

I think it says:

'Jean Renaud is the only one giving a radically different version of the etymology of the place. The second element is from Old Norse stakkr "high rock at sea" well attested near Viking settlements: Stakk Shetland, the Hebrides stac, and found on the Cotentin coast as state, as the State or State Chausey rock off Joburg (see stack). The first element might be Old Norse stútr used in the sense of "trained, screened." According to him, the name has been applied to the famous Needle of Etretat: the "rock compiled" 39 '

But I failed O'level French. It's only all the time I spend going round French Vineyards that helps. Cheers me dears!

Confession: https://translate.google.co.uk/

[Mick Harper]

Could someone look up in French Google (there is nothing in English) the possible significance of "State Chausey rock off Joburg". The point being that the Chausey Islands play a part in the Michael Maritime Line and Jerbourg is the south-east corner of Guernsey, ie pointing towards Jersey, the Chausey Islands, Mont St Michel etc.

[hvered]

Jobourg is Le Nez ('nose') de Jobourg on the Cotentin peninsula



Sailors would probably point away from, not towards, Jobourg to avoid passing Les Casquets, a group of rocks north of Alderney (Aurigny in French).

Dressé in French is upright i.e. like a stack. It may be one of those back to front explanations as Etretat was formerly written Estrutat or Estretat which sounds more like straight (cf. English 'street') or perhaps 'star' rather than a Norse term but according to French wikipedia Etat means stack, from Scandinavian, and is the name of a sea-stack off Jobourg.

[macausland]

Dresse also means erected. This gives the possibility that it has been erected or built.

His argument is that Etat, I don't know how to get the accents, is the local name for a sea stack.

The accented 'e' usually indicates a missing letter 's' which leads to his idea that the original was from the old Norse 'stutr', which apparently means bullock or even gnat.

Cotetin contains the 'tin' element. Would that be a connection with the tin trade? Apparently the whole area was fought over between the Bretons and Norwegians for quite a while.