{"id":26687,"date":"2017-04-17T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=26687"},"modified":"2017-10-27T12:43:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T10:43:35","slug":"french-expressions-pregnancy-and-childbirth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-expressions-pregnancy-and-childbirth\/","title":{"rendered":"French Expressions: Pregnancy and Childbirth"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m due soon with my second son and so have had pregnancy and birth on my mind a lot lately. I’ve always loved the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s use of birth and pregnancy\u00a0in his writings to denote giving birth to ideas in philosophy. In one famous example, Nietzsche wrote, “What saved me then [from madness]? Nothing but pregnancy. And each time after I had given birth to my work my life hung suspended by a thin thread.” For Nietzsche, philosophy was the process of giving birth to ideas.<\/p>\n

This got me thinking about expressions in French that similarly play on the meanings of pregnancy and birth. In French, birth is l’accouchement\u00a0<\/em>and pregnancy is\u00a0la grossesse<\/em>. It might be somewhat easy to understand how\u00a0la grossesse<\/em> denotes pregnancy, as it references “largeness,” or the growing belly of a pregnant woman. For the word\u00a0accouchement<\/em>, the term developed from women in labor being\u00a0accouch\u00e9e<\/em>, or lying down in bed during childbirth. Indeed, in Old French the verb\u00a0accoucher\u00a0<\/em>just meant to lay down in bed or to put in bed.<\/p>\n

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Here are five French expressions that play upon notions of pregnancy and childbirth:<\/p>\n

1.La montagne a accouch\u00e9 d’une souris<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This expression, which literally means “the mountain gave birth to a mouse,” comes from a fable by Jean de la Fontaine called\u00a0La Montagne qui accouche<\/em>, which goes:<\/p>\n

Une montagne en mal d’enfant
\nJetait une clameur si haute
\nQue chacun, au bruit accourant,
\nCrut qu\u2019elle accoucherait sans faute
\nD\u2019une cit\u00e9 plus grosse que Paris.
\nElle accoucha d’une souris<\/i><\/p>\n

A mountain in the pains of childbirth<\/p>\n

Threw out a high a clamor so high<\/p>\n

that everyone, with the sounds of running,<\/p>\n

thought that she would give birth without a problem<\/p>\n

to a city even larger than Paris.<\/p>\n

But she gave birth to a mouse.<\/p>\n

This expression\u2014and the proverb it comes from\u2014simply means when something large or impressive is expected or promised, but in actuality something small is delivered instead.<\/p>\n

2. Accouche!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Very simply,\u00a0accouche!<\/em>, which literally means “give birth,” is a popular expression that means “Out with it!” or “Spit it out!”<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Accouche, qu’on baptise!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a Qu\u00e9b\u00e9\u00e7ois expression, which literally means “give birth, so we can baptize [the child],” means something like the French expression “accouche!<\/em>” It is used when someone is taking too long to say something or to tell a story, and is used with humor to urge someone to “spit it out.”\u00a0Like other\u00a0Qu\u00e9b\u00e9\u00e7ois expressions, it is based on French Catholic belief.<\/p>\n

Can you think of any other French expressions that use metaphors of pregnancy or childbirth? Leave them in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I’m due soon with my second son and so have had pregnancy and birth on my mind a lot lately. I’ve always loved the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s use of birth and pregnancy\u00a0in his writings to denote giving birth to ideas in philosophy. In one famous example, Nietzsche wrote, “What saved me then [from madness]? Nothing…<\/p>\n

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