Re: Describing sound

--- Stephen Mulraney <ataltanie@...> wrote:
>
> I seem to recall having seen this taken one step
> further: JSB's name
> being rendered as something like "Jean-Sebastian
> Rousseau" :). I may
> have the surname wrong, but it's meant to be a
> calque of "Bach", or as
> we would say in English, "brook". :)
It would probably be "Jean-Sébastien Ruisseau" then.
Nothing to do with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was the
author, among others, of an essay about the origin of
languages (which is, ehm, how shall we say ? perhaps
'a little outdated'). But I never saw the name of Bach
translated this way. It's possible that "JSB" is used
to refer to Johann Sebastian Bach. Some say that
French snobs just say "Jean-Sébastien", in order to
show how familiar they are with the Master:
- Qu'est-ce que tu faisais ?
- Oh, j'écoutais Jean-Sébastien.
(What were you doing ? Oh, I was listening to some
Bach music).

> I've also seen "Louis" for "Ludwig". I don't recall
> seeing a calque of
> "van Beethoven", though (perhaps the meaning isn't
> clear. It isn't to
> me, at least), although the "van" was omitted. Both
> occured on
> old musical scores, IIRC.
>
When we refer to the King Ludwig II von Wittelsbach,
King of Bavaria (the one who was completely insane),
we say "Louis II de Bavière". But I never heard Ludwig
van Beethoven translated as "Louis". The usual joke is
about the pronunciation of "Beethoven": since "ee" is
"i" in English, then it clearly has to be the same in
German (or Dutch); "tho" is problem free, and "ven" is
certainly like in French "vent" (wind), thus:
Bi-to-ven, which can be understood as "Bitte au vent",
meaning "Cock in the wind". Those who want to escape
the joke may say simply "Ludwig Van", as if Van was
the surname.




=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)

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