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I am trying to understand the following sentence in old French which is about the construction of a cannon:

le louage d'une bigorne en quoy les sercles, lians et agneaux du dit canon ont este drechiez et mis a point

Google translate completely fails on this.

Doogie Drusard
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1 Answers1

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I have found that sentence with a better spelling here (Note: The Littré anneau entry states: d'après Ménage, au XVIIe, on reprochait aux Parisiens leur prononciation agnau, qui est encore celle de quelques provinces) :

  • le louage d’une bigorne, en quoy les cercles, lians et anneaux dudit canon ont été dressés et mis à point

In modern French, that might be something like:

  • la location d'une enclume sur laquelle les cercles, liens et anneaux dudit canon ont été forgés et ajustés

and an English translation attempt:

  • the rental of an anvil on which the said cannon circles, links and rings were forged and adjusted

Google translate gives from the original and modern versions:

  • the hire of a horn , Wherein circles , rings and Lians said barrel have been prepared and placed at the point

  • renting an anvil on which the circles , links and said barrel rings were forged and adjusted

jlliagre
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  • By "correct" spelling I assume you mean a modernized spelling. The way I spelled it is how it appears in the original manuscript. – Doogie Drusard Nov 13 '15 at 01:29
  • I didn't know that. I have no access to the manuscript copy. Do you have a link? While the other words are not surprising for an ancient text, I'm somewhat perplexed by agneaux for anneaux. – jlliagre Nov 13 '15 at 02:08
  • I just found that anneau used to be pronounced agneau is some places so that should explain it. – jlliagre Nov 13 '15 at 02:15
  • That's still a transcription though, neither the original nor a manuscript. – jlliagre Nov 13 '15 at 10:16
  • Lien vers extrait conforme à celui en question ; et détails. Merci ! –  Nov 13 '15 at 14:27
  • @Làchus'n'AI C'est vrai mais la source est un manuscript sur parchemin du XIVème siècle alors que la retranscription du lien est un imprimé de 1863. Je ne doute pas que l'orthographe soit bien celle rapportée mais j'aurais quand même aimé voir l'original. – jlliagre Nov 13 '15 at 15:09
  • @jlliagre Very nice answer, this is exactly what we would say nowadays. – milk2go Nov 17 '15 at 13:13