Help With Some French Translation, Please.

[Mark Taylor 0]

Can someone please tell me what the French word “etoffe” means when talking about organ pipes? I know what “bois” means and (I think) I know what “etain“ means (tin alloy?); but what does “etoffe” mean?

[pwhodges 0]

Can someone please tell me what the French word “etoffe” means when talking about organ pipes? I know what “bois” means and (I think) I know what “etain“ means (tin alloy?); but what does “etoffe” mean?

My memory immediately popped up and said: "étoffe" = "stuff" = "plain metal". But I don't know where that came from, and I can find no verification* of it! Maybe it's pure fantasy...

 

Paul

 

* <edit> Pierre's reply seems to agree, though.

[Pierre Lauwers 0]

"Etoffe" means an alloy which is poor in tin, also mainly lead,

like often called simply "metal" in english.

 

Pierre

[Geoff McMahon 0]

"Etoffe" means an alloy which is poor in tin, also mainly lead,

like often called simply "metal" in english.

 

Pierre

 

This is correct. It is plain metal as opposed to a mix with a high tin content. Interestingly, some old documents in England refer to plain metal as "Stuff" as well, clearly a common root here.

 

John Pike Mander

[Mark Taylor 0]

Thank you everyone.

[DouglasCorr 0]

My memory immediately popped up and said: "etoffe" = "stuff" = "plain metal".

 

I'm sure that that is because you remembered that a number of French words beginning with "e (accute) t" turn up with English counterparts beginning with "st"

 

etoil star

etude study

etranger stranger etc

 

- one of the few things I remember too about French..

[french amateur 0]

The old french way to write étude was something like estude, étranger : estranger.

And indeed some people with very thick south of France accent (as my grandmother) would still pronounce "estranger", including the S pronouciation.

It's a very old love story between french and english languages.

[Pierre Lauwers 0]

Not only in southern France is it the case; in the waloon from the Namur area

"étranger"= "estrindjî", "Maître"= "Mestre", and so on.

 

Pierre

[jonadkins 0]

The old french way to write étude was something like estude, étranger : estranger.

And indeed some people with very thick south of France accent (as my grandmother) would still pronounce "estranger", including the S pronouciation.

It's a very old love story between french and english languages.

 

Yes, guess how I pronounced "Balbastre" the other day, and what is more I can't pretend I'm from the South of France!