The
Ranums'
Panat Times
Volume 1, redone Dec. 2014
Glossary, part 5 (N-P)
Glossary A-C
Glossary D-F
Glossary G-J
Glossary L-M
Glossary N-P
Glossary R-V
Naïvement Niais Noblement Pathétiquement Pesamment Pindariser,_en_pindarisant Piquer,_piqué Pitoyablement Pointer,_pointé Posément Proprement
Naïvement (naively, artlessly)
Naïf, naïve [adj.: naive] True, sincere, a good resemblance, naturel, without makeup, without artifice. It is said of a painting, of a speech that presents something as it is. ... Every thought that is naïf is natural, but every natural thought is not naïf. The great, The Sublime are not naïf and cannot be so. Naïf implies a je ne sais quoi that is petty or less lofty. ... There is a distinction between natural and naïf. Natural involves a more vague idea and is generally the opposite of studied or forced, while naïf is the opposite of thought-out and is based on feelings. — Furetière, 1690
— Natural, without makeup, without artifice. ... It is used in this sense almost exclusively in poetry. ... It also means something that is a good representation of truth, that imitates nature well. ... It also means something that is not planned out, not studied. ... It is used disparagingly and means simple, niais, too ingenious. — DAF, 1694
Naïveté [n.: "naiveté"] Ingenuousness, simplicity of a person who does not use disguises. ... It is also used for that natural simplicity with which something is expressed or represented according to truth and verisimilitude. It also means a simplicity that is niais. — DAF, 1694
— Causes one to say what one thinks freely. It is ingenuousness itself, characterized by traits that it would be in one's interest to disguise because they sometimes give us an advantage over those who cannot control [those traits]. ... This man, so secretive at heart, seems a stranger to dissimulation, to the point that he is almost honnête. In behavior, as well as in style, this naïveté is the triumph of artfulness in those to whom it does not come naturally. — Trévoux, 1771
Naïvement [adv.: "naively"] Means frankly, without disguise, without subterfuge. — Trévoux, 1771
Niais (silly, simple, foolish person)
Niais, niaise [adj.: "silly, foolish"] Is said in its strict sense only about birds who are removed from their nests by falconers and who have not yet been let loose. ... Figuratively, means simple-minded, having as yet no experience of the world. — DAF, 1694
— Is also used figuratively as a noun. A clever and adept man who pretends to be simple-minded is said to be "playing the niais." And proverbially, a man who is adept and alert as far as his own good is concerned and who acts like a simpleton is called a niais de Sologne: "He is one of those niais de Sologne [a rural area of France] who only makes errors in his own favor." — DAF, 1762 [Note: the niais de Sologne as the model of the shrewd peasant, is mentioned as early as Richelet, 1681]
— A niais is someone who, for lack of experience and knowledge, does not know what to think, what to say or how to behave. ... You will recognize him by his simple manner, his naive words, his uncontrolled gestures, his free behavior, that of someone to whom everything is strange and who goes about things rondement. He is a new man. ... He is surprised and left speechless by novelty. ... The frank country-fellow, brought with all his loyal and rustic simplicity into the polite and deceitful world of the city, will be niais until he learns differently. The person who is niais is your plaything: if he is not an absolute imbecile, wait until he has acquired manners and experience; he may well cease to be niais. — Abbé Roubeau, 1775
Noblement (nobly, loftily)
Noble [adj.: "noble"] Someone elevated above commoners by his birth or by letters of a ruler. It is sometimes more specifically applied to someone who is noble as the result of letters rather than birth. ... Also means illustrious, elevated above other things of the same sort. — DAF, 1694
— In painting and sculpture, is said about the elevation of ideas transmitted through works in these arts. — DAF, 1762
— Having nobility, great, courageous, having something that reveals he is a person of quality. This word is used about style and speech. — Trévoux, 1771
Noble [n.: "nobleman"] A gentleman. He whose privileged position places him above commoners, as a result of either birth, office or princely favor. ... Nobles of race, of the blood, of lineage, are preferred above the other sorts. — Furetière, 1702
Noblement [adv.: "nobly"] In a noble manner. — Richelet, 1681
— Like a gentleman: "to live noblement." Also means in an excellent and noble manner. — DAF, 1694
Pathétiquement (with pathos, pathetically)
Pathétique [adj.: "pathetic"] That stirs the passions; is rarely used other than when talking about speeches and orators. — DAF, 1694
— Passionate, touching and capable of moving and stirring the passions. ... [In music] is said of something touching, expressive, capable of stirring pity, anger [and every other passion]. — Furetière, 1702; bracketed words were added in 1727
— Pathetico means pathétique, touching, expressive, passionate, capable of arousing pity, compassion and all the other passions that stir the human heart. Thus one says stilo pathetico, canto pathetico, fugo pathetico. Chromatic music with its major and minor semitones that both descend and rise is very appropriate for this, as is also a good handling of dissonances on all augmented and diminished intervals. A variety in tempi [mouvements], sometimes vif and sometimes languishing, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, and so on, also contributes a great deal to it. — Brossard, 1703
Pathétique [n.: "something pathetic"] A genre of dramatic and theatrical music that tends to portray and arouse strong passions and especially douleur and sadness. In French music the genre pathétique [pathetic genre] is expressed entirely in drawled, strident and yowling sounds and by such a slow tempo that any feeling of the mesure [beat] is erased. This leads the French to believe that everything slow is pathétique, and that everything pathétique must be slow. They even have airs that can be either gay and playful or tendre and pathétique, depending on whether they are performed rapidly or slowly. But Italian music lacks this advantage. Every song, every melody has such a distinctive character that it cannot be robbed of it. Its pathétique, shown through stress and melody, is perceived in every sort of meter and even at the most rapid tempi. ... Each Italian air has such a clear tempo that it cannot be altered without destroying the melody. The air thus disfigured does not change its character, it loses it. It is no longer a song, it is nothing. If the character of the pathétique does not depend on tempo, neither can it be said to depend upon the genre, or the mode or the harmony, since there are pieces that are equally pathétique in all three genres [i.e., divisions of the tetrachord], in the two [major and minor] modes, and in every imaginable harmony. The true pathétique lies in the passionate stress [accent], which is not determined by rules, which genius finds and the heart feels, although Art can in no way provide a law. — Rousseau, 1768
— A strong portrayal that moves, touches, agitates and carries the listener away. — Trévoux, 1771
Pathétiquement [adv.: "with pathos"] In a manner that is pathétique. — DAF, 1694
Pesamment (heavily, ponderously)
Pesant, pesante [adj.: "heavy, weighty"] This word is said about people and means lourd, with little fire or vivacity, little brilliance. — Richelet, 1681
— Weighty, lourd. It is the opposite of léger. ... An elderly man is said to "become pesant," meaning that age is beginning to make him less active, less mobile. The same is said about an old horse, meaning that he no longer has the same légèreté, the same vigor. ... Figuratively, one says that "a man's esprit is pesant, his conversation is pesante," meaning that his mind is sluggish and coarse, that his conversation is boring. — DAF, 1694
Pesamment [adv.: "heavily"] See lento, tardo. ... Musique pesante, that is to say one in which the tempi [mouvements], and consequently the notes, are slow and of long duration. — Brossard, 1703
— In musical terms, means slowly, in a manner that is not vif and animé. — Trévoux, 1771
Pindariser, en pindarisant (speak affectedly like Pindar the poet)
Pindariser [inf.: "to speak with affectation"] To speak in a manner that smacks of affectation, but an affectation that is a bit ridiculous. — Richelet, 1681
— To pay too much attention to one's speech, to assume extraordinary ways of speaking, and carefully chosen words, to the point of becoming ridiculous through wanting to pride oneself on speaking well. This term is rarely used in books. — Furetière, 1702
— To speak with affectation, to use words that are too elaborate. — DAF, 1762
— A term used in everyday speech, always pejoratively, to mean speaking with affectation, to assume extraordinary ways of speaking, far-fetched turns of phrase and unusual and not very natural expressions. ... Pindariser is synonymous with straying from nature. — Trévoux, 1771
Piquer, piqué (to prick, sting; staccato, detached notes, overdotted)
Piquer [inf.: "to prick, make a hole"]. To prick, to make a slight hole with something pointed. ... We say piquer a horse to mean spur a horse and urge him to a gallop. ... Piquer is also said about things that affect the tastebuds in such a way that the tongue seems to be pricked. And so we say that "the wine pricks" to mean that it makes the tongue tingle agreeably. ... Figuratively, means to annoy, to irritate, to anger. — DAF, 1694
— There is a third manner [of performing half-beats] in which the first half-beat is made much longer than the second, but then the first half-beat should have a [notated] dot. This third manner is called piquer or pointer. — Loulié, Principes, 1696
Piquant, piquante [adj.: "prickly"] Something that pricks. We say that something beautiful is piquant to mean that it moves us greatly. — DAF, 1694
— Is also said figuratively ... in referring to things of the esprit that have something fine and vif: "There is nothing piquant in his writing." ... In painting, piquant is applied to something that arouses a more lively approval than is customary. — DAF, 1762
Piqure [n. "a prick"] A little piqure [prick] with a penpoint is called a point [dot]. — Dupont, Principes, 1718, p. 11
Piqué, piquée [adj.: "pricked"] Staccato,... means approximately the same thing as spiccato. That is, players of all string instruments must make dry bow strokes that are not dragged and that are clearly detached or separated from one another. It is almost what we call in French piqué or pointé. — Brossard, 1703
— A manner of playing dotted notes and stressing the dotting. Notes piquées: Series of notes ascending or descending diatonically or on the same tone, over each of which a dot is placed; sometimes it [the dot] is elongated to indicate that they must be played equally by tonguing or bowing with dry and detached strokes, without lifting the bow or pushing it back, but by making it move and jump on the strings as many times as there are notes, in the same direction as he began his bowing. — Rousseau, 1768
[Note of P.M. Ranum: this passage draws an important distinction between piquer as strongly dotted notes, and notes piquées with dots above them that may or may not be played equally. Rousseau is unambiguous here: a dot above a note indicates that the note be detached. But only if the dot is "elongated" should it be tongued or bowed "equally." In short, in a passage marked piquer, as in some of Hotteterre's preludes, conjunct notes would be played unequally; and when dots appear over such notes, they should in addition be detached.]
— Eighth notes are equal [in C or cut-C tempo] and the sixteenths are piqué ... Quarter notes [in 3/2] are piqué, that is, they are played unequally. — Lacassagne, 1766, pp. 56-57
— From pic, which means pointed, sharp, something that pierces, pricks or stops, we have piquer. The Romans used the word ... pungere, which led to our French word poindre [an archaic synonym of both pointer and piquer]. Piquer means to pierce, to damage lightly with a pointed object and by this means to make a little hole that does not go very far into a thick and solid object. ... We use poindre in the sense of pierce, as the sun pierces the clouds. Words derived from poindre [e.g., poignant, "poignant"] designate something very piquant, very piercing, very sharp, more or less deep and painful. ... And so a puncture is merely a prick; a compunction is a sharp pain. A poignard [dagger] is a cruel weapon that causes great pain, etc. And so poignant means more than piquant. A stitch in your side does not prick [piquer] you, it pierces [poindre] you and causes sharp pain, as if you were being cut open, not pricked with a few pins. ... Something piquant is at times even agreeable, it wakes you up, tickles you; you are always injured, always suffer from something poignant. ... The difference between these two words ... is that piquant refers to a cause, to something that pricks you; and poignant refers to the pain you suffer. ... Poignant is above all used to express the effect of an internal cause, while piquant describes the action of an external cause. — Abbé Roubeau, 1788
Pitoyablement (feeling pity or compassion)
Pitié [n.: "pity"] The passion of the soul that is moved by tendresse, compassion, upon seeing the pain or the misery of another person. ... Pity is a sort of sadness mingled with love for those who suffer. ... Sometimes involves disdain and scorn. We usually look with eyes full of pity or scorn upon those who do not share our opinions. — Furetière, 1702
— Pitié, to arouse pity, see pietoso. [Pietoso means in a manner capable of arousing pity or compassion] — Brossard, 1703
Pitoyable [adj.: "pitiful"] Worthy of pity, arousing pity by words that are tendre and passionate. — Richelet, 1681
— Naturally inclined to feel pity: "A soul that is pitoyable toward the poor." This meaning is outdated. ... It also means to arouse pity. — DAF, 1762
Pitoyablement [adv.: "pitifully"] In a pitiful manner, wretched, puny. — Richelet, 1681
Pointer, pointé (to dot, dotted)
Pointe [n., fem.: "a point"] The pricking and sharp end of something. ... Is said about wine and means a certain piquant and agreeable flavor: "This wine lacks pointe." ... "A sauce that has no pointe" is one that is not spicy enough. — DAF, 1694
Point [n., masc.: "a dot"] In music serves to make the preceding note half again as long as normal [in the sense of "half again as long as a quarter note," and so forth]. ... Points are also placed below [sic] certain musical notes to show that they should be detached. — Trévoux, 1771
Pointer, pointé/ pointée [inf.:" to prick"; past participle: "pricked"] To prick [piquer] with something that is pointed [pointé]. — Richelet, 1681
— To jab something with a sword point. — DAF, 1694
— Pointé, pointée is said in music about a note followed by a pointe [dot]. The dotted note is worth half again its normal value. —DAF, 1762
— By means of a dot, to make a series of naturally equal notes alternately long and short, for example a succession of eighth notes. In order to pointer a note, you add a dot after the first, an extra flag to the second, a dot to the third, a flag to the fourth, and so on. In this manner the same value [i.e., a quarter note] that they formerly possessed is maintained for the pairs; but this value is distributed unequally over the two eighth notes, so that the first or long note has three-quarters of the value, and the second or short note has the remaining quarter. In order to pointer them in performance, you play them unequally in these same proportions, even when they are noted equally. In Italian music all eighth notes are always equal, unless they are shown pointé. But in French music we play eighth notes equally only in four-beat measures; in all others we always dot the notes a little, unless croches égales is indicated. — Rousseau, 1768
Posément (soberly, sedately)
Posé, posée [adj.: "poised"] One says that a man is posé and esprit is posé, when someone is wise and prudent and never says or does anything hastily. — Furetière, 1702
— Is used solely in speaking of people and means modest, cool and collected, serious — DAF, 1762
Posément [adv.: "sedately"] Doucement, prudently, — Richelet, 1681
— See grave, lento, adagio — Brossard, 1703
— Doucement, lentement, without hurrying — DAF, 1762
— Doucement, without haste, distinct slowness, gravity — Trévoux, 1771
— Adagio is an Italian adverb that means à l'aise, posément, and it also is the way one should beat the mesure of the airs to which the word is applied. — Rousseau, 1768
Proprement (appropriately, decorously, cleanly)
Propre [adj.: "clean, proper"] Neat, appropriate — Richelet, 1681
— Is also said about something that is appropriate: "You must try on this suit to see if it is propre." ... It also said about something that is neat, appropriate, decorated: "This apartment is very propre [neat], the furniture is very propre [appropriate], the clothes are very propre [appropriately ornamented]." — Furetière, 1702
Propreté [n.: "appropriateness"] The concern for neatness, decorum or ornamentation, as far as clothing, furniture or something else is concerned. — Vaugelas, 1647, I, pp. 56-57
— Propreté is part of decorum. ... If you wish to be propre, your clothing must be appropriate to your build, your social position, your age. — Courtin, Traité de la civilité, 1670, p. 64.
— The quality of something that is propre, that one carefully keeps proprement and neatly. ... People with bon goût care more about propreté than about adornment. — Furetière, 1702
— The performance of French singing with the appropriate ornaments, which are called the agréments du chant. ... Singing or playing proprement means executing a French melody with the appropriate ornaments. This melody does not in the least depend upon the sheer strength of the sound; and, having no character of its own, it only assumes one through the expressive turns one gives it during performance. These turns [agréments du chant] are taught by singing masters. — Rousseau, 1768
Proprement [adv.: "properly"] In a manner that is agréable and propre; in an honnête and reasonable manner. — Richelet, 1681
— One says a person plays the lute proprement when one wishes to praise him for playing well, but not with the utmost perfection. — Furetière, 1702
— A great number of trills, balancements, ports de voix, slurs, martellements, passage-work and other propretés [ornaments] should only be used in airs, and even then with moderation. They render the goût [savour] effeminate, prevent accurate intonation, distort the mesure, throw the harmony off, and always leave the pupil confused. — Montéclair, 1709
— Employed in several totally different ways. It sometimes means the same thing as "precisely." ... When one says that a man speaks proprement, that he expresses himself proprement, it means that he speaks with exactness and precision, that the words he uses express exactly what he means. ... When one says that a person dances, sings, plays an instrument or works proprement, it simply means that he does not do it perfectly, but accurately, de bonne grâce, and in an agréable and appropriate way. — Trévoux, 1771