Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

aune de drap

English translation:

ell

Added to glossary by Barbara Cochran, MFA
Mar 18, 2008 01:29
16 yrs ago
French term

aune de drap

French to English Art/Literary Textiles / Clothing / Fashion 18th Century Clothing
Description of high dignitaries' clothes during the 18th century, as depicted by Canaletto.

"Les plus hauts dignitaires sont en rouge ou en violet; chacun porte sur l'épaule une **aune de drap,** sorte d'étole assortie au costume.

Mille Mercis!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +4 ell
4 +3 1.188m of fabric !
4 a drape
Change log

Mar 26, 2008 00:48: Barbara Cochran, MFA Created KOG entry

Proposed translations

+4
2 hrs
French term (edited): aune
Selected

ell

Please see the following sites for complete information:

Aune http://www.sizes.com/units/aune.htm

Aune
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aune
Ell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Aune)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aune

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Note added at 15 hrs (2008-03-18 17:08:53 GMT)
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AUNE (Page 70)
AUNE. s. f. Mesure de trois pieds huit pouces de longueur. Mesurer à l'aune. vendre à l'aune. aune & demie. demy-aune. demy-aune demy-quart...
**Il se dit encore de la chose mesurée. Aune de drap**, aune de toile, de dentelle, de ruban. ...
http://portail.atilf.fr/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=aune

DRAP. s.m. (Page 565)
DRAP. s.m. Espèce d'étoffe de laine. Bon drap. Drap fin. Gros drap. Drap d'Angleterre, de Berri, d'Espagne. **Une aune de drap**. Acheter, vendre du drap. Faire du drap. Habit de drap. Tailler en plein drap.
On dit aussi, Drap d'or, drap de soie; mais quand le mot de Drap est mis seul, on entend toujours qu'il est de laine.
http://portail.atilf.fr/cgi-bin/dico1look.pl?strippedhw=drap

sash (plural sashes)
1. A decorative length of cloth worn as a broad belt **or over the shoulder, often for ceremonial or other formal occasions**.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sash


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Note added at 8 days (2008-03-26 20:02:49 GMT) Post-grading
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You're welcome, femme, and thank you :-)
Peer comment(s):

agree writeaway : the www can be a handy tool for translators :-) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Aune
2 hrs
Thank you, writeaway :-)
agree Jack Dunwell : Well, it's an education!
2 hrs
It is indeed! Thank you, fourth :-)
agree Cervin : I've come across this too in relation to ancient measurements for fabric-I cant find the ref at the moment so I will agree with you anyway-if i come across my ref (it's in a real file somewhere) I will report back. I twas something to do with silk workers
4 hrs
Thank you, Cervin :-) I'm always looking for more textile info.
agree Rachel Fell : some nice sums to do;-) http://tinyurl.com/36bt6o ; html http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40075 - tho' should it have a name as a type of garment here?
5 hrs
Thank you, Rachel :-) One could call it a sash, I suppose, but basically it's a length of (woolen) cloth over the shoulder. In this case, it's an ell in length. :-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Merci beaucoup!"
5 hrs

a drape

Toga is wrong context.
Shawl too informal.
Stole, possibly, sounds rather feminine
Robe, not accurate enough

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Note added at 5 hrs (2008-03-18 07:22:57 GMT)
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Having been educated by "ell", I only retain this here on the grounds that"drape" is more understandable today.
Something went wrong...
+3
36 mins

1.188m of fabric !

Work round it as best you can! A/c to my dict. , an "aune" is an "Ancienne mesure de longueur, valant environ 1,188m à Paris". Then there's "aunée - Quantité de tissu ayant une aune de longueur".

A yard is close at 1.0936 metres, so maybe "a yard of cloth over his shoulder" would work.

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Note added at 49 mins (2008-03-18 02:19:04 GMT)
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Since they are not Scots or Irish, you can't use "plaid" or "brath", but for the record:

Plaids
A full PLAID may be worn over left shoulder and under right arm, pulled firm to the body. The edge of the plaid should be 11" from the ground at rear of the leg with fringe hanging down below this level. The lower edge of the plaid should be horizontal and parallel with ground. The leading edge of plaid and front face of plaid is secured by plaid brooch high on the left shoulder. While very striking, a full plaid is also very hot, and wrapping and securing it properly requires quite a bit of practice, and generally cannot be done without an assistant. A more common alternative, the fly plaid, may be worn on the left shoulder, usually under the epaulette and pinned with a plaid brooch. The upper edge of brooch should not be above the top of the shoulder, with the design properly aligned. An Irishman might elect to wear a BRATH instead of a fly plaid; essentially the same SQUARE YARD OF CLOTH but folded into a rectangle, draped over the left shoulder, and pinned with a kilmainham (penannular brooch). Plaids are always in the same tartan as the kilt and preferably purchased at the same time, as there can be differences in color from one bolt of cloth to the next, even from the same mill
http://www.reptorproductions.co.uk/music_2/56019.php

A "throw", a "wrap", maybe, if you think it merits the name of an item of clothing as opposed to its length.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2008-03-18 09:28:35 GMT)
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Interestingly, while the "English ell" was 45 inches, the "Flemish ell" was 27 inches.

English ell = 45 in. Scots = 37.2 in. Flemish = 27 in.
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/history/measure.htm...

This coincides with the "clothyard" of war arrow fame:
The clothyard, or clothier's yard, was a unit of length measure from the times of Medieval England. It was an important unit in that many sources available tell us that it was the commonly accepted length of the arrow used in the British Longbow, a critically important technological and sociological weapon from around the era of the Hundred Years' War. It is fixed in popular culture, as the introductory quote demonstrates, by its use in the tale of Robin Hood, whose arrows were described to be of such length.

Robert E. Kaiser (MA) writes in the Journal of Archer-Antiquaries that the origin of the term clothyard dates to the reign of (King Edward III), who introduced THE FLEMISH WEAVER into England. These weavers, makers of fine cloths which were prized by the nobility, had THEIR OWN UNIT OF MEASURE; THEIR 'YARD' WAS 27.25 INCHES, as opposed to the standard 36 inches. This was the 'clothier's yard.'
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1471130


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Note added at 8 hrs (2008-03-18 09:32:55 GMT)
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My error! God knows how I did my conversion last night (but it was late ...). A (standard) yard is 91.44 cm. A clothyard or Flemish ell is 68.5 cm.
Peer comment(s):

agree writeaway : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Aune
5 hrs
agree Colin Rowe : I like the idea of "a yard of cloth"; it sounds sufficiently "old-fashioned", yet still perfectly comprehensible and relatively close.
9 hrs
agree Rachel Fell : didn't see this earlier
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
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