Dracula — Page 2
Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a nobleman of that country.
Ayant eu quelque temps à ma disposition lors de mon séjour à Londres, j'avais visité le British Museum, et effectué des recherches parmi les livres et les cartes de la bibliothèque concernant la Transylvanie ; il m'avait semblé qu'une certaine connaissance préalable du pays ne pourrait manquer d'avoir une certaine importance dans mes rapports avec un noble de ce pays.
I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe.
Je constate que le district qu'il a nommé se trouve à l'extrême est du pays, juste aux frontières de trois États, la Transylvanie, la Moldavie et la Bucovine, au cœur des montagnes des Carpates ; l'une des régions les plus sauvages et les moins connues d'Europe.
I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place.
Je n'ai pu trouver aucune carte ni aucun ouvrage indiquant l'emplacement exact du château Dracula, car il n'existe pas encore de cartes de ce pays comparables à nos propres cartes de l'Ordnance Survey ; mais j'ai découvert que Bistritz, la ville de poste nommée par le comte Dracula, est un endroit assez bien connu.
I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina.
Je vais consigner ici quelques-unes de mes notes, car elles pourront rafraîchir ma mémoire lorsque j'évoquerai mes voyages avec Mina.
In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North.
Dans la population de Transylvanie, on compte quatre nationalités distinctes : les Saxons au Sud, et mêlés à eux les Valaques, qui sont les descendants des Daces ; les Magyars à l'Ouest, et les Székelys à l'Est et au Nord.
I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns.
Je me rends chez ces derniers, qui prétendent descendre d'Attila et des Huns.
This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it.
Cela est peut-être vrai, car lorsque les Magyars conquirent le pays au onzième siècle, ils y trouvèrent les Huns établis.
Vocabulary
- Ayant
- Having (present participle of avoir, used in clauses)
- eu
- Had (past participle of avoir)
- quelque
- Some, a certain amount of
- temps
- Time; also weather
- à
- To, at, in (preposition with many uses)
- ma
- My (feminine singular possessive adjective)
- disposition
- Disposal, arrangement; availability for use
- lors
- At the time of, during (used with de)
- de
- Of, from (very common French preposition)
- mon
- My (masculine singular possessive adjective)
- séjour
- Stay, sojourn; period spent somewhere
- Londres
- London, the capital city of England
- j'
- I (contracted form before vowel)
- avais
- Had (imperfect tense of avoir, first person)
- visité
- Visited (past participle of visiter)
- le
- The (masculine singular definite article)
- et
- And (basic coordinating conjunction)
- effectué
- Carried out, conducted (past participle of effectuer)
- des
- Some, of the (plural indefinite article)
- recherches
- Research, investigations, searches for information
- parmi
- Among, amongst (preposition indicating inclusion)
- les
- The (plural definite article)
- livres
- Books (plural noun)
- cartes
- Maps, cards (plural noun)
- la
- The (feminine singular definite article)
- bibliothèque
- Library, place for borrowing or reading books
- concernant
- Concerning, regarding, about (preposition)
- il
- He, it (masculine third person singular pronoun)
- m'
- Me (contracted direct or indirect object pronoun)
- avait
- Had (imperfect tense of avoir, third person singular)
- semblé
- Seemed (past participle of sembler)
- qu'
- That (contracted subordinating conjunction)
- une
- A, an (feminine singular indefinite article)
- certaine
- Certain, a particular (feminine adjective)
- connaissance
- Knowledge, acquaintance, familiarity with something
- préalable
- Prior, preliminary, beforehand (adjective or noun)
- du
- Of the (contracted masculine singular article)
- pays
- Country, land, region
- ne
- Not (negative particle, used with pas etc.)
- pourrait
- Could, would be able to (conditional of pouvoir)
- manquer
- To miss, to lack, to fail
- d'
- Of, from (contracted preposition before vowel)
- avoir
- To have (infinitive of common auxiliary verb)
- importance
- Importance, significance, relevance
- dans
- In, inside, within (preposition of location/time)
- mes
- My (plural possessive adjective)
- rapports
- Relations, dealings, reports, connections with others
- avec
- With (preposition indicating accompaniment)
- un
- A, an (masculine singular indefinite article)
- noble
- Nobleman, aristocrat; of noble rank
- ce
- This, that (demonstrative pronoun or adjective)
- Je
- I (first person singular subject pronoun)
- constate
- I note, I observe, I find (constater)
- que
- That, which, than (conjunction or relative pronoun)
- district
- District, administrative or geographic subdivision
- a
- Has (third person singular of avoir)
- nommé
- Named, called (past participle of nommer)
- se
- Oneself, himself, herself (reflexive pronoun)
- trouve
- Finds, is located (third person of trouver)
- l'
- The (contracted article before vowel)
- extrême
- Extreme, utmost, far end of something
- est
- East (cardinal direction); also is (être)
- juste
- Just, right, exactly, fair
- aux
- To the, at the (plural contracted article)
- frontières
- Borders, frontiers between countries or regions
- trois
- Three (cardinal number)
- États
- States, countries, nations (plural noun)
- au
- To the, at the (masculine singular contracted article)
- cœur
- Heart; center, core of something
- montagnes
- Mountains (plural noun)
- régions
- Regions, areas, geographic zones
- plus
- More, most (comparative or superlative adverb)
- sauvages
- Wild, savage, untamed (adjective, plural)
- moins
- Less, fewer (comparative adverb)
- connues
- Known, familiar (past participle, feminine plural)
- n'
- Not (contracted negative particle)
- ai
- Have (first person singular of avoir)
- pu
- Been able to (past participle of pouvoir)
- trouver
- To find, to locate, to discover
- aucune
- No, none, not any (feminine negative adjective)
- carte
- Map, card, menu
- ni
- Nor, neither (negative conjunction)
- aucun
- No, none, not any (masculine negative adjective)
- ouvrage
- Work, book, publication, piece of writing
- indiquant
- Indicating, showing (present participle of indiquer)
- emplacement
- Location, site, exact place of something
- exact
- Exact, precise, accurate
- château
- Castle, manor house, château
- car
- Because, for (causal conjunction)
- existe
- Exists (third person singular of exister)
- pas
- Not (negative particle used with ne)
- encore
- Still, yet, again, even (adverb)
- comparables
- Comparable, similar in quality or nature
- nos
- Our (plural possessive adjective)
- propres
- Own, proper, clean (adjective, plural)
- mais
- But (coordinating conjunction showing contrast)
- découvert
- Discovered (past participle of découvrir)
- ville
- City, town
- poste
- Post, postal service; position, station
- nommée
- Named, called (past participle, feminine form)
- par
- By, through, per (preposition)
- comte
- Count, earl (aristocratic title)
- endroit
- Place, spot, location
- assez
- Enough, quite, rather (adverb of degree)
- bien
- Well, good (adverb of manner or degree)
- connu
- Known, well-known (past participle of connaître)
- vais
- Am going to (first person of aller, near future)
- consigner
- To record, to note down, to register
- ici
- Here (adverb of place)
- quelques
- A few, some (plural of quelque)
- unes
- Ones (feminine plural, used in quelques-unes)
- notes
- Notes, written observations or reminders
- elles
- They (feminine third person plural pronoun)
- pourront
- Will be able to (future tense of pouvoir)
- rafraîchir
- To refresh, to cool, to revive memory
- mémoire
- Memory, recollection; also academic dissertation
- lorsque
- When, at the time that (conjunction)
- évoquerai
- Will evoke, will bring up (future of évoquer)
- voyages
- Travels, journeys, trips
- Dans
- In, inside, within (preposition)
- population
- Population, the people living in an area
- on
- One, we, they (indefinite subject pronoun)
- compte
- Counts, numbers; account (verb or noun)
- quatre
- Four (cardinal number)
- nationalités
- Nationalities, ethnic or national groups
- distinctes
- Distinct, separate, clearly different (feminine plural)
- Sud
- South (cardinal direction)
- mêlés
- Mixed, mingled (past participle of mêler)
- eux
- Them (masculine stressed third person pronoun)
- qui
- Who, which, that (relative or interrogative pronoun)
- sont
- Are (third person plural of être)
- descendants
- Descendants, people descended from ancestors
- Ouest
- West (cardinal direction)
- Est
- East (cardinal direction)
- Nord
- North (cardinal direction)
- me
- Me, myself (first person object pronoun)
- rends
- Am going, am heading (se rendre, first person)
- chez
- To, at the home or place of someone
- ces
- These, those (plural demonstrative adjective)
- derniers
- The latter, the last (masculine plural adjective)
- prétendent
- Claim, assert, pretend (third person plural)
- descendre
- To descend, to go down, to come from
- Cela
- That, it (demonstrative pronoun referring to something)
- peut
- Can, may (third person singular of pouvoir)
- être
- To be (infinitive of fundamental auxiliary verb)
- vrai
- True, real, genuine (masculine adjective)
- conquirent
- Conquered (simple past of conquérir, third plural)
- onzième
- Eleventh (ordinal number)
- siècle
- Century, age, era of one hundred years
- ils
- They (masculine third person plural pronoun)
- y
- There, in it, to it (adverbial pronoun)
- trouvèrent
- Found (simple past of trouver, third person plural)
- établis
- Established, settled (past participle, masculine plural)
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