The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments — Page 4
Lane's appreciation of this picture, and the wealth of illustration lavished upon it in his Notes, that render his edition the most complete commentary we possess on Muslim life and manners, religion and literature, and make it an indispensable supplement to his famous _Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_.
L'appréciation de Lane de ce tableau, et la richesse des illustrations prodiguées dans ses Notes, font de son édition le commentaire le plus complet que nous possédions sur la vie et les mœurs musulmanes, la religion et la littérature, et en font un supplément indispensable à son célèbre _Aperçu des Mœurs et Coutumes des Égyptiens Modernes_.
The poetry of Eastern life is rapidly fading away under the effacing touch of European civilisation; the characteristic society in which an Haroon-Er-Rasheed, an Aboo-Nuwas, a Káfoor, a Saladin, or a Kaït-Bey, revelled and jested and conquered, is fast becoming matter of history rather than of experience, a field for the antiquary instead of the traveller; and it is well that we can reconstruct it in the pages of the _Thousand and One Nights_, whose compiler saw it when it was still almost in its Golden Prime, and in the _Modern Egyptians_, whose author knew it when it still preserved the romantic character which has charmed and fascinated readers of every age and condition.
La poésie de la vie orientale s'efface rapidement sous le contact effaçant de la civilisation européenne ; la société caractéristique dans laquelle un Haroon-Er-Rasheed, un Aboo-Nuwas, un Káfoor, un Saladin, ou un Kaït-Bey, festoyait, plaisantait et conquérait, devient rapidement matière d'histoire plutôt que d'expérience, un domaine pour l'antiquaire plutôt que pour le voyageur ; et il est heureux que nous puissions la reconstituer dans les pages des _Mille et Une Nuits_, dont le compilateur la vit alors qu'elle était encore presque dans son Âge d'Or, et dans les _Égyptiens Modernes_, dont l'auteur la connut alors qu'elle conservait encore le caractère romanesque qui a charmé et fasciné les lecteurs de tout âge et de toute condition.
STANLEY LANE-POOLE.
STANLEY LANE-POOLE.
THE DAY OF TELL-EL-KEBEER, 1882.
LE JOUR DE TELL-EL-KEBEER, 1882.
THE EDITOR'S PREFACE.
PRÉFACE DE L'ÉDITEUR.
A new edition of this work having been required, Mr. Lane was requested to undertake the correction of the press.
Une nouvelle édition de cet ouvrage ayant été demandée, M. Lane fut prié de se charger de la correction des épreuves.
But severe literary labours allowing him no leisure for this object, he named me, as his pupil in the study of Arabic, familiar with his writings, and for many years resident with him in Cairo, to fill, in some measure, his place.
Mais de sévères travaux littéraires ne lui laissant aucun loisir pour cet objet, il me désigna, en tant que son élève dans l'étude de l'arabe, familier avec ses écrits, et résidant depuis de nombreuses années avec lui au Caire, pour remplir, dans une certaine mesure, sa place.
Vocabulary
- appréciation
- ah-pray-see-ah-syohn — Appreciation, recognition of value or quality
- ce
- suh — This, that; demonstrative adjective or pronoun
- tableau
- tah-bloh — Picture, painting, or descriptive scene
- richesse
- ree-shess — Richness, wealth, abundance of something
- illustrations
- ee-loos-trah-syohn — Pictures or drawings accompanying a text
- prodiguées
- proh-dee-gay — Lavished, generously provided or bestowed
- Notes
- noht — Notes, annotations, scholarly remarks in a text
- font
- fohn — Make, render; third person plural of 'faire'
- édition
- ay-dee-syohn — Edition, published version of a book or text
- commentaire
- koh-mahn-tair — Commentary, explanatory notes on a work
- complet
- kohm-play — Complete, thorough, comprehensive
- possédions
- poh-say-dyohn — We possessed, had, owned something
- vie
- vee — Life; existence of a person or creature
- mœurs
- mur — Customs, morals, manners of a society
- musulmanes
- moo-zool-mahn — Muslim (feminine plural); relating to Islam
- religion
- ruh-lee-zhyohn — Religion, system of faith and worship
- littérature
- lee-tay-rah-toor — Literature, body of written works
- supplément
- soo-play-mahn — Supplement, additional material to a work
- indispensable
- an-dees-pahn-sahbl — Indispensable, absolutely necessary or essential
- célèbre
- say-lebr — Famous, well-known, celebrated
- _Aperçu
- ah-pair-soo — Overview, brief survey of a topic
- Mœurs
- mur — Customs, manners, social habits of a people
- Coutumes
- koo-toom — Customs, traditional practices of a community
- Égyptiens
- ay-zheep-syahn — Egyptians; inhabitants or nationals of Egypt
- Modernes_
- moh-dairn — Modern, contemporary; belonging to recent times
- poésie
- poh-ay-zee — Poetry, literary art form using verse
- orientale
- oh-ree-ahn-tahl — Eastern, oriental; relating to the Orient
- efface
- eh-fahs — Erases, fades, disappears gradually
- rapidement
- rah-peed-mahn — Rapidly, quickly, at great speed
- sous
- soo — Under, beneath; preposition of position
- contact
- kohn-tahkt — Contact, touch, interaction between things
- effaçant
- eh-fah-sahn — Erasing, obliterating, causing to fade
- civilisation
- see-vee-lee-zah-syohn — Civilization, advanced state of human society
- européenne
- uh-roh-pay-en — European (feminine); relating to Europe
- société
- soh-see-ay-tay — Society, community, organized group of people
- caractéristique
- kah-rahk-tay-rees-teek — Characteristic, distinctive feature or trait
- laquelle
- lah-kel — Which (feminine); relative or interrogative pronoun
- festoyait
- fes-twah-yay — Feasted, banqueted, celebrated with food and drink
- plaisantait
- play-zahn-tay — Joked, jested, made humorous remarks
- conquérait
- kohn-kay-ray — Was conquering, taking territory by force
- devient
- duh-vyahn — Becomes, turns into something different
- matière
- mah-tyair — Matter, subject, material for study or work
- histoire
- ees-twahr — History, story, account of past events
- plutôt
- ploo-toh — Rather, instead, more precisely speaking
- expérience
- ex-pay-ree-ahns — Experience, knowledge gained through practice
- domaine
- doh-main — Domain, field, area of knowledge or activity
- antiquaire
- ahn-tee-kair — Antiquarian, dealer or scholar of old objects
- voyageur
- vwah-yah-zhur — Traveler, person who journeys to other places
- heureux
- uh-ruh — Happy, fortunate, glad
- puissions
- pwee-syohn — That we may be able; subjunctive of 'pouvoir'
- reconstituer
- ruh-kohn-stee-too-ay — To reconstruct, recreate, restore something past
- pages
- pahzh — Pages; sheets of a book or document
- _Mille
- meel — Thousand; as in 'One Thousand and One Nights'
- Nuits_
- nwee — Nights; plural of 'nuit'
- dont
- dohn — Whose, of which; relative pronoun
- compilateur
- kohm-pee-lah-tur — Compiler, person who assembles texts or data
- vit
- vee — Saw; third person singular past of 'voir'
- alors
- ah-lor — Then, at that time, so
- encore
- ahn-kor — Still, yet, again
- presque
- presk — Almost, nearly, not quite
- Âge
- ahzh — Age, era, period of time
- Or
- or — Gold; also used as 'golden' metaphorically
- _Égyptiens
- ay-zheep-syahn — Egyptians; title word referring to Egyptian people
- auteur
- oh-tur — Author, writer of a literary work
- connut
- koh-noo — Knew, became acquainted with; simple past of 'connaître'
- conservait
- kohn-sair-vay — Was preserving, keeping, maintaining something
- caractère
- kah-rahk-tair — Character, nature, distinctive quality of something
- romanesque
- roh-mah-nesk — Romantic, novelistic, fanciful, adventurous in character
- charmé
- shar-may — Charmed, delighted, enchanted someone
- fasciné
- fah-see-nay — Fascinated, captivated, held the interest strongly
- lecteurs
- lek-tur — Readers, persons who read texts or books
- tout
- too — All, every, whole; general indefinite adjective
- âge
- ahzh — Age, stage of life, period of time
- toute
- toot — All, every (feminine); general indefinite adjective
- condition
- kohn-dee-syohn — Condition, social status, circumstance of life
- JOUR
- zhoor — Day; unit of time from sunrise to sunset
- PRÉFACE
- pray-fahs — Preface, introductory section of a book
- ÉDITEUR
- ay-dee-tur — Publisher, editor; person who publishes books
- nouvelle
- noo-vel — New (feminine); also a short story genre
- cet
- set — This; demonstrative adjective before masculine vowel
- ouvrage
- oov-rahzh — Work, book, literary or artistic production
- ayant
- ay-yahn — Having; present participle of 'avoir'
- demandée
- duh-mahn-day — Requested, asked for (feminine past participle)
- fut
- foo — Was; simple past (passé simple) of 'être'
- prié
- pree-ay — Asked, requested, invited to do something
- charger
- shar-zhay — To take charge of, handle, be responsible for
- correction
- koh-rek-syohn — Correction, proofreading, fixing of errors
- épreuves
- ay-pruv — Proofs, galley proofs of a text before printing
- sévères
- say-vair — Severe, demanding, rigorous, strict
- travaux
- trah-voh — Works, tasks, labors, scholarly undertakings
- littéraires
- lee-tay-rair — Literary; relating to literature and writing
- laissant
- lay-sahn — Leaving, allowing, letting something remain
- aucun
- oh-kuhn — No, none, not any; negative indefinite adjective
- loisir
- lwah-zeer — Leisure, free time for personal activities
- objet
- ohb-zhay — Object, thing, purpose, aim
- désigna
- day-zee-nyah — Designated, appointed, named for a task
- tant
- tahn — So much, as much; adverb of degree
- élève
- ay-lev — Student, pupil, learner
- étude
- ay-tood — Study, scholarly investigation of a subject
- arabe
- ah-rahb — Arabic; language or adjective relating to Arabs
- familier
- fah-mee-lyay — Familiar, well-acquainted with something
- écrits
- ay-kree — Writings, written works, texts
- résidant
- ray-zee-dahn — Residing, living, dwelling in a place
- depuis
- duh-pwee — Since, for; preposition of time duration
- nombreuses
- nohm-bruhz — Numerous, many (feminine plural)
- années
- ah-nay — Years; plural of 'année'
- Caire
- kair — Cairo; capital city of Egypt
- remplir
- rahm-pleer — To fill, fulfill, carry out a role or duty
- certaine
- sair-ten — Certain, particular, some (feminine adjective)
- mesure
- muh-zoor — Measure, extent, degree; dans une certaine mesure means to some extent
- place
- plahs — Place, position, role, spot
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