Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

mièvrerie

English translation:

artifice

Added to glossary by angela3thomas
Jun 18, 2017 21:45
6 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

mièvrerie

French to English Art/Literary Archaeology ancient art
Hi again!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. Catalog entry.
CONTEXT: 44089. Pièce de chapiteau de manche de miroir. - Or, argent, quartz et pâtes d'incrustation. Elle représente une double tête d'Hâthor à oreilles de vache. [....] TECHNIQUE. Ici, l'épaisseur de l'or est d'un fort demi-millimètre; d'où sa rigidité et son poids. Les deux faces (moins les oreilles) ont été fondues séparément; elles ont été ensuite soudées partie par partie: les lignes de jonction, quoique d'une extrême finesse, sont très apparentes, principalement à la réunion des deux faces. La délicatesse du modelé a été parachevée par un travail de ciselure exempt de ****mièvrerie***, l'effet recherché étant principalement dans la pureté du poli. Les yeux n'offrent rien de particulier au point de vue de la technique. Le mastic employé réclamerait une analyse; il est blanc, d'un grain extrêmement fin et blanchit les doigts comme de la craie. L'oxydation gris ardoise qui le recouvre par place témoigne que le disque du miroir était en argent.
ATTEMPT: The delicacy of the modeling was finished with a chasing work free of affectation?/fussiness?, the effect sought after being principally in the purity of the polish.
/the effect being sought after was mainly being provided by/found in just the pure polish itself?
ISSUE: I don't understand what my author is driving at.
Thanks in advance for any clarification or suggestions!
Proposed translations (English)
3 artifice
3 insipidness

Discussion

Christopher Crockett Jun 19, 2017:
@ Writeaway "contacting him would be tricky. Maybe a medium would be more useful than a ouija board"

I believe that's called "any port in a Storm"
writeaway Jun 19, 2017:
@Christopher and Angela I didn't pay attention to the dates. Only to "my author". Yes, contacting him would be tricky. Maybe a medium would be more useful than a ouija board.
Christopher Crockett Jun 19, 2017:
@ Writeaway He died shortly after visiting Howard Carter's recently uncovered tomb of Tut --clearly succumbing to the Curse.

As such, even a ouija board might not suffice.

We're on our own, here, trying to fathom the depths of his cotton candy characterization of the style of this thing.
angela3thomas (asker) Jun 19, 2017:
artifice implies trickery, deceit to me anyway, it might work here, but am not so sure. Thank you for suggesting it mrrafe, its an interesting take
angela3thomas (asker) Jun 19, 2017:
ouija-board would be needed Georges Aaron Bénédite (10 August 1857 – 26 March 1926)
writeaway Jun 18, 2017:
Have you contacted your author? Perhaps that's the best place to start.

Proposed translations

2 hrs
Selected

artifice

Barring any author's guidance (see http://www.bible-knowledge.com/ouija-board ), I think artifice best captures the meaning because artifice connotes artistic work but in the slightly negative sense of an embellishment that is self conscious or overwrought (to borrow another term from tinsmithing).

For clarity I might change polish to shine or gloss or brightness, and drop the "after" from "sought after" because sought is equally idiomatic.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Christopher Crockett : I have to agree with Angela's objection to "artifice" as being *too* negative in its connotation to fit here. I am certainly NOT an expert in this field, only expressing an opinion about the *connotation* which the word now has in common parlance.
14 hrs
Although we're referring to lack of artifice - directness, simplicity. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artifice
neutral writeaway : fyi, Mr Crockett is an expert in the field
15 hrs
OK thanks
neutral B D Finch : How does that connect with "mièvrerie"?
16 hrs
Author was using it as antonym to honest simplicity. Mievrerie meets that requirement to the extent it means affectation. In artistry, affectation/indirectness is artifice. Mievrerie also = illness but think Violetta & Mimi in opera, or Victorian novels
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I think this answer was onto something. Thank you all!"
18 hrs

insipidness

... that is never insipid ...

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Note added at 7 days (2017-06-26 08:32:13 GMT) Post-grading
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" 1 Vx. Espièglerie. Un enfant d'une mièvrerie amusante (Littré). Acte de mièvrerie. ➙ Puérilité.
2 (xixe). Mod. Grâce puérile et fade, qui sent l'affectation*, la recherche. La mièvrerie d'un style. La mièvrerie du joli cœur (→ Fier-à-bras, cit. 3).
© 2016 Dictionnaires Le Robert - Le Grand Robert de la langue française"

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Note added at 7 days (2017-06-26 08:36:39 GMT) Post-grading
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Collins-Robert translates it as: sentimentality, soppiness, vapidity, colourlessness, insipidness ...
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