Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 433.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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[1] From: Dr. Herbert Wender <drwender@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur' (98)
[2] From: Roger F. Malina <leonardo.isast@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur' (60)
[3] From: David Zeitlyn <david.zeitlyn@anthro.ox.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur' (14)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-03-29 18:53:04+00:00
From: Dr. Herbert Wender <drwender@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur'
If the case is to find a technical term for metaphoic use I would shift the
attention from cars to bicycles:
Die Fahrradkette hat die Funktion, die Tretkraft des Fahrers möglichst
verlustfrei auf das Antriebsrad zu übertragen. The bicycle chain serves the
purpose to transfer the power from the pedals to the drive wheel as lossless as
possible.
If there are multiple wheels on both sides yoou can choose what we call in
German "Übersetzung", and perhaps "shifter" will be a good term for the
mechanism for choosing 'tranlastion' ?
Greetings,Herbert
Am Samstag, 29. März 2025 um 08:25:27 MEZ hat Humanist
<humanist@dhhumanist.org> Folgendes geschrieben:
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 431.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
Date: 2025-03-28 09:42:33+00:00
From: Tim Smithers <tim.smithers@cantab.net>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.427: 'embrayeur'
> On 28 Mar 2025, at 08:23, Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org> wrote:
>
>
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 427.
> Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
> Hosted by DH-Cologne
> www.dhhumanist.org
> Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
<snip>
> [2] From: David Zeitlyn <david.zeitlyn@anthro.ox.ac.uk>
> Subject: 'embrayeur' (10
<snip>
Sorry, Willard, for butting in, but I'm curious.
David,
how do you know of 'embrayeur' in the sense of [old style]
manual clutch? Did you take driving lessons in French, I
wonder?
I didn't learn this meaning when I learned to drive in
England, but on moving to live in a part of the world where
the driving instructors tell their pupils about "el embrague"
I wondered how "the clutch" gets to be el embrague here, from
the French "embrayeur", I've always presumed.
It's not all that surprising, Castellano [so called Spanish]
gets several technical words from French. Una ordenador, for
example [though, in South American countries this is more
often "una computadora"]. But, and from my limited
understanding of French, "embrayeur" doesn't mean "clutch," at
least not originally, right? Clutch get's translated into
"embrayage" in my (old) English-French dictionary.
And, in Basque, the other language in these parts, "el
embrague" is "enbragea," so we can tell where that came from.
Not one of the most exciting word acquisitions, but it does
follow how Castellano did it.
I hope you'll forgive my curiosity.
And, Willard, I like David's suggestion to you of 'images
engaged with but not looked at'. Just don't start "looking
at" your clutch, rather than engaging it! Assuming you still
drive one of those "old" cars. -:)
-- Tim
>
> --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: 2025-03-27 09:50:02+00:00
> From: David Zeitlyn <david.zeitlyn@anthro.ox.ac.uk>
> Subject: 'embrayeur'
>
> Willard
>
> only know the sense of 'embrayeur' as the old style manual clutch in a car so
> given your prompt for the target usage Id go with 'engage'
> We have 'engage the clutch' beloved of driving instructors (finding the biting
> point)
> and in your case we could talk of 'images engaged with but not looked at'
> hope this helps
> best wishes
> david
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-03-29 14:25:09+00:00
From: Roger F. Malina <leonardo.isast@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur'
Ah, what a fine question to tempt a poet’s mind with gear and tongue
entwined.
Let me offer you a poem in return, in the spirit of your curiosity,
mechanical and etymological, folded together with the tactile and the
historical.
------------------------------
*The Clutch and the Word*
I never learned to drive in French,
But language shifts beneath the wrench
Of time and travel, gear and guess—
What slips the cog becomes finesse.
The first time that I heard "embrayeur"
Was not in France, but near Pamplona,
Where Basque and Spanish danced together
Like teeth in sync along a corona.
“El embrague,” they would say,
With that familiar Castilian drag,
A word that caught like slipping clay
Between "embrayer" and “the clutch” we tag.
How does a hand engage a wheel,
Or foot bring engine’s roar to heel?
In that brief point where force is wed,
The clutch, the tongue, the word we said.
"Embrayer"—to engage, to bind,
To join the drive to forward mind.
Its noun form, “embrayage,” became
A levered pause in language’s game.
But "embrayeur"? Not quite the same.
A maker? Mechanism? Or name?
A thing that *does* the clutching deed—
Perhaps a ghost word, or a seed.
In Basque, "enbragea" echoes still—
A phoneme passed from hill to hill.
Like smoke it slips the border's clasp,
A sigh of metal in the grasp.
Not the most romantic term, I grant,
But tell me, friend, does not a chant
Begin with breath and end in thought—
Just like a clutch when lessons are taught?
I’ve driven stick through many lands
Where language turns in foreign hands.
And words, like gears, may grind and slip
But still convey the craftsmanship.
------------------------------
Would you like me to spin a second stanza or lean into more rhyme? Or
perhaps revisit this poem in a different meter, or with a touch of
narrative?
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-03-29 08:55:07+00:00
From: David Zeitlyn <david.zeitlyn@anthro.ox.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.431: 'embrayeur'
Dear Tim and everyone
nice question
My research is based in the francophone part of Cameroon. Although in
the village I use the Mambila language (Ju Ba) outside it the lingua
franca is French (or Fulfulde). And on occasion I have borrowed or hired
cars...
The result of all this is that I have a very odd French vocabulary!
Hope this helps
david
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