Enchantée(132)

Glossary of French Terms


Aidez-moi—Help me

Absolument parfait—Absolutely perfect Adieu/Adieux (pl)—Farewell, goodbye Affair d’honneur—Affair of honor Allez/Allons-y—Let’s go

Alors—Well, then

Ancien régime—Ancient regime, the time before the French Revolution Après vous—After you Arrétez—Stop Attendez—Wait

Bien—Good

Bonne chance—Good luck

Bonjour—Hello

Bravo/brava—Good; word of praise, often for performers (Italian; masculine/feminine) ?a, alors—My goodness!

Cache-cache—Literally, “hide-hide”; the game of hide and seek Calme-toi—Calm down

?a depend—It depends ?a suffit—That’s enough ?a va—Literally, “It goes”; used to ask how things are going C’est parfait—It’s perfect

C’est rien—It’s nothing C’est vrai—That’s true

Chapeau/chapeaux (pl)—Hat

Chateau—Palace Chat méchant!—Naughty cat!

Comme ?a—Like this/that Comprenez?—Do you understand?

Désolé/Désolée—Sorry (masculine/feminine) D’accord—Okay Dépechez-vous—Hurry up Dis-moi—Tell me

Dieu/Mon Dieu—God/My God

éconte-moi—Listen to me

Enchanté/Enchantée—Enchanted, often used when meeting others for the first time (masculine/feminine) Encore/Encore une fois—One more time Entrez—Enter

Fantastique—Fantastic

Formidable—Wonderful

Galerie des Glaces—Hall of Mirrors Grace à Dieu—Thanks be to God Hélas—Alas Immédiatement—Immediately Incroyable—Unbelievable, incredible Je t’embrasse—I embrace you

La belle veuve—The beautiful widow La chimère—Chimera; monster Le dernier cri—Literally, “the last shout”; the latest thing Le loup—The wolf

Le Roi Soleil—The Sun King

Les jeux sonts faits—The bets are placed Ma belle—My beauty

Madame/Mesdames (pl)—Madam

Mademoiselle/Mesdemoiselles (pl)—Miss, misses Ma fille/mes filles (pl)—My girl or my daughter/my girls or daughters Mais c’est merveilleuse—But that’s marvelous Ma?tre—Master Ma soeur—My sister

Merci—Thank you

Merde—Shit

Mon ami/mon amie/mes amis (pl)—My friend (masculine/feminine) Mon ange—My angel

Mon chere/ma chère—My dear (masculine/feminine) Mon coeur—My heart, my beloved Mon Dieu—My God

Mon ètoile—My star Monsieur/Messieurs (pl)—Mister or Sir Monstres—Monsters

Mon trèsor—My treasure Nécessaire—Literally, “a necessary”; a makeup box Ne t’inquitè pas—Don’t worry Non—No

Oh là là—Oh no! (what your friend might say if you dropped your phone in a Parisian puddle) Oui—Yes

Paille maille—Pell mell (also known as pall mall), a forerunner to croquet Pardieu—By God

Pas de tout—Not at all

Pas encore—Not yet

Peut-être—Perhaps Pardonnez-moi—Excuse me

Quel dommage—What a pity

Quelle surprise—What a surprise Sangfroid—Literally “cold blood”; composure in the face of difficulty Sérieusement—Seriously S’il vous pla?t/ S’il te plait—Please; literally, if it pleases you (formal/informal) Tais-toi—Shut up

Tant pis—Too bad

Tempus Fugit—Time Flies (Latin) Une très petite—A very small Venez—Come

Vingt-et-un—Twenty-one

Viens ici—Come here

Voilà/Et voilà—Here it is Vous comprenez—You understand Vous voyez—You see





Historical Note


This book began as a flickering daydream: a girl sitting at an old desk, writing a love letter with a quill pen. The ink she was using was made from her tears. When I zoomed out, I saw she was wearing an eighteenth-century dress, and when I zoomed out even further, I realized she was sitting in a room with walls filigreed in gold. Was she at the palace of Versailles? It certainly seemed that way. That girl eventually became Camille, and when I wrote this book, I wanted to make sure that the world of 1789 Paris and Versailles was as alive in it as it was to me that day.

Though Enchantée is a work of fantasy, it includes historical events and people. Sometimes the historical record tells us exactly what happened: Jean-Sylvain Bailly did climb up on a door that had been pulled off its hinges to speak to the National Assembly in an indoor tennis court. The Marquis de Lafayette did attend salons, but I’ve found no record of him ever talking about hot-air balloons, though other people, such as Benjamin Franklin, had a lot to say about them. Whenever I’ve invented lines for historical figures like Lafayette, I’ve tried to stay true to what we do know of them from the historical record, but in the end, it’s fiction.

Here’s a bit more about the real people, places, and events that figure in this book.

Louis XVI: Born in 1754, Louis was the last king to rule France before the French Revolution. Governing France wasn’t his favorite occupation, though; he preferred hunting or assembling and reassembling locks. On July 14, 1789, the day the Bastille fortress fell, Louis wrote one word in his diary to describe the day’s events: Nothing.