Thread: French Hones

Which one has the stamp?

Originally Posted by Piet

Which one has the stamp?

Sorry Piet the top one is the "La Lune" with stamp EXTRA FINE...

Originally Posted by doorsch

Doorsch,

it says

"des couteaux et outils
ne pas user d'huile et de gr" I would guess that gr is graisse or gras.

"Ne pas user d'huile" sounds wrong to me... maybe it was the correct expression but dropped out of use or maybe it was printed in a non-native French speaking are. In modern French, it should be "ne pas utiliser d'huile" or "ne pas employer d'huile". I will check in some old books I have to see if "ne pas user d'huile" was correct at some point between the 18th and the middle of the 20th century.

The word under the logo could very well be "Marke", in fact by the position of R in the center under the logo there can only be 2 letters missing. I can't think of any 5 letters French word ending in "RKE" right now. Don't forget that some regions on the east of France also spoke German. I have a set of old hand planes from Alsace, some years they were stamped in German, some years they were stamped in French. It could equally have come from Trier or Saarland depending on the age of the stone.

Originally Posted by MichaelP

..."Ne pas user d'huile" sounds wrong to me...

It is simple french as far as I know, as in 'user de' to use or employ something.





Regards,
Neil

It's indeed a little dropped out, but still understandable by every french people

Like in your example Neil "nourriffoient" & "difoit-il" is now "nourrissaient" & "disait-il". Your exemple is from the late 1700 isn't it ?

I think that "ne pas user" was in use till the 1950, then perhaps less. It's not shocking anyway.

YOu are right, Thaeris - first is from 1731, second from 1789.

Regards,
Neil

Yeah it is correct French but I haven't seen/heard it used in my lifetime outside of idiomatic expressions... ce n'est plus vraiment usité

French can be so much fun

Sèche is post-1740

"Prononc. et Orth.: [sεk], fém. [sε ʃ]. Ac. 1694, 1718: sec, seche; dep. 1740: sec, sèche."

Originally Posted by Thaeris

Like in your example Neil "nourriffoient" & "difoit-il" is now "nourrissaient" & "disait-il". Your exemple is from the late 1700 isn't it ?

I don't agree with you about the f's and s's. In ancient writings the f's and s's look quite similar but are different. Just look at the way the f is written in the word folie.

I used the "f" because the exact form of the antic "s" in the middle of words is no longer available.

On the other hand, you can see that the "s" placed at the end of words is of normal form.



I don't know however if there were a difference of pronunciation, still it is an interesting clue to help with the datation of vintage french documents.