Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Mar 19, 2017 19:15
7 yrs ago
3 viewers *
French term
coussinet
French to English
Tech/Engineering
Archaeology
mirror assembly
Hello!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. Catalog entries.
CONTEXTS:
44016. Mirror handle. - Wood & ivory. Sa forme est celle d'une colonnette d'une seule pièce, peinte en rouge, avec chapiteau à volutes rondes. Pour toute ornementation, quatre boutons d'ivoire plantés deux à deux dans le coeur de chaque volute, plus deux fleurettes de la même matière plantées sous les ***coussinets*** et les cinq filets incrustés du collier.
44025. Mirror. -- Silver and wood. Manche en forme de colonnette GLYPH [placeholder for symbol] sans ornement (fig. 2): chapiteau court et ramassé; la poignée à quatre côtes ou nervures donnant en section un losange. Le manche est en deux pièces. Assemblage à coins; mais ici, les coins ou ***coussinets*** sont formés par les tenons de la poignée engagée dans la mortaise du chapiteau et fendue de manière à pouvoir mordre la tige en métal. Fig 2 is on page 12: https://books.google.com/books?id=qhs2AQAAMAAJ&printsec=fron...
44041. Mirror handle. - Ivory. [Pl. XII] [...] L'ouverture destinée à recevoir la tige du disque est largement creusée en entonnoir. L'assemblage devait donc se faire au tamponnage avec deux forts ***coussinets*** de bois.
44073. Miroir fragmentaire, consistant en un disque accompagné de la monture métallique du manche. - Bronze. [Pl. XV] Aucun trou de cheville ou de rivet dans la tige, qui probablement s'enfonçait entre deux ***coussinets*** dans le manche du bois ou d'une autre matière.
QUERY: cushion, padding, wadding, soft wedge are my guesses as bearing makes no sense to me at all here. Could it be something like this:https://www.amazon.fr/coussinet-charnière-lave-linge-chargem...
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. Catalog entries.
CONTEXTS:
44016. Mirror handle. - Wood & ivory. Sa forme est celle d'une colonnette d'une seule pièce, peinte en rouge, avec chapiteau à volutes rondes. Pour toute ornementation, quatre boutons d'ivoire plantés deux à deux dans le coeur de chaque volute, plus deux fleurettes de la même matière plantées sous les ***coussinets*** et les cinq filets incrustés du collier.
44025. Mirror. -- Silver and wood. Manche en forme de colonnette GLYPH [placeholder for symbol] sans ornement (fig. 2): chapiteau court et ramassé; la poignée à quatre côtes ou nervures donnant en section un losange. Le manche est en deux pièces. Assemblage à coins; mais ici, les coins ou ***coussinets*** sont formés par les tenons de la poignée engagée dans la mortaise du chapiteau et fendue de manière à pouvoir mordre la tige en métal. Fig 2 is on page 12: https://books.google.com/books?id=qhs2AQAAMAAJ&printsec=fron...
44041. Mirror handle. - Ivory. [Pl. XII] [...] L'ouverture destinée à recevoir la tige du disque est largement creusée en entonnoir. L'assemblage devait donc se faire au tamponnage avec deux forts ***coussinets*** de bois.
44073. Miroir fragmentaire, consistant en un disque accompagné de la monture métallique du manche. - Bronze. [Pl. XV] Aucun trou de cheville ou de rivet dans la tige, qui probablement s'enfonçait entre deux ***coussinets*** dans le manche du bois ou d'une autre matière.
QUERY: cushion, padding, wadding, soft wedge are my guesses as bearing makes no sense to me at all here. Could it be something like this:https://www.amazon.fr/coussinet-charnière-lave-linge-chargem...
Proposed translations
(English)
4 | coussinet | Charles Davis |
3 +1 | volute cushion | Frances Scott |
Change log
Mar 19, 2017 22:53: philgoddard changed "Language pair" from "French to English" to "English to French"
Mar 19, 2017 23:49: Tony M changed "Language pair" from "English to French" to "French to English"
Proposed translations
1 day 23 hrs
Selected
coussinet
To translate this as "coussinet" seems, on one level, like a cop-out, but from another perspective I think it's a prudent solution to an intractable problem, since it's very difficult to tell exactly what the author means by the term. However, I do think there's a strong chance that his use of it is inspired by, or based on, one of its established architectural meanings, which is:
"Partie renflée dans un chapiteau ionique, formant le milieu de la bande qui, des deux côtés de la colonne, s'enroule en volute."
http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/coussinet
With this meaning the French term is also used in English, though according to the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture it refers in English to the volutes as well as the bands between:
"Cushion of the Ionic capital, including their two volutes and their connecting bands, like a rolled mattress"
https://books.google.es/books?id=4Lu6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206#v=one...
And according to Joseph Gwilt in 1826:
"The word Coussinet is also used for the ornament in the Ionic Capital between the abacus and the echinus or quarter round, which serves to form the volute. It is thus named from its representing a cushion or pillow pressed by the weight over it and bound with the strap or girdle"
Rudiments of architecture, practical and theoretical, with plates
https://books.google.es/books?id=kbcaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA193&lpg=P...
Well, possibly our author's use of the word was based on the resemblance between the top of the handle, into which the mirror was inserted, and the capital at the top of a column (he does use the words "colonnette" and "chapiteau"). In the wordreference-com discussion, although the pictures are very tiny there do seem to be elements somewhat like Ionic volutes.
So really I agree with Frances S about the base meaning that probably lies behind this term. However, given that the author is adapting it to a different context, I think it would be better to use "coussinet", which has this architectural meaning in English but is also open to wider interpretation to fit the specific context. It is quite likely that the author is coining a term to denote an element that has no existing name in English (I certainly can't find one).
"Partie renflée dans un chapiteau ionique, formant le milieu de la bande qui, des deux côtés de la colonne, s'enroule en volute."
http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/coussinet
With this meaning the French term is also used in English, though according to the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture it refers in English to the volutes as well as the bands between:
"Cushion of the Ionic capital, including their two volutes and their connecting bands, like a rolled mattress"
https://books.google.es/books?id=4Lu6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206#v=one...
And according to Joseph Gwilt in 1826:
"The word Coussinet is also used for the ornament in the Ionic Capital between the abacus and the echinus or quarter round, which serves to form the volute. It is thus named from its representing a cushion or pillow pressed by the weight over it and bound with the strap or girdle"
Rudiments of architecture, practical and theoretical, with plates
https://books.google.es/books?id=kbcaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA193&lpg=P...
Well, possibly our author's use of the word was based on the resemblance between the top of the handle, into which the mirror was inserted, and the capital at the top of a column (he does use the words "colonnette" and "chapiteau"). In the wordreference-com discussion, although the pictures are very tiny there do seem to be elements somewhat like Ionic volutes.
So really I agree with Frances S about the base meaning that probably lies behind this term. However, given that the author is adapting it to a different context, I think it would be better to use "coussinet", which has this architectural meaning in English but is also open to wider interpretation to fit the specific context. It is quite likely that the author is coining a term to denote an element that has no existing name in English (I certainly can't find one).
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Extremely thorough and helpful. Thank you so very much!"
+1
1 hr
volute cushion
In architectural terms, according to Oxford-Duden 334/24 the 'coussinet' is the middle section between scrolled ends, translated as the volute cushion because of its plumpness. My guess is that it is cushion like in appearance rather than actually being soft or padded.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: A "coussinet" can be a number of things depending on the context. This one is made of wood and is in the assembly of a mirror handle to wedge/hold things in place.
25 mins
|
agree |
Charles Davis
: I agree that this is probably what inspired the author's use of the term for this element of a mirror handle, whatever it is.
1 day 21 hrs
|
Discussion
44025. Mirror. No plate but indication of the shape of the mirror handle by the glyph, which by some stretch of the imagination could be volutes but the scrolls are extremely elongated and not very rolled.
44041. Mirror handle. No volutes on plate and no glyph comparison.
44073. ***probablement*** = an assumption.
I think you, Charles Davis, have the best solution -- just translate it as cushions or volute cushions.
https://books.google.es/books?id=4Lu6BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA206#v=one...