Hello,
volant en arrière is simply "flying backwards".
"Feuilles-d'alarme" is not a current French term at all, although it may have been in decades past. It literally means "alarm leaves". From the context it is possible to imagine what is meant.
Greetings
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 15:10:44 +0300
From: yigit.yavuz@GMAIL.COMTo: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] french terms in pale fire
Dear colleagues,
My Turkish traslation of Pale Fire will soon be published by Iletisim Publishing House in Istanbul.I need your help for two expressions in French:feuilles-d'alarme and volant en arrière.
"He claimed to have improved the glitter and rattle of the so-called feuilles-d'alarme used by grape growers and orchardmen to scare the birds."
"From far below mounted the clink and tinkle of distant masonry work, and a sudden train passed between gardens, and a heraldic butterfly volant en arrière, sable, a bend gules, traversed the stone parapet, and John Shade took a fresh card."
What explanations may be given as translator's notes?Thanks!--
Yiğit YavuzAll private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.
All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.