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#180954 - 12/16/08 01:18 PM Re: French place names [Re: zmjezhd]
LukeJavan8 Offline
old hand

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 830
Loc: Land of Flat River
"onward, onward, swords against the foe" (I'll get it, yet)
Back in college, in glee club we sang a song about the
Burgundians. It will come eventually. I can hear the music in my head, but the words have to find a way thru all the blockage.
Germany had (or has, I guess) some very beautiful provinces, once duchies,principalities and the like, now states. Central
European History is rife with these themes which made for operas like Siegfried, etc.

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#183772 - 03/21/09 10:21 AM Re: French place names [Re: LukeJavan8]
LukeJavan8 Offline
old hand

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 830
Loc: Land of Flat River


This thread's title: French Place names.
The Platte River; Platte is French for Flat. The jokes about the
river: "mile wide and and inch deep", and "too thin to plow, too
thick to drink".

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#183779 - 03/21/09 01:47 PM Re: French place names [Re: LukeJavan8]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3387
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
How do you always manage to find these old threads? I want however to object to (if you don't mind) this: 'platte is French for flat'.
French for flat is plat . In this form : "platte" it really only exists in Dutch and Flemish. It is how we write the adjective from the adverb plat. That is why it struck me as odd when you mentioned it some time ago. What does 'platte' do in the Midwest?

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#183784 - 03/21/09 02:01 PM Re: French place names [Re: BranShea]
zmjezhd Online content
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 2270
Loc: R'lyeh
French for flat is plat.

But the feminine of the adjective is plate and rivière 'river' is feminine, no? I think an extra t got slapped on so that folks wouldn't pronounce it plate /plejt/. According to the Wikipedia article, the Oto called it 'flat river', too (link).

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#183791 - 03/21/09 03:25 PM Re: French place names [Re: zmjezhd]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3387
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
Totally convincing; nice article and pictures too. French to the bottom of it.
Ever tripped on a pallid sturgeon Javanluke? pallid sturgeon

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#183793 - 03/21/09 04:25 PM Re: French place names [Re: BranShea]
Buffalo Shrdlu Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6595
Loc: Vermont
Originally Posted By: BranShea
Ever tripped on a pallid sturgeon Javanluke? pallid sturgeon


don't know about LJ8, but I caught one of these in the Missouri just a few counties north of where the Platte empties: spoonbill!

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#183794 - 03/21/09 04:38 PM Re: French place names [Re: Buffalo Shrdlu]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3387
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
Nooh! What a creature! I always think I've seen the strangest things but there never is an end to it. close up hmm..

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#183797 - 03/21/09 05:09 PM Re: French place names [Re: BranShea]
Buffalo Shrdlu Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6595
Loc: Vermont
yup, and that's a little one (mine wasn't much bigger, only 36" long). I was hoping to have it taxidermied (I didn't dare say stuffed and mounted around here...), but as a skin fish, it's a difficult job, and quite expensive. ah well. memories.

did you see this one? big


Edited by etaoin (03/21/09 05:10 PM)
Edit Reason: added link to big paddlefish
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#183816 - 03/22/09 01:46 PM Re: French place names [Re: BranShea]
LukeJavan8 Offline
old hand

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 830
Loc: Land of Flat River
Originally Posted By: BranShea
How do you always manage to find these old threads? I want however to object to (if you don't mind) this: 'platte is French for flat'.
French for flat is plat . In this form : "platte" it really only exists in Dutch and Flemish. It is how we write the adjective from the adverb plat. That is why it struck me as odd when you mentioned it some time ago. What does 'platte' do in the Midwest?


Beats me! And I'm not familiar with Dutch nor Flemish.
But the history book used to teach the state history mentions it that way. Probably because la riviere
is feminine, making the adjective feminine: La riviere platte. (?) The flat river.

Finding old threads? Ah retirement, 'tis great.
Is there still a Count of Flanders? I know both the Netherlands,Belgium, and Luxembourg are monarchies???

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#183817 - 03/22/09 01:47 PM Re: French place names [Re: zmjezhd]
LukeJavan8 Offline
old hand

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 830
Loc: Land of Flat River
Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
French for flat is plat.

But the feminine of the adjective is plate and rivière 'river' is feminine, no? I think an extra t got slapped on so that folks wouldn't pronounce it plate /plejt/. According to the Wikipedia article, the Oto called it 'flat river', too (link).


thanks zm: I answered before reading your posting.

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