French expression: Quand on parle du loup
Friday October 12, 2007
What does the idiomatic French expression quand on parle du loup mean? Learn all about it here, and then share your thoughts.
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Comments
In my native language of Tamil, we have got a more positive expression. The Tamil saying when literally translated can be phrased as “The God, whom you wished to see comes to you on His own”. The exact Tamil sentence is கும்பிடப்போன தெய்வம் குறுக்கே வந்தது.
Regards,
N.Raghavan
In Italian we say “quando parli del diavolo, spuntano le corna” (speak of the devil and his horns appear).
There is exactly the same expression in my mother tongue, but it features “the wolf” in stead of “the devi”, just like French. It is very interesting that this saying exists in so many languages.
lupus in fabula!
There’s a Renaud song called, “Elle a vu le loup.” Is there any connection between the two uses of the word wolf?
When we want to say that expression in spanish, We say: Hablando del rey de Roma….y el que se asoma.
Quand en parle du roi du Rome…….
Then that’s an expression absolutly possitive.
Quand on parle de roi de Rome…..
Speak of the Rome’s King…..and he appears.
The use of “loup” reminds me of an expression my mother used, “Entre chien et loup” meaning, I think, not quite sure, not day or night, not definable.
In Colloquial arabic (Arabian Peninsula) we have a similar Saying that says “الذيب على طاريه” or ” Ath-theeb ‘ala Tareeh” which Literally means ” the Wolf is upon mentioning its name” i.e. once you speak about or mention someone in his or her absence he or she will appear. Its usually used positively and Arabs used to describe great, brave, helpfull, and daring persons as being a wolf.
If a wolf lunges at one, one last sees its tail, so the expression implies that the wolf has already arrived and it’s too late to defend what one has said. The devil can appear instantaneously; this expression makes the same point to the rural French centuries ago. Does that conjecture make sense?
This French idiom is a puzzler. There is nothing extraordinary about a wolf’s tail? If anything, it’s snout and bared teeth are far more menacing. Hundreds of years ago in Europe, wolves were feard and were very prevalent. Understandably there was a dread of them. So to alllude to someone as un loup would have engenred very disparaging emotions – that’s hardly the case with the Devil, which modern psychology has all but done away with.
Wolves died out in England in the late medieval/early Renaissance period, whereas in France they survived and remained a real threat to people – hence the great number of werewolf stories in French folklore (the Jean Grenier case is probably the most famous to English speakers). Maybe this had something to do with it.