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Travailler au 4/5ème
Pilote général des Systèmes

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

Lune rousse

English translation:

Pink moon

Added to glossary by claude-andrew
Jul 11, 2012 16:38
11 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

Lune rousse

French to English Other Meteorology The Moon
I'm asked to translate the following article (as part of a much larger encyclopaedic project):

Lune rousse

On parle de lune rousse, au début du printemps, lorsque la présence de la Lune dans le ciel nocturne présage des gelées qui vont faire roussir les jeunes pousses.

En réalité les gelées ne sont pas dues à la Lune.
Mais le fait que cet astre soit visible la nuit indique que le ciel est sans nuage.
Dans ces conditions la chaleur du sol (accumulée la journée) peut monter haut dans l'atmosphère, sans obstacle.
Ce qui fait que ces nuits sont plus froides que si le ciel était couvert, ce qui peut occasionner des gelées.

Les anciens avaient remarqué la concordance entre ces deux phénomènes : présence de la Lune et jeunes plants roussis.
Mais pourtant il n'y a pas toujours de lien de cause à effet.

D'une part il peut y avoir des nuits où la Lune est visible sans qu'il y ait de gelée (s'il ne fait pas trop froid).
D'autre part lors de la nouvelle lune, l'astre de la nuit ne sera pas visible, mais le ciel pourra être dégagé et des gelées pourront se produire...

I can find no reference to an equivalent term in English. Such terms as "Red Moon", "Pink moon", "Spring moon", "April moon" exist, but are not part of any folklore like the French term. And nothing I can find in English takes into account the ancient comparison between a supposedly reddish moon and the red colour of frost damaged vegetation.
I've been gardening for 55 years, the first 20 in the UK and the rest in France. It was not until I came to France that I heard the expression "Lune rousse" (and "Les saints de glace" of course); I'm considering suggesting to the client that they omit this article, which represents less than 0.1% of the total job. But I'd welcome your views first.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 Pink moon
4 April moon
2 russet moon
References
Clear moon, frost soon

Discussion

philgoddard Jul 11, 2012:
The French Wikipedia entry for "lune rousse" says: "En anglais, la pleine lune d'avril est d'ailleurs parfois appelée pink moon." I do think it deserves an entry in your encyclopedia, but you would need to rewrite it rather than doing a straight translation, because the idea of "roussir les jeunes pousses" doesn't work in English. Dead plants don't turn pink.
kashew Jul 11, 2012:
More mooning around: http://www.spiritedenterprise.com/moonproverbs.htm
claude-andrew (asker) Jul 11, 2012:
@jml I absolutely agree with you! Anyway, I'll wait around a bit longer before contacting the client.
jmleger Jul 11, 2012:
The thing is that... this terminology is probably linked to local lore, which reflects a particular geography, climate, etc. So it may well be untranslatable. Rats!
claude-andrew (asker) Jul 11, 2012:
@jlleger Yes - I've already visited the site, full of hope, but there's nothing equivalent in the sense of the article. Thanks anyway.
jmleger Jul 11, 2012:
Farmeras almanac http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/

Proposed translations

+3
40 mins
Selected

Pink moon

This is the traditional name for the moon appearing in April. The NASA site also talks of the Rose moon.
Reference:

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/FullMoon.html

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970314a.html

Note from asker:
Thanks - yes, that does give me a peg on which to hang my article.
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard
12 mins
agree Kévin Bernier : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lune_rousse
5 hrs
disagree cc in nyc : pink moon: no connection to cloudless skies, visibility of the moon, frost or freezes; it's just the date of the April full moon: http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-dates-and-times/
9 hrs
agree Cyril B.
14 hrs
agree Rachel Fell : didn't know this, but here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46977641/ns/technology_and_scien... & even here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126416/Easter-Passo...
1 day 4 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks - a difficult one, this, being a question more of local folklore!"
9 mins

russet moon

sounds suitably poetic. Apparently it's also a shade of lipstick... Meteorologically speaking, I would guess that when the blue and green components of white light are absorbed by dust or smoke particles, you're left with red.
Note from asker:
A charming suggestion, Chris But alas not encylopaedia-suitable. Reminds me (indirectly) of a poem by Fleur Adcock - "It's going to be a splendid summer/The apple tree will be thick with russets expanding weightily in the soft air" ... Well, I have just 2 Cox's this year - I blame it all on the Lune rousse.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Wendy Streitparth : The term undoubtedly exists but depicts the colour of the moon as you say.
28 mins
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3 hrs

April moon

Dictionnaire encyclopédique d'agrométéorologie : français-anglais-espagnol : index des mots clés / S. de Parcevaux, coordonnateur ; (avec) D. Payen ... (et al.). --

Paris : CILF : INRA : MétéoFrance, c1990.

323 p.;Comprend des index.;Bibliographie : p. 315-319.;ISBN 2853192180.
Reference:

http://www.comet.ucar.edu/dstreme/archive/course/spr_99/s99w12f_sum.html

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Reference comments

6 mins
Reference:

Clear moon, frost soon

Found on a weather proverbs site (see link below):

"Clear moon, frost soon."
If the atmosphere is clear, the surface of the earth will cool rapidly as heat is radiated away at night. There is no "blanket" of clouds to keep the heat that the ground absorbed during the day from radiating back up into space. If the temperature is low enough on these clear nights and there's no wind, frost may form.

That being said, I've never heard this before and would certainly not be looking it up in an encyclopedia...
Reference:

http://www.wxdude.com/proverb.html

Note from asker:
Yes, Laurel, I found just the same expression; but as you say, it's not an encyclopaedia item.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree cc in nyc : Maybe not an encyclopedia term, but the closest to the French, IMO
1 day 12 hrs
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