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pleupleuter

English translation: pipe (pee-pee-pee)

17:18 Jan 31, 2009

French to English translations [PRO]
Science - Zoology / Book of photos of birds with brief description of each.

French term or phrase: pleupleuter

Context: caption to photograph of black woodpecker (Dryacopus martius):
"Le pic noir a un chant mélodieux, il pleupleute".
The only meaning I can find so far for "pleupleuter" is "to drizzle" - not suitable to describe the sound a bird makes, I think. What about "babbles"? Has anyone heard the black woodpecker making this noise?
Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Jenny Forbes KudoZ activity Questions: 97 (none open) (2 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 162 United Kingdom
Local time: 12:03

English translation:pipe (pee-pee-pee)

Explanation:
Other woodpeckers "pleupleutent" too. I've seen a few refs to the "pee-pee-pee" sound. Lots of sites have audios you can listen to. I doubt that you'l find a specific word for it in English. The French have a thing about special names for bird calls.

http://www.newforestexplorersguide.co.uk/sitefolders/wildlif...

Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Green Woodpeckers can be seen quite often, but Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are more elusive, for the most part remaining out of sight in the tree tops. They do, though, sometimes draw attention to themselves with a piping pee-pee-pee call that is used year-round; an agitated, rattling, almost mistle thrush-like alarm call; and a soft, single call best written as chik. Somewhat confusingly, however, Great Spotted Woodpeckers use calls similar to the last two mentioned, albeit at higher volume.

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Note added at 39 mins (2009-01-31 17:58:41 GMT)
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Sorry, the ref above is about the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Have a listen here:

http://wildechoes.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&vi...

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Note added at 15 hrs (2009-02-01 09:05:21 GMT)
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I have green woodpeckers coming to my garden. Lovely birds :-)

Selected response from:

SJLD

Grading comment

Thank you again, SJLD. Piping sounds best to me. And thanks to all who contributed - most informative and helpful.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +4

pipe (pee-pee-pee)

SJLD

plue plue plue

Sheila Hardie

Summary of reference entries provided

A field Guide to Birds-Collins

fourth

black woodpecker calling

Rachel Fell

Sound of Green Woodpecker

Claire Chapman

Answers

4 hrs confidence:

plue plue plue

Explanation:
I know we are talking about the black woodpecker here, but I think what I have found is still relevant.

The green woodpecker is commonly known as the 'rain bird' (or 'rainbird') in English. And in French as 'l'oiseau de la pluie' or 'pleupleu'. So, I imagine the verb 'pleupleuter' derives from this term.

Rainbird, ***a name given to various birds thought to sing before rain***, such as the British green woodpecker, the Jamaican cuckoo, the Australian shrike,the Australian channel-bill and the Asian Koel. It's also applied to certain swifts, whose migration is thought to signal the coming of rain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbird

Identification
Localement appelé ***oiseau de pluie, ou encore pleupleu***, le pic vert est de la grosseur d'un geai, il a un plumage vert et jaune.
http://www.papytane.com/pivert.htm

However, the green woodpecker is also described as having a loud ringing song: 'plue plue, plue'. So, it could be linked to the French 'pluie'. Bearing in mind that this is not the species that you are talking about. But it is feasible that both birds make this same sound.

Insects are captured by a rapid outward flick of the long tongue, gummed to its tip by sticky saliva. From early in the year until summer the loud ringing ***plue, plue, plue"*** is a typical woodland call, often described as a laugh, and from which the bird gets one of its names, "Yaffle".

Folklore has associated this " song " with a threat of rain, and another name is " Rain bird," but weather has little to do with the bird's calls. Though it has been beard to "drum" upon wood, it certainly does not use this call so frequently as the spotted woodpeckers. The alarm note is the laugh emphasised and harshened.

http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Green_Woodpecker/

More about legends associated with woodpeckers:

Francesca Greenoaks tells us in 'All the Birds of the Air' that in one version of the Genesis, God, at the end of his six days' labour, instructed the birds to dig out those places where the rivers, oceans and lakes would appear. The woodpecker, who alone refused, was condemned to peck wood while crying out 'plui-plui' for rain, and ascending the tree in search of drops. This explains the German 'giess-giess' and the ***French 'plue-plue'.***

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/s128890.htm

HTH

Sheila

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Note added at 4 heures (2009-01-31 21:50:52 GMT)
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Yaffle
The old name for the Green woodpecker (one of 40 recorded vernacular names for the bird including Hewhole, Wudewale, and many regional variants such as 'yuffle', 'yoffle', 'hickle', 'eccle', 'yuckel' and 'hefful') and sometimes cited as the origin of the word 'yokel' for a country-dweller. It is usually assumed to refer to the distinctive laughing call, but 'to yaffle' also means to eat greedily, which green woodpeckers do, as anyone who's ever seen one attacking an ant hill on their lawn will testify. ***The laughing call is also meant to presage rain, hence its other nickname: the rain bird. The linking of woodpeckers with rain seems general across Europe (in French its call is rather optimistically transcribed as 'plue, plue'). The source of this association is hidden in its Latin name, Picus. In Greek mythology, Picus was turned into a woodpecker by Circe for refusing to sleep with her. In Roman mythology he became a god of prophecy and manure. So now you know: Professor Yaffle in Bagpuss was actually the avatar of an ancient rain-making and fertility cult.***

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/4248542/QI-Quite-Inter...

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Note added at 4 heures (2009-01-31 21:58:35 GMT)
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The verbs 'picasser' and 'pleupleuter' seem to be used to describe the call of just about ANY woodpecker in French.

***Pic noir - Dryocopus martius*** - [ Tradueix aquesta pàgina ]
Roché avec l'aimable autorisation de Sittelle et CEBA. ***Le Pic noir picasse, pleupleute***. Chant mélodieux composé d'une phrase ascendante d'une Pic noir ...
e-birds.org/oiseaux/pic.noir.html - 32k - Còpia en memòria - Pàgines semblants
LES OISEAUX - Le JardinOscope, toute la vie animale de nos parcs ... - [ Tradueix aquesta pàgina ]

***Pic tridactyle - Picoides tridactylus*** - [ Tradueix aquesta pàgina ]
18 jan 2009 ... Fiche d'identification : Pic tridactyle ( Picoides tridactylus ). ... haut du dos noir taché de blanc au centre (sous-espèce alpinus), ... ***Le Pic tridactyle picasse, pleupleute***. Le pic à dos blanc émet des cris rauques ...
www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/pic.tridactyle.html - 26k - Còpia en memòria - Pàgines semblants

Més resultats des de www.oiseaux.net »
Chant: ***Le Pic vert picasse, pleupleute***. Ecoutez son chant: sound6 ... Oiseau entièrement noir, y compris les pattes et le bec. ...
jardifaune.canalblog.com/archives/les_oiseaux/index.html - 144k - Còpia en memòria - Pàgines semblants

Pic vert - Picus viridis - [ Tradueix aquesta pàgina ]
5 jan 2009 ... Localement appelé oiseau de pluie, ou encore pleupleu, le pic vert est de la ... une tache rouge encadrée de noir dessine une moustache. ...
www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/pic.vert.html - 30k - Còpia en memòria - Pàgines semblants

Sheila Hardie
Spain
Local time: 13:03
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Sheila. I'll be an expert at woodpeckers, the way things are going!

17 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

pipe (pee-pee-pee)

SJLD
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thank you again, SJLD. Piping sounds best to me. And thanks to all who contributed - most informative and helpful.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, SJLD. I think "pipe" sounds good. Not too keen on pee-pee-pee although I'm sure that's the noise they make. This book is for the American market - they're so genteel.

Reference comments

18 mins

Reference: A field Guide to Birds-Collins

Reference information:
Pic Noire
A loud whistling "kleea" and a high grating "krri-krri-krri-krri". Song, usually in flight, a strident, ringing "choc-choc-choc" Drums occasionally and very loudly.
I think we have a pair that find one another NOISILY here.
These descriptions are onomatopaeic.Perhaps the same approach?

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Note added at 20 mins (2009-01-31 17:38:57 GMT)
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noir (sorry!)

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-31 18:32:11 GMT)
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This little piggy here sounds more like the raven of doom. But, as I find with learning the violin, sound changes. A lot. Perhaps sound is actually an emotion? SJLD seems like a highly informed sort. He suggests I think "a piping sound".To make a verb out of "pee-pee" seems like an absolute loser?!

fourth
France
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

English

Note to reference poster

Asker: Thank you, Fourth. So the black woodpecker goes "wee wee wee" all the way home? Oh, dear ...

5 hrs

Reference: black woodpecker calling

Reference information:
if you go to the link: "See video: 27.01.2009."
at http://looduskalender.ee/en/node/2617
it sounds quite appealing, yet a little mournful ;-)

Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 3

1 day25 mins

Reference: Sound of Green Woodpecker

Reference information:
Although the Green Woodpecker is shy and wary, it is usually its loud calls which first draw attention. It 'drums' rarely (a soft, fast roll), but often gives a noisy 'kyü-kyü-kyück' while flying. The song is a loud series of 10-18 'klü' sounds which gets slightly faster towards the end and falls slightly in pitch.[1] The female makes a thinner 'pü-pü-pü-pü-pü-pü-pü'.[3] The flight is undulating, with 3-4 wingbeats followed by a short glide when the wings are held by the body.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Woodpecker

Claire Chapman
United States
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of:

English