Let them eat cake!
French translation: "(Ils n'ont plus de pain), qu'ils mangent de la brioche"
| 20:10 Aug 15, 2000 |
| English to French translations [Non-PRO] | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Louise Atfield | ||||||
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Answers
4 hrs
"Qu'ils mangent du gâteau." Explanation: This is from memory and I do not have a direct reference for you. The "gâteau" Marie-Antoinette was said to have been referring to was a day-old brioche of which there was apparently plenty during a time of near-famine in the French kingdom under her husband Louis XVI. There is some doubt that she actually uttered these words as she was the target of much rumor and speculation during her reign. |
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4 hrs
see below Explanation: «Ils demandent du pain? Qu'on leur donne de la brioche» |
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9 hrs
"Ils n'ont pas de pain! Qu'on leur donne de la brioche!" Explanation: Confirming LauraG' answer. That's what history remembers. Sylvie. |
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9 hrs
"(Ils n'ont plus de pain), qu'ils mangent de la brioche" Explanation: This sentence provoqued the anger of the French "populace" that certainly didn't have anything left to eat, let alone have access to "brioche"! A few quotes: " Lors de la prise de la Bastille, le peuple recherchait autant du pain que des prisonniers. La réflexion de Marie-Antoinette : "Ils n'ont plus de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche" fera revenir les manifestants le 5 octobre en criant : "nous ramènerons le boulanger, la boulangère et le petit mitron". Plus tard, les corporations furent supprimées et en 1791 l'Assemblée impose le prix du pain qui sera le pain de l'égalité: ce pain est fait de 3/4 de froment et de 1/4 de seigle. " (http://perso.club-internet.fr/tiloux/sommaire/origines/or2.h... ""S'ils n'ont pas de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche !"" (http://www.guyane-dircay.com/gecod/Entreprise/Internet_conse... "« Ils n'ont pas de pain ? Qu'ils mangent de la brioche ! »" (http://www.tahitiweb.com/f/info/e0398.html) "A reference to Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI of France. When she was told that her country's peasants were starving for lack of bread, she replied: "Qu'ils mangent la brioche" ("Let them eat cake"). She was deposed, together with her husband in the Revolution, and guillotined in Paris in 1793." (http://www.xamyn.com/Tori_Encyclopedia/b.htm) The first part of the sentence is not always quoted the same. It might have been "ils manquent de pain" or "s'ils manquent de pain". But the latter part, the one you are looking for, is the one that remained in everyone's memory... |
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21 hrs
see below Explanation: Thought I add my 2 cents, too The way I 've always heard it is: "S'ils n'ont pas de pain, donnez-leur du gâteau!". (Phrase taken from my history book.) But all the previous answers are just as good if not better. Hope it helps. M.A. High School History Book |
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