le petit d'homme

English translation: child of man

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	petit d'homme
English translation:	child of man
Entered by:	Jeanne Zang

23:26 Jan 27, 2002

French to English translations [PRO]

French term or phrase: le petit d'homme

This phrase appears in an essay on education.
L'éducation est, fondamentalement, le triple processus par lequel, de façon indissociable, *le petit d'homme* devient un être humain, le membre d'une société et d'une culture à un moment et en un lieu particuliers, un sujet avec son histoire personnelle.

Jeanne Zang KudoZ activity Questions: 1609 (5 open) (45 without valid answers) (36 closed without grading) Answers: 136 United States
Local time: 12:30

child of man

Explanation:
"Ditte, Petit d'homme" was the principal character in the French version of the 1946 film by the famous Danish filmaker, Astrid Henning-Jensen who died this month. The original, in Danish was titled "Ditte, Menneskebarn", Ditte being the boy's Danish name. The French title is "Ditte, Petit d'homme", and the English title is "Ditte, Child of Man". Over the years, it has become a cult film, and "Petit d'homme" also became a very popular comic book and cartoon character in France.

Denmark - Culture - Cinema - [ Traduire cette page ]
... Henning-Jensen's Ditte Menneskebarn (1946, Ditte, Child of Man) based on ... Together
with his wife Astrid, Bjarne Henning-Jensen gave a portrayal of ...

Selected response from:

Steven Geller
Local time: 18:30

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

Mowgli

Maya Jurt

5 +2

a human child

Meri Buettner

4 +3

Man's offspring

BOB DE DENUS

5 +2

child of man

Steven Geller

4 +1

incipient man//person?

Guy Bray

4 +1

the youth (young people, young persons)

Deb Phillips (X)

the child or adolescent

Paul Stevens

human baby

Simon Charass

4 -2

Son of man

Rachel Nkere-Uwem (X)

Answers

3 mins confidence:

the child or adolescent

Explanation:
Just a suggestion - perhaps use both rather than one or the other.

HTH

Paul Stevens
Local time: 17:30
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 347

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

a human child

Explanation:
becomes a human being

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Note added at 2002-01-27 23:34:22 (GMT)
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oops, that\'s \"the human child\" (literal) since \"child\" on it\'s own would not be in quotation marks

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Note added at 2002-01-28 00:13:22 (GMT)
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problem : why suggest that a child/baby/offspring is not a human being by saying \"becomes a human being\" right afterwards ? This is why I agree with Maya regarding Kipling (but I think Mowgli is referred to as the \"manchild\" in the book

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Note added at 2002-01-28 07:58:40 (GMT)
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I see now what is meant by the \"fairy aspect\" - not sure whether this notion applies in this case...could be

Meri Buettner
France
Local time: 18:30
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 165

9 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

incipient man//person?

Explanation:
A guess. Potential man?

Guy Bray
United States
Local time: 09:30
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 819

24 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

Man's offspring

Explanation:
I think is what the author is trying to express

BOB DE DENUS
Local time: 02:30
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in pair: 417

35 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

Mowgli

Explanation:
child of man or human offspring.

"le petit d'homme" is the translation of Rudyard Kipling's hero's name, Mowgli.
Schools have been named , scouts use it.
The translation is Mowgli and if you want to translate it back, it is "child of man" or "human offspring".

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Note added at 2002-01-28 00:11:02 (GMT)
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It seems that Kipling called it \"child of man\". Seebelow and link.

\'Come soon,’ said Mother Wolf, ‘little naked son of mine; for, listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs.’

Mowgli\'s Brothers - from The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
... Rudyard Kipling. ... naked son of mine; for, listen, child of man, I loved thee more than
ever ... I will surely come,’ said Mowgli; ‘and when I come it will ...
whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/ prose/JungleBook/mowglisbrothers.html

Maya Jurt
Switzerland
Local time: 18:30
Native speaker of:

German,

French
PRO pts in pair: 412

36 mins confidence:

human baby

Explanation:
Primate’s offspring are called “baby”.

Simon Charass
Canada
Local time: 12:30
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in pair: 230

56 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

the youth (young people, young persons)

Explanation:
Well, the comment about the human child was key to finding this poem by Yeats and a reference to changelings which seems related.

The Stolen Child

WHERE dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water-rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen chetries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's morefull of weeping than you
can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances,
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's morefully of weeping than you
can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,.
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To to waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For to world's morefully of weeping than you
can understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal-chest.
For be comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
from a world more full of weeping than you.

Yeats

CHANGELINGS
Changeling babies were thought to be the children of the fairy folk. A human child left unprotected in its cot or cradle could be stolen by an elfin fairy mother, leaving her own changeling child in the crib.
Changeling babies were ugly, and often weak and sick. Fairy mothers thought that they had a better chance being brought up and suckled by the human mother. The human child would be brought up by the fairy folk, and often became a servant in the fairy household.
To protect the crib and the baby from the fairy folk, rowan and mistletoe was tied to the crib or cradle. And iron in the form of a knife was placed under the mattress of the crib. Silver or horn baby rattles with tiny bells were also supposed to protect the child.
A mother with a changeling child, was left to bring up a baby that was ugly and sick. They would gradually become more human, and they would strengthen.
But the changeling child would always be fey, and often had the second sight, passing it down to their own children, and their children's children.
According to folk tale, that is how 'second sight' became a part of humanity, by the interbreeding between human and changeling.
How many of us, I wonder, have been touched by the fairy folk.

Youth - early stage of growth or existence

Progeny - offspring, children or descendants

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Note added at 2002-01-28 00:26:18 (GMT)
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I remember \"Manchild\"

Deb Phillips (X)
PRO pts in pair: 27

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

child of man

Steven Geller
Local time: 18:30
PRO pts in pair: 1246

18 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -2

Son of man

Explanation:
Sexist perhaps, but in symbolic terms, the only real English phrase that is widely used in this sort of high register context.

Rachel Nkere-Uwem (X)
Local time: 17:30
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 40

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