https://www.proz.com/kudoz/french-to-english/poetry-literature/4143442-chair-terreuse.html

chair terreuse

English translation: earthen flesh; earthen womb

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase: chair terreuse
English translation:earthen flesh; earthen womb
Entered by: Carol Gullidge

17:56 Dec 9, 2010
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / description of the end of this life
French term or phrase: chair terreuse
C’est l’heure de l’arrêt brutal du souffle, du mouvement et de l’expression corporelle.
C’est, pense-t-on, la fin définitive d’un être.
C’est l’heure du cercueil, de l’hommage frissonnant qui parle aux murs, de l’enfouissement définitif dans la ******chair terreuse****** de la mère planète.
______________________________

The Foreword to a novel based on near-death experience (NDE). If it weren't for "dans la", I'd consider mortal remains/mortal flesh/... But on top of that, it's "terreuse" and not "terrestre", which I think must preclude "earthly" in favour of "earthy" - quite another thing! OK, the body gets buried in the earth/ground, but where does "chair" fit in? "Buried in the mother planet's earthy flesh" doesn't work for me! At least, not yet!
So I'd be very grateful for any help - more with explaining this than with producing a beautifully-turned phrase - although that never goes amiss, of course!
Many thanks!

PS, register is lofty/literary
This takes place in Provence
Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:24
earthy flesh
Explanation:
We are the fruit of the loins of our parents, and we emanate directly from the flesh of our mothers. Since we are talking mère planète I see nothing wrong with this sort of "return-to-the-womb" thing being expressed as the "earthy flesh of our planet-mother".

"Planet-mother" rather than "mother planet" which somehow evokes StarWars, HHGG, etc.

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Note added at 18 mins (2010-12-09 18:15:10 GMT)
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Or "earthy loins", why not?

"Earthly" - except as used Elizabethanly suggests there is a heavenly counterpart, something the devout atheists amongst us will be dead against. Personifying our Planet as our Mother is one thing, referring to mythical supernatural beings to whom we owe some debt quite another.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-12-09 20:25:09 GMT)
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I'm sure atheistic belief - on non-belief! - has nothing to do with it. Just a little gratuitous proselytizing on my part.
For my part I'm prepared to believe that NDEs happen. Not that I see it as aknocking at the doors of life after death, just a sort of euphoria as the body and mind let go of each other, as the brain and every part of the body abandon all the unconscious, involuntary work they have been doing unceasingly, untiringly. Bref, death needs to be looked at in a very different light to that of our own religious institutions. But there I go again ...
Selected response from:

Bourth (X)
Local time: 11:24
Grading comment
Sorry again - put that into the wrong box, not for the first time! Here goes again (scuse repetition, Bourth!):

thanks so much everybody! Another really hard one to grade, there being good points in more than one answer. I'm currently plumping for "earthen womb", and this is closest by a whisker. It seems earthen - very conveniently! - means both earthly/terrestrial and earthy as in made of earth/clay. I also like "loins", and somebody suggested "bosom". I think "buried in the bosom of Mother Earth" would also work well, which is getting extremely close to gallagy's suggestion...
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4to the warm embrace of Mother Earth
Yvonne Gallagher
4 +4earthy flesh
Bourth (X)
3dusty crust
cc in nyc
2into the pale (palid?) arms of mother earth
Jonathan MacKerron
Summary of reference entries provided
The Big Bob says
Jonathan MacKerron

Discussion entries: 15





  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
dusty crust


Explanation:
Sorry, no references! Just poetic license.

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Note added at 12 mins (2010-12-09 18:08:34 GMT)
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I think this is describing the earth itself, not the remains of mortals buried therein.

cc in nyc
Local time: 06:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks cc - I'm glad you clarified that last point :)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: Sounds like it co-stars with Dusty Bin.
6 hrs
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
to the warm embrace of Mother Earth


Explanation:
a suggestion, it is poetic after all so equivalence rather than literalism needed

a definitive interring/burial/surrender to the (rather than "in the")...
I see this as the "flesh" personifying the earth making it like a living thing, thus a warm embrace

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-12-09 19:14:17 GMT)
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warm embrace of Mother Earth (personified by use of capitals)gets 179, 000 ghits. "Surrendering" gives idea of following natural law, ashes to ashes etc. "Earthen clay" would be too cold and inert imo for equation with "flesh".
This site may give you further ideas about funerals et al
Funeral and Grief Poems:

www.eulogyspeech.net/funeral-poems/ - Cached

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-12-09 19:15:20 GMT)
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agree with Bourth about planet implying inter-galactic trips!

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 10:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 32
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks gallagy2 - lovely and poetic. And, as you say, the warm bit can be amended if need be. I like your idea of "being surrendered"


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Good!
10 mins
  -> thank you Phil for agree and esp. comment

agree  Alison Sabedoria (X): Up to Carol to know if the embrace would be "warm" or "cold. =)
21 mins
  -> thank you, yes, I put "warm" to pair with (living) flesh but up to Carol

agree  SJLD: loamy (or even muddy) embrace? I think you gotta get the soil image in there.
2 hrs
  -> `thank you SJLD, loamy/muddy perhaps too gardening-related term? You could be right!loamy nice and fertile for regeneration!

agree  Catherine Gilsenan
18 hrs
  -> many thanks Catherine
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
into the pale (palid?) arms of mother earth


Explanation:
following the color motif...

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 22
Notes to answerer
Asker: many thanks Jonathan! The fact that this might be referring to colour hadn't occurred to me, but was definitely worth considering. Another factor in the equation...

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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
earthy flesh


Explanation:
We are the fruit of the loins of our parents, and we emanate directly from the flesh of our mothers. Since we are talking mère planète I see nothing wrong with this sort of "return-to-the-womb" thing being expressed as the "earthy flesh of our planet-mother".

"Planet-mother" rather than "mother planet" which somehow evokes StarWars, HHGG, etc.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2010-12-09 18:15:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or "earthy loins", why not?

"Earthly" - except as used Elizabethanly suggests there is a heavenly counterpart, something the devout atheists amongst us will be dead against. Personifying our Planet as our Mother is one thing, referring to mythical supernatural beings to whom we owe some debt quite another.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-12-09 20:25:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm sure atheistic belief - on non-belief! - has nothing to do with it. Just a little gratuitous proselytizing on my part.
For my part I'm prepared to believe that NDEs happen. Not that I see it as aknocking at the doors of life after death, just a sort of euphoria as the body and mind let go of each other, as the brain and every part of the body abandon all the unconscious, involuntary work they have been doing unceasingly, untiringly. Bref, death needs to be looked at in a very different light to that of our own religious institutions. But there I go again ...

Bourth (X)
Local time: 11:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 110
Grading comment
Sorry again - put that into the wrong box, not for the first time! Here goes again (scuse repetition, Bourth!):

thanks so much everybody! Another really hard one to grade, there being good points in more than one answer. I'm currently plumping for "earthen womb", and this is closest by a whisker. It seems earthen - very conveniently! - means both earthly/terrestrial and earthy as in made of earth/clay. I also like "loins", and somebody suggested "bosom". I think "buried in the bosom of Mother Earth" would also work well, which is getting extremely close to gallagy's suggestion...
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks Bourth - a novel point of view that I shall have to digest! I hadn't thought of "planet-mother". Not sure regarding atheism (haven't read far enough), but these people are convinced that they have experienced life after death, in that during their NDEs they had a glimpse of the after-life before being brought back to earth

Asker: thanks so much everybody! Another really hard one to grade, there being good points in more than one answer. I'm currently plumping for "earthen womb", and this is closest by a whisker. It seems earthen - very conveniently! - means both earthly/terrestrial and earthy as in made of earth/clay.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Verginia Ophof
23 mins

agree  Alison Sabedoria (X)
24 mins

agree  Jonathan MacKerron: love the word "loins", particularly in association with "fruits of"
57 mins

agree  B D Finch
6 hrs
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Reference comments


57 mins
Reference: The Big Bob says

Reference information:
TERREUX, EUSE [teRø, øz] adj.


- 1. (1265). Qui appartient à la terre, qui est de la nature de la terre (I., 2.). Matière, substance terreuse. Goût terreux. Odeur terreuse.

- 2. (1412). Mêlé, souillé de terre* (I., 2.). Métal, sable terreux. Mains, chaussures terreuses. - Sale. Salade terreuse, mal lavée.

Fig., fam. (vx). Avoir le cul terreux, se disait d'une fille à marier héritière d'une grande fortune foncière, mais de basse naissance. - Mod. (fam.). Un cul-terreux : un paysan. - Bouseux, glaiseux.

- 3. (1690). Qui est d'une couleur (grisâtre, jaunâtre ou brunâtre) dépourvue d'éclat et de fraîcheur. L'uniformité terreuse du ciel (- Horizon, cit. 3). - Couleurs terreuses (- Gris, cit. 19, Delacroix). - Spécialt. Physionomies terreuses et verdâtres (- Enlaidir, cit. 5). Figures terreuses (- Ronger, cit. 6). Visage terreux. - Blafard. Un Barbaresque au teint terreux. - aussi Brun.


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Note added at 1 hr (2010-12-09 18:58:24 GMT)
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synonyms:
TERREUX, EUSE [teRø, øz] adj.
- Sale.
- Bouseux, glaiseux.
- Blafard.
- aussi Brun.

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 22
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