farfade (farfadet?) in French, yes.
Do you mean "elf" as in mystical creatures in H.Creole? If yes, then Haitians are more likely to say louten, louten ak bab, lespri, baka, lezanj (as long as we're talking about mystical creatures)
goumandiz → greed, gluttony
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
Do you mean "elf" as in mystical creatures in H.Creole? If yes, then Haitians are more likely to say louten, louten ak bab, lespri, baka, lezanj (as long as we're talking about mystical creatures)
goumandiz → greed, gluttony
Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words
This is awesome!
ReplyDeleteHow do you translate each of these mystical creatures?
In Haiti, we talk of the loa, they are voodoo spirits. There are many of them, and most Haitians know the popular loas by name.
Deletelezanj, zanj may be a spirit which protects someone.
baka is an evil spirit
louten, a scary creature
You are most likely to hear about an evil spirit, a loa, or a lezanj than a fairy or a monster.
a fairy in Creole is "fe"
Well, this is very interesting! As a child I was fascinated with elves. I had a coloring book with cute pictures of elves. On the way to school every day, I passed a house with a hedge that had been trimmed like a slippery-slide. I always imagined if I were an elf, my name would be Datey (I loved to eat dates.) I would lead my "gang" of elves to the top of the hedge to go sliding down. I guess, to tell an elf story in H. Creole, I'd use the word zanj, and then give a physical description of the wee person wearing a green coat with matching trousers and sporting a wee cap with butterfly type antennae sticking out either side of his head. If anyone has read the children's book, Twiggy, that story has a most charming boy elf - and lovely, lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteOops, just googled it and that children's book is titled: Twig, by Elizabeth Orton Jones.
DeleteMèsi anpil. I definitely will check this out.
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