tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7439673355144165697.post791288328846704891..comments2023-10-02T07:11:48.846-04:00Comments on Life from Ann Arbor: The Marche Du Nain Rouge 2012Crysta K. Coburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506266003657248207noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7439673355144165697.post-9851782255456087072012-03-30T17:19:06.714-04:002012-03-30T17:19:06.714-04:00Oddly enough, no: theoriginal sense of nain was &q...Oddly enough, no: theoriginal sense of <i>nain</i> was "little person", and though that sense is no longer used in medicine or formal writing, it's still found in everyday speech. (The form <i>nanisme</i> is still used by doctors, though. So I think it's basically like English, where a doctor might speak of "dwarfism" but probably not of "a dwarf", for P.C. reasons. It's also like English in that non-literal uses of <i>nain</i> are considered O.K.; for example, in astronomy, where we use "red dwarf", the French use <i>naine rouge</i>.)Ranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369980917358096502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7439673355144165697.post-78929109374912650262012-03-30T16:54:55.766-04:002012-03-30T16:54:55.766-04:00Thanks! I speculate that people shy away from &quo...Thanks! I speculate that people shy away from "dwarf" (at least online; the marche uses "dwarf") due to the modern age usage of the term "dwarf" to mean a little person, not a mythical creature. I assume "nain" is exclusively in the mythical sense?Crysta K. Coburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09506266003657248207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7439673355144165697.post-51076311107537967652012-03-30T10:30:37.317-04:002012-03-30T10:30:37.317-04:00I think that nain really means "dwarf", ...I think that <i>nain</i> really means "dwarf", not "gnome". A gnome is a <i>nain</i>, but only because a gnome is a dwarf! I think the closest translation for "gnome" is, disappointingly enough, <i>gnome</i> (masculine; pronounced like the English, except that the <g> is not silent).Ranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01369980917358096502noreply@blogger.com