Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
colle de boyau
English translation:
animal glue
Added to glossary by
angela3thomas
Jul 11, 2017 23:48
6 yrs ago
French term
colle de boyau
French to English
Art/Literary
Archaeology
ancient art
Hi again!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. Catalog entry.
CONTEXT: 44101. Boîte à miroir. - Bois et ivoire. - (pl. XXIII). [....] TECHNIQUE. Le corps de la boîte, en bois de sycomore, est formé d'une planchette de fond découpée à la forme voulue, et de planchettes latérales de 4 à 5 millimètres d'épaisseur assemblées avec de la colle de boyau.
Color pic: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsTHNyj6BK8/VaYHwjyjTuI/AAAAAAAAsj...
ATTEMPT: The body of the box, made of sycamore wood, is formed by a small board with a base cut to the desired shape and by small lateral boards 4-5 mm thick assembled with glue made from entrails/viscera.
Or maybe \glued together with an adhesive made from [fish] entrails.
ISSUE: Unusual phrase yet again! Plenty of hits for "fish glue". I did find colle à boyau = tyre glue, obviously inapplicable. I also found: viscera pl. of viscus = entrails (the Egyptians did make glue from fish entrails) and "catgut" which is actually "a type of cord made from intestines of many animals despite its name"!
Thank you in advance for any opinions on how to translate this in the best way possible! Perhaps I missed something?
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. Catalog entry.
CONTEXT: 44101. Boîte à miroir. - Bois et ivoire. - (pl. XXIII). [....] TECHNIQUE. Le corps de la boîte, en bois de sycomore, est formé d'une planchette de fond découpée à la forme voulue, et de planchettes latérales de 4 à 5 millimètres d'épaisseur assemblées avec de la colle de boyau.
Color pic: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vsTHNyj6BK8/VaYHwjyjTuI/AAAAAAAAsj...
ATTEMPT: The body of the box, made of sycamore wood, is formed by a small board with a base cut to the desired shape and by small lateral boards 4-5 mm thick assembled with glue made from entrails/viscera.
Or maybe \glued together with an adhesive made from [fish] entrails.
ISSUE: Unusual phrase yet again! Plenty of hits for "fish glue". I did find colle à boyau = tyre glue, obviously inapplicable. I also found: viscera pl. of viscus = entrails (the Egyptians did make glue from fish entrails) and "catgut" which is actually "a type of cord made from intestines of many animals despite its name"!
Thank you in advance for any opinions on how to translate this in the best way possible! Perhaps I missed something?
Proposed translations
(English)
3 +3 | animal glue | Dareth Pray |
Proposed translations
+3
36 mins
Selected
animal glue
If you do a search of "animal glue" in archaeological contexts, it is a very common term, and a quick search confirms that Egyptians did use animal glue in wood working. Because we don't know what kind of guts the "boyau" may have come from (working on the assumption that this is the sense in which this word is being used), I think "animal glue" is general enough while still being a special term used when discussing historical furniture building.
I noticed that this term is not a common term even when performing a French search, probably because "colle de peau" is the more common term.
Others may disagree, but I doubt it is important what specific body parts of which specific animals were used in making the glue that glued this wood together, if the text does not discuss the technique any further.
I noticed that this term is not a common term even when performing a French search, probably because "colle de peau" is the more common term.
Others may disagree, but I doubt it is important what specific body parts of which specific animals were used in making the glue that glued this wood together, if the text does not discuss the technique any further.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you!"
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