Water Terms from 1752

EAU.

Here is a huge entry......there must be 18-20 entries in the Dictionnaire Comique, Satyrique, Critique, Burlesque, Libre et Proverbial for the French word meaning WATER.



I am not a fast enough reader of French to find out if there is an entry about a water truck in the time I have available this foggy, yet busy morning, but I do quite a few expressions listed, some of which are:

Battre l'eau. Pour dire, travailler inutilement.

One is said to be fighting water when one is not making any progress.

Faire venir l'eau au moulin. Pour dire, faire venir l'argent à la maison.

One is said to make water come to the mill when one is supporting a house financially. In English, we might say bringing home the bacon.

Porter de l'eau à la mer. C'est à dire, donner à quelqu'un des choses dont il n'a déjà que trop.

To carry water to the sea is to give something to someone who has enough of that thing already!

Not having any trouble reading these entries, all of which are coming from a dictionary printed before the United States of America was a country? Maybe you are a brilliant historical study of the French language! Or maybe later we will address why it is still easy to understand the French of pre-Revolutionary days.