# Regard jaune



## Idiha

Hello there!

I was wondering how to translate "regard jaune" Here is the sentence:

"Depuis longtemps, il ne travaillait plus, les mains dans les poches, enveloppant le train d'un *regard jaune*, ayant l'air d'attendre, pour voir, sous les roues, s'il ne ramasserait pas des objets perdus. 

It's from _La bête humaine_ by Zola.

Could it mean that the person is looking dubiously at the train?


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## pieanne

"Jaundiced "? It may be a bit far-fetched, though...
Or maybe it refers to the way the eyes of the wolves shine in the night?


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## Monsieur Moose

I also wonder about this expression. 
I know a song with the phrase "...l'année beaux yeux jaunes commence." 

m. moose


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## pieanne

Do you?  What is it?


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## Idiha

I'm not sure pieanne
Maybe "Jaundiced look" sounds a bit "pathologique" 
I thinck "sourire jaune" or "rire jaune" means a sickly-ish smile, but regard jaune...


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## pieanne

I told you it might be far-fetched...
I googled "yeux jaunes", and, apart from the pathological side , they all refers to either crocodiles or felines. So, maybe "preying"?


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## catay

Perhaps, "with a feverish look," referring to the symptoms of an illness, (yellow fever.). If he is worn out, at the end of his tether....

_Fièvre jaune. _Maladie infectieuse et contagieuse due au virus amaril transmis par la piqûre d'un moustique sévissant dans les pays chauds, caractérisée par la teinte jaune de la peau et des tissus blancs.


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## Idiha

Ah "preying eyes" sounds more like it here indeed


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## Monsieur Moose

pieanne, 
I don't want to take over this thread but I was hoping  "les yeux jaunes"
in the song  "Ce pauvre type" by Amadou et Mariam , would relate to this poster's question.


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## Kyara78

"Une étude comparée de l’incipit et de l’excipit peut avoir lieu
ensuite : le regard jaune de Barbara de Brandebourg ouvrant les
premières lignes du roman et se fermant dans la phrase finale (la
thématique de la cruauté du regard étant un des motifs récurrents dans
l’œuvre de Marie Ferranti)."

Cette analyse me fait penser que le regard jaune est un regard cruel à mettre en relation avec le regard des animaux cf. Pieanne thread​


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## Idiha

You mean Kyara,a  kind of "regard malveillant"?


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## doodlebugger

I am not familiar with this expression but for me _regard jaune_ evokes a not so healthy person.
It would be the opposite of _oeil blanc_ which generally refers to someone in good health.
_Jaundiced_ would work then.


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## Idiha

Thank you pieanne, Monsieur moose, catay, Kyara78 and doodlebugger for all your suggestions
I will either put "looked tiredly" or "feverishly"


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## Kyara78

You mean Kyara,a kind of "regard malveillant"?

not "mal veillant" implies that you want to hurt someone and it's not the case for animals. And in the framework of 'la bête humaine', i suppose that the person is so poor that he has no more human feelings like compassion or pity. Just like an animal that hunt down its prey. It don't want to hurt the prey, it just want to eat and survive. 

And how translate it into english ? 

No idea. It's a stylistic device... maybe native english speaker could answer


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## pieanne

Maybe "unhealthy" covers all bases?


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## Idiha

Looking unhealthily, looking with an unhealthy gaze, in an unhealthy manner...


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## Monsieur Moose

The lyrics to the song I mentioned in this thread are
"Regardez ce pauvre type. Il est fatigué.
Regardez ce pauvre type. Il est malheureux.
Regardez ce pauvre type. Il est miserable. 
Regardez ce pauvre type. Il est fatigué."

This could maybe explain les *yeux jaunes.*

C'est drôle que personne ne sait pas vraiment.

Could this be an african expression?


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## pieanne

Gazing unhealthily at ...                ?


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## Idiha

Hmm, maybe "yeux jaunes" isn't the same as "regard jaune" :S
I know it's weird I can't seem to find an exact definition anywhere


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## pieanne

Now, why not stay closer to the original sentence?
"His yellow gaze encompassing etc" ?


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## Monsieur Moose

The color yellow is associated with cowards in american english as far as I know. A yellow bellied person is cowardly.

I am not sure I would understand a phrase like "His yellow gaze encompassing ....."

m. moose


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## Idiha

I see what you mean pieanne (and thanks for the encompassing ) but as m. moose says, "yellow gaze" doesn't seem to mean anything
yes I think that even when you just say a person is "yellow" it means that he/she is a coward
yellow could also refer to jealousy, but I think that's going off the track 
It looks like "regard jaune" isn't used anymore...


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## Monsieur Moose

The color green is usually associated with* envy/jealousy.*
              red ....                                      *anger*
              blue ...                                     *sadness*
m.moose


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## Idiha

yes as in "green with envy" but in french you say "jaune de jalousie"


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## pieanne

I thought jealousy was a green monster


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## Idiha

He might be looking at the monster and that's reflecting on his eyes


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## doodlebugger

_Jaundiced_ in the WRD refers to both the disease (_jaunisse_) and bitterness.
I therefore think it would be a rather apt translation in this case.
Unless _regard jaune_ was a colloquial expression in his time, I believe Zola used some poetic license here.
I don't know if _jaundiced look/gaze_ has the same sort of poetic license in English though.


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## pieanne

How about "a hungry look"?
(Anyway, nobody knows what "jaune" refers to, and Emile is dead...)


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## Idiha

Thank you everybody for all your help, I really appreciate it.


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## ChiMike

Ou, l'on pourrait consulter le dico: TLF: JAUNE

*2. *[En parlant d'un animé]
*a) *[D'une pers.] _Prunelles jaunes. _[_De Marsay :_] ___(...) Et d'abord, ce qui m'a le plus frappé (...) ce sont deux yeux jaunes comme ceux des tigres; un jaune d'or qui brille (...) de l'or qui aime et veut absolument venir dans votre gousset! _(BALZAC, _Fille yeux d'or, _1835, p. 351). _Les camarades l'appelaient La Gueule-d'or, à cause de sa belle barbe jaune _(ZOLA, _Assommoir, _1877, p. 473).
 
regard jaune: avide de l'or (les pièces à ramasser)...


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## Idiha

Thanks ChiMike, maybe "expectant gaze" is a sort of "hungry look" i.e., for someone searching for somthing.


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## archijacq

old fashioned term equivalent to bilious look, and now essentially meaning "peevish sour look"


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## Idiha

aha that's interesting!


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## Qcumber

It's obvious "_jaune_" in this context has nothing to do with jaundice even figuratively or any other sickness. Only the other options should be considered. Recalling expressions like "_rire jaune_", etc. was a good idea.


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## pieanne

Jaune comme l'or?


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## archijacq

jaundiced look


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## pieanne

C'est là où le serpent mord sa queue... LOL


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## catay

archijacq said:


> jaundiced look


Dans ce sens, cette expression remonte à la définition des quatres humeurs -  - le sang, le flegme, la bile, l'atrabile?


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## archijacq

In Webster's, jaundiced is just a literary way of saying "yellow", and this term adds all the possible connotations.
In my old Harrap's, there's also this expression:
"to look on the world with a jaundiced eye": 1) voir jaune 2) tout regarder d'un oeil envieux

so you could also use this last expression.  This will be my final offer...


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## catay

archijacq said:


> In Webster's, jaundiced is just a literary way of saying "yellow", and this term adds all the possible connotations


 
Here is something from Wikipedia that I think adds to the definition you've given:


*Choleric* corresponds to the fluid of yellow bile, the season of summer (dry and hot), and the element of fire. A person who is choleric is a doer and a leader. Many great charismatic, military and political figures were cholerics. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad tempered.
In folk medicine, a baby referred to as "colic" is one who cries frequently and seems to be constantly angry. This is an adaptation of "choleric," although no one now would attribute the condition to bile. *Similarly, a person described as "bilious" is mean-spirited, suspicious, and angry. This, again, is an adaptation of the old **humour theory** "choleric."*
The disease Cholera gained its name from choler (bile).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_humours

Et du Trésor:

_ANC. __Les quatre humeurs fondamentales _ou _cardinales. _Le sang, le flegme (pituite), la bile, l'atrabile étaient censés gouverner l'équilibre du corps humain, toute atteinte pathologique étant le résultat d'un déséquilibre de ces humeurs. _Les anciens avaient réduit à quatre toutes les humeurs du corps humain, toutes celles, du moins, qui influaient d'une manière notable sur la santé : c'étaient le sang, la pituite, *la bile jaune* et l'atrabile, qu'ils nommaient les _humeurs cardinales (BOUILLET 1859).

Just an idea about the etymology of this expression.....


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## Idiha

You have been a tremendous help, Thank you Archijacq (to look with a jaundiced eye is what I'll be using), catay, ChiMike, Qcumber, pieanne


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## Qcumber

Idiha said:


> yes as in "green with envy" but in french you say "jaune de jalousie"


"*Green with envy = vert de jalousie* ["jalousie" misused for "envie"]" is the standard French expression.

*Yellow = jaune* is also associated with cowardice of treachery in French. This dates back to the Middle-Ages when a treacherous lord's gate was painted yellow. Also Christians condemned by the Inquisition wore something yellow, etc.


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## KirstyWeston

I know this is a very old thread now, but for anyone else (like me) coming across this expression, I think 'jaundiced look' could work. It implies not only sickly looking, but, more especially, world-weary. Having read through this post, I think I'll use 'jaundiced' in translating the following (description of Orson Welles):
"[son] regard a la fois amusé et désabusé, un regard jaune d'étranger".


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## Yulan

Hello KirstyWeston  

I am afraid it will not be so useful, but I agree with you ... also in Italy we colloquially use "jaune = giallo" to highlight an ill gaze, an unhealthy or aching look.

Take care!


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## Nicklondon

Yellow gaze ne me parle pas du tout; feverishly is more like frantically to my knowledge. Sorry can't help out any more .


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## Yulan

Hello Nicklondon, 

Actually I was not saying that "yellow gaze" is the expression to be used, but I was considering that a "yellowish look" gives the right idea of "unhealthy".

I mean, I simply believe that KirstyWeston's interpretation is correct.

Just have a look here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003243.htm 

"People with true *jaundice *often have a yellowish tinge to the eyes. This condition is called hypercarotenemia, or just carotenemia" 
from the above Medical Encyclopedia

Hope not to be pain!


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## KirstyWeston

Actually, what I was saying was that I think that 'jaundiced' in English carries the sense of 'world-weary' 'disenchanted'. I've translated the passage I gave above as

'expression that was at the same time amused and world-weary, the jaundiced look of a stranger.' 

(I'm not entirely happy with this though, so if anyone can come up with improvements!)


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## Yulan

Alors, je ne sais pas ....  

If you can wait a little bit more, I think I can ask a professor to get a suggestion based on the literature on Zola 

Take care


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## KirstyWeston

Yes, can wait a bit (though days not weeks!). Thanks for your help!


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## Yulan

Here I am KirstyWeston! 
 
My professor confirms you are right: that  "_*regard jaune*_" reflects Lantier's  *jaundiced view* of humanity. 
He is also suggesting you may probably translate " ... with his jaundiced eye" (though, he says he does not speak English very well, so ....;-) 
 
Really hope this can help and I am glad that, also today, I have learnt something new! 

Take care


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## KirstyWeston

Thanks! It's always difficult to translate 'regard' but 'eye' has the sense of his view of things whereas here, although this is certainly implied, we're talking about his expression (see what goes before), so I think I'll stick with 'look'.


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