French: Verre/Glass & ??/Fur

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Dinosaur, Mar 7, 2015.

  1. Dinosaur Rational Skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    I was once told that the Cinderella story was derived from a French Story in which the slipper was made of fur, not glass. The implication is that there was a mistranslation.

    In investigating this tale, I tried to find a French word for fur which was similar to the French word for glass.

    I was unsuccessful. Might there be such a French word?

    My meager knowledge of French tells me that verre is the French for for glass.

    I could find no similar (to verre) French word for glass. Is there some French word for glass which is similar to a French word for fur?
     
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  3. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    The word that was (supposedly) used was vair.
    However, it's a myth.
     
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  5. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The story was originally published in Italian in an anthology of folk tales, by Giambattista Basile, a Neapolitan, in 1634 (after his death). So it's unlikely that confusion between English and French would have been a problem.
     
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  7. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    The Goog tell us that Vair is an heraldric term for squirrel fur trim. Strange...
     

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