Discussion:
Odd French Motto: Nulle que vous
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JPD
2016-03-01 00:36:18 UTC
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I recently learned of a medieval illustrated book commissioned by Guy Le Bouteillier, an ancestor of Catherine de Baillon, a seventeenth century immigrant to New France. I need some help understanding a motto that appears repeatedly in this book.

The moto is "Nulle que vous." It is obviously in French, but my efforts to translate it leads to "nothing that you" which makes little sense. What would this moto mean? I suspect it is a heraldic motto which are occasionally truncated (I suspect to fit better on a seal). Any idea of a proper translation for this motto.

To understand the context of the motto and to learn more about the illustrated book, point your browser to http://www.mesqui.net/Articles_fortif/pdf/Guy-le-Bouteillier-et-La-Roche-Guyon.pdf.

The story of this book, Chastel de labour, with an English introduction and some black and white facsimiles of the illustrations can be downloaded at https://archive.org/details/lelivreduchastel00bruy.

The authors of these works are not really heraldists and I think to understand all the illustrations in this book it is necessary to think like a heraldist. For example, I suspect the repeated symbol of a drawbridge surrounded by towers might be Guy Le Bouteillier's crest. I suspect there are other heraldry clues in this work other than the Le Bouteillier arms found on several of the pages. Those arms are: "d'hermines à une fleur de lys de gueules."

Any insights on the motto and other symbols in this book I would welcome.

Thank you.
Peter Howarth
2016-03-01 21:46:52 UTC
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Post by JPD
I recently learned of a medieval illustrated book commissioned by Guy Le Bouteillier, an ancestor of Catherine de Baillon, a seventeenth century immigrant to New France. I need some help understanding a motto that appears repeatedly in this book.
The moto is "Nulle que vous." It is obviously in French, but my efforts to translate it leads to "nothing that you" which makes little sense. What would this moto mean? I suspect it is a heraldic motto which are occasionally truncated (I suspect to fit better on a seal). Any idea of a proper translation for this motto.
To understand the context of the motto and to learn more about the illustrated book, point your browser to http://www.mesqui.net/Articles_fortif/pdf/Guy-le-Bouteillier-et-La-Roche-Guyon.pdf.
The story of this book, Chastel de labour, with an English introduction and some black and white facsimiles of the illustrations can be downloaded at https://archive.org/details/lelivreduchastel00bruy.
The authors of these works are not really heraldists and I think to understand all the illustrations in this book it is necessary to think like a heraldist. For example, I suspect the repeated symbol of a drawbridge surrounded by towers might be Guy Le Bouteillier's crest. I suspect there are other heraldry clues in this work other than the Le Bouteillier arms found on several of the pages. Those arms are: "d'hermines à une fleur de lys de gueules."
Any insights on the motto and other symbols in this book I would welcome.
Thank you.
As no one else has answered, here's a guess. Since modern French 'ne ... que' can mean 'only' or 'nothing but' or 'no one but', perhaps mediaeval French 'nulle que vous' means 'no one but you'.

Peter Howarth
e $$iri k_i
2016-03-06 04:28:26 UTC
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Post by Peter Howarth
As no one else has answered, here's a guess. Since modern French 'ne ... que' can mean 'only' or 'nothing but' or 'no one but', perhaps mediaeval French 'nulle que vous' means 'no one but you'.
Peter Howarth
"None but you" has a better ring to it, the Latin "null" (or nullitas) can be interpreted as "none". I like "none but thee" even better, but I think vous is meant to be a more informal way of saying "you" in most romance languages...
e $$iri k_i
2016-03-06 04:33:46 UTC
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Post by e $$iri k_i
Post by Peter Howarth
As no one else has answered, here's a guess. Since modern French 'ne ... que' can mean 'only' or 'nothing but' or 'no one but', perhaps mediaeval French 'nulle que vous' means 'no one but you'.
Peter Howarth
"None but you" has a better ring to it, the Latin "null" (or nullitas) can be interpreted as "none". I like "none but thee" even better, but I think vous is meant to be a more informal way of saying "you" in most romance languages...
sorry to reply to my own post, but I think got that one backwards. Vous is more formal in french, and tu is the informal. ..
m***@le.ac.uk
2016-03-06 09:45:49 UTC
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Post by e $$iri k_i
Post by e $$iri k_i
Post by Peter Howarth
As no one else has answered, here's a guess. Since modern French 'ne ... que' can mean 'only' or 'nothing but' or 'no one but', perhaps mediaeval French 'nulle que vous' means 'no one but you'.
Peter Howarth
"None but you" has a better ring to it, the Latin "null" (or nullitas) can be interpreted as "none". I like "none but thee" even better, but I think vous is meant to be a more informal way of saying "you" in most romance languages...
sorry to reply to my own post, but I think got that one backwards. Vous is more formal in french, and tu is the informal. ..
And in English 'thou, thee', used to be the informal word (the equivalent of the French 'tu, te') and 'you' the formal one, as well as the plural form (just as with 'vous'), so 'you' remains the best translation of 'vous'.

Matt Tompkins
JPD
2016-03-16 19:09:28 UTC
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Thanks for the tips. I think "None but you" makes sense given the context of the illustrated book and Guy's hopes to attract a wife.
p***@gmail.com
2016-03-17 14:46:03 UTC
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Post by JPD
Guy's hopes to attract a wife.
One thing I did not understand was why 'nulle',
rather than 'nul'. Now I think I got the answer.

Satoru Uemura
a***@flutterbypress.com
2016-06-19 00:02:41 UTC
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It kind of says Aye Yours to me. I think it could also be expressed in the modern idiom as Nutkey2
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