French vocab exercise 002

I'm a bad person. I skipped French today, because it was windy and cold and I didn't fancy going all the way there just to roll my eyes while other students ask endless questions about points of grammar that aren't all that complicated. Am I conceited? Well yes. But plusque parfait isn't the most difficult of conjugations, okay? Just sayin'.

As a penance (skipping right ahead before someone beats me over the head for my insolence), I'm going to use 10 words instead of 5 today.

-abat-jour: lampshade

-abattre: to cut down, to knock down
abatis: (Québec term) land being deforested for cultivation
abattage: slaughtering, felling
abats: offal, giblets
s'abattre: to collapse

-abbaye: abbey
abbé: abbot
abbesse: abbess

-abcès: abscess
crever/ouvrir/vider l'abcès: to make a clean breast of things

-abdiquer: to abdicate, to surrender

-abdomen: abdomen
abdos: abs, stomach exercises

-abécédaire: primer, alphabet book

-abeille: bee

-aberrant: deviant, ridiculous, absurd
aberration: aberration

-abêtir: to dull the mind of
s'abêtir: to become mindless or half-witted


L'abbé regardait l'abeille qui bourdonnait doucement sur l'abat-jour. En ce moment-là, il enviait l'abeille, qui ne s'inquiétait pas de la guerre et l'abattage dans le pays. Le roi avait refusé d'abdiquer il y a trois jours, et les rébelles avaient abattu le palais en représailles. Ils ont capturé le dauphin, un petit enfant qui étudiait l'abécédaire encore, et l'a poignardé dans l'abdomen pendant que sa mère regardait. La reine s'est abêtie de l'épreuve. En ce moment même, les rébelles brûlaient le roi en effigie et l'appellait un abcès du pays. L'abbot a été écoeuré par leur prétention. C'était un aberration dans l'ordre des choses. Il s'est levé de la chaise et a écrasé l'abeille entre ses doigts.

Translation:
The abbot stared at the bee which buzzed softly on the lampshade. For a moment, he envied the bee, which was unconcerned by the war and slaughter in the country. Three days before, the king had refused to abdicate and the rebels had torn down the palace in retaliation. They captured the crown prince, a small child still learning his primer, and stabbed him in the stomach while his mother watched. The queen had gone insane from the ordeal. Even now, the rebels burned effigies of the king and called him an abscess of the country. The abbot was disgusted by their claims. It was an aberration in the natural order. He rose out the chair and crushed the bee between his fingers.

I guess I was inspired by the "A Game of Thrones" series. ^_^