Nostradamus Quotes

The Prophecies of Nostradamus: Quote of the Week

Au temps du dueil que selin Monarque,
Guerroyera le jeune Aemathien,
Gaule bransler, perecliter la barque,
Tenter Phossens au Ponant entretien.

Variations in rendered French

Authors works consulted for variations in French: (a) John Hogue. (b) Henry C. Roberts. (c) Mario Reading. (page, 97.) (d) Edgar Leoni. (e) Jean-Charles de Fontbrune (page, 370.) French rendered the same except, (a)(c)(d)(e) have 'felin' instead of selin. (a) has, 'ieune'. (d) has, 'pericliter.' (d)(e) have, 'deuil'.

Meanings of the French words deemed appropriate

Temps= times. Dueil= Grief, sorrow, heaviness; mourning, wailing, moaning, lamentation; also, mourning weeds, or attire, clothes. Guerroyera =Will war against, will make war, will fight, or contend against; will make war upon. Bransler = Totter; shake, swing; reel, stagger; waver; tremble, quake. Perecliter, from, Latin. Periclitari=Jeopardise. Given the French ending Periclit-er= (to put) in jeopardy, to jeopardise. Barque =A bark, little ship, big boat. In general respects, no different from English barges used to transport goods along canals. Nostradamus always uses it to signify the Catholic Church, it comes from the Egyptian Pharaohs habit of being drawn along the Nile in their barges, which they also pretended was one of the main forms of transport of the Sun god. Tenter =To tempt; to prove, try, sound essay, taste, attempt; also, to suggest, provoke, move (to evil.) Phossens = the French port of Marseille, was originally founded circa 600 BC as the Greek colony of Massalia and populated by settlers from Phocaea (modern Foça, Turkey). Ponant= the West. Entretien= Entertainment, maintenance, means, nourishment; also, complement, complementing, or entertaining of one another with courteous speeches. Ieune = Young; youthful; tender; lusty. Aemathien= Macedonian.

Now the question we must ponder first, is whether the monarch in question is, felin, as feline, or selin? The problem is, 1. feline, in English, means, of or belonging to the cat family. In Latin, feles or felis-s= cat. felin in French is male, and signifies either a certain weight, or a sort of woollen wadding. Thus, we can only side with the idea, that the selin, I see in the original, and Henry. C. Roberts agrees is correct.

Thus, we might translate

In the time of Mourning the selin Monarch
Will make war on the young AEmathien (Macedonian?):
France to shake, the Bark (barque) in jeopardy,
To try Marseille, and the West maintained.

Mario Reading has a very curious translation of this verse, rendering Aemathien as a 'god of blood' and the last line as, 'the Phocenes will try to talk to the westerners,' baffles me.]

Further Reading and resources on Nostradamus

For more details on the books considered by these authors, and others, see Nostradamus references.

For further insight into the French words, treated, or deemed unnecessary, consult the Secret Vault Dictionary on words used by Nostradamus.

Variations in rendered French

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