heure du berger

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French

Etymology

Literally, the shepherd's hour.

Pronunciation

Noun

l’heure du berger f (uncountable)

  1. the right time for a tryst; a romantic window of opportunity
    • 1844, Honoré de Balzac, chapter XXIII, in Modeste Mignon; republished as Katherine Prescott Wormeley, transl., Modeste Mignon, 1883–97:
      Comment ! dit-il à un geste de Canalis, vous n’adoreriez pas la faculté qui permet à un homme souple de l’emporter sur l’homme de génie, qui demande une observation constante des vices, des faiblesses de nos supérieurs, et la connaissance de l’heure du berger en toute chose.
      What?” he exclaimed, at a gesture of Canalis, “don’t you admire the faculty which enables a wily man to get the better of a man of genius? it takes the closest observation of his vices, and his weaknesses, and the wit to seize the happy moment.
    • 1913, Marcel Proust, Du Côté de Chez Swann; republished as C. K. Scott Moncrieff, transl., Swann's Way, 1922:
      Oh! un instant seulement. Nous avons eu un Swann très agité, très nerveux. Vous comprenez, Odette était partie. —«Vous voulez dire qu’elle est du dernier bien avec lui, qu’elle lui a fait voir l’heure du berger», dit le docteur, expérimentant avec prudence le sens de ces expressions.
      "Just for a moment. We had a glimpse of a Swann tremendously agitated. In a state of nerves. You see, Odette had left." "You mean to say that she has gone the 'whole hog' with him; that she has 'burned her boats'?" inquired the Doctor cautiously, testing the meaning of his phrases.
    • 1962, “Les paumés du petit matin”, Jacques Brel (lyrics):
      Ils s’éveillent à l’heure du berger / Pour se lever à l’heure du thé / Et sortir à l’heure de plus rien / Les paumés du petit matin
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

  • German: Schäferstündchen (calque)
  • Swedish: herdestund (calque)

Further reading