# Fraire Jacques: Morning Bells? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945 "2003-10-17T05:52:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/1 "2003-10-17T05:52:14Z")
In the song “Fraire Jacques”, specifically the last line, where does the word “bell” appear in the French lyrics? Also, does the correct French word for “morning” appear in the last line, too? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/2 "2003-10-17T05:55:44Z")
“Matine” means “morning bell”. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/3 "2003-10-17T06:08:40Z")
I always figured that Brother Jack was a monk, and it was his turn to ring the bells calling the other monks to morning mass. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/4 "2003-10-17T06:21:50Z")
But, la clache, la clashe, or la clushe (sp?) means bells, correct? And, doesn’t “martin” mean morning? I’m rusty, but I don’t get the last line of this little ditty on the Monk Top 40! Explique, ce vous plait! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/5 "2003-10-17T06:46:06Z")
“[_Matins_](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=matins)” specifically refers to the morning’s prayers. Those same bells ring for vespers and all other orisons. > [@](#): > > Main Entry: mat·ins > Pronunciation: 'ma-t&nz > Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction > Usage: often capitalized > Etymology: Middle English matines, from Old French, from Late Latin matutinae, from Latin, feminine plural of matutinus > Date: 14th century > 1 : the night office forming with lauds the first of the canonical hours ---
**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/6 "2003-10-17T06:52:38Z")
“Cloche” means “bell”, any kind of bell. “Matine” specifically means the bells that are rung in the morning (obviously comes from “matin”, the word for “morning”). The lyric is “sonnez les matines”, i.e. “ring the morning bells”. And by the way, it’s “frere” (sorry, didn’t mean to sound like a stereotypically snooty French guy there, as I am not snooty and only somewhat French). ---
**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/7 "2003-10-17T08:00:53Z")
It might also be noted here that the French (Latinate?) word cloche for bell, or the associated bell tower, is also where we got our English word for clock, as those same morning bells Brother John was ringing were the same ones which the first European clocks were built from in medieval Europe. Not actually a part of your question, but I’m bored, so I thought I’d annoy with some more useless trivia. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/8 "2003-10-17T13:03:43Z")
Back in the days, monks were required to pray eight times a day, in theory every three hours, outside mass. Monastery bells were rung to remind everyone that it was prayer time. Those bells were, for most people, the only form of clock they had and thus the names of the prayers came to signify the time of day. In older litterature you often read things like _aux matines…_ or _aux vêpres…_ The eight times of day were: 0:00 matines 3:00 laudes 6:00 prime 9:00 tierce 12:00 sexte 15:00 none 18:00 vêpres 21:00 complies Note that the English “noon” comes from “none” (ninth) and that in practice the time at which these bells were rung varied greatly. However, the time at which frêre Jacques was supposed to ring his bells was midnight. ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/9 "2003-10-17T22:15:57Z")
> [@](#): > > But, la clache, la clashe, or la clushe (sp?) means bells, correct? And, doesn’t “martin” mean morning? I’m rusty, but I don’t get the last line of this little ditty on the Monk Top 40! > > Explique, si vous plait! > > - Jinx le matin is the morning they have synonyms in other languages too, you know. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/10 "2003-10-18T02:39:54Z")
Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines Ding ding dong, ding ding dong. English Version: Are you sleeping, are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John? Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing Ding ding dong, ding ding dong. “Sonnez les matines” is more like a command, and might be better translated as “ring the morning bells”. I’m off to do 99 luftballoons now… ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/11 "2003-10-18T03:17:42Z")
Approximately how should I pronounce: “Sonnez les matines”? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/12 "2003-10-18T05:20:12Z")
saw nay la ma teen uh ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/13 "2003-10-18T05:21:20Z")
Is Jacques translated as John to make the song more phonetically fluid, since James is the correct English equivalent? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/14 "2003-10-18T05:22:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Manduck \* > \*\*saw nay la ma teen uh \*\* Of course I screwed that up. It should be: saw nay lay ma teen uh ---
**Author:** ![Amethyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Amethyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amethyst)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/15 "2003-10-18T15:20:22Z")
Doesn’t Jacques translate to Jake which is a variant of John? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/16 "2003-10-18T17:43:19Z")
Not according to [this site](http://french.about.com/library/travel/bl-fr-names-m.htm), or [this one](http://www.babynamenetwork.com/origin.cfm?origin=French&gender=Male&start_row=100), or [this one](http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/eng7.html). ---
**Author:** ![Amethyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@Amethyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amethyst)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fraire-jacques-morning-bells/207945/17 "2003-10-21T21:47:20Z")
Duh … of course John is Jean! What was I thinking? I guess I’ve just been watching too much F1 racing where the British announcers call Jacques Villeneuve ‘Jack’