Literal translation
to be swollen
Meaning
to feel heavy-hearted, sad, anxious
Explanation
The adjective gounfle first means swollen, filled, then figuratively, weighed down by emotion. The sense comes from a very physical feeling, the chest blocked, full of deep sighs needing release. To feel gounfle is to feel oppressed, sad, anxious. The shortened form, carried over into regional French, avoids the ambiguity that gonflé would create there, since that word means something else entirely, being bold. Other Provençal borrowings serve the same purpose, naming intimate feelings with the warmth this close-knit language carries.