Provençal expression

i'ai mes lou noum de la vióuleto

Wisdom

Literal translation

I put the name of the violet on it

Meaning

I've given up on it for good

Explanation

The expression means having given up on something for good, having mourned it with no hope of return. Literally, i'ai mes lou noum de la vióuleto translates as I put the name of the violet on it: the violet, a modest flower traditionally linked to remembrance, quiet reflection, and sometimes mourning, serves here as an emblem laid upon something or some hope considered permanently lost, much like a flower placed on a grave to mark its closing. Naming what one gives up in this way amounts to symbolically inscribing an epitaph on it, acknowledging that nothing more can be hoped for there. The register is fairly sober and resigned, tinged with a light melancholy, used to convey a considered, accepted, and peaceable renunciation. It compares to the French en faire son deuil or to give it up once and for all.

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Other expressions on the same theme

es pèr trop la sarra que s'escapo l'anguielogrip too tightly and it slips away au bord dóu baus i'a lou debaussadouat the cliff's edge lies the drop a forço de trop courre, vous roumpès pièi lou mourrerun too hard and you'll fall flat on your face cadun pèr sa pèuevery man for himself proumiero carita coumenço pèr l'oustaucharity begins at home dins ma camiso i'a quaucun qu'ame bènthere's someone close to me whom I hold dear