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Gates


Araucaria

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What is the normal French word for the kind of gate you put across your driveway, or into a field?

My rather unsatisfactory dictionary suggests "porte" for the former, or maybe "barrière" for the latter. But I can't quite accept the doorishness of a five-bar gate, or the apparently temporary nature of a "barrière" either.

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My Colllins/Robert dictionary glossed "portail" as being "large, metallic", so I think probably the word I am after actually is barrière after all, since it is the wooden type I wished to describe - a traditional rather than a modern field gate.

This kind of thing:

Driveway Gates

And thanks Christine for the link to those atmospheric pictures.

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[quote user="Christine Animal"]

Yes, that's more of a barrière.  A portail also seems to usually be in two halves.

Hope it's a while before it becomes as atmospheric as the photos!   [:D]

 

P.S. The smaller door often at the side of a portail is called a portillon.

 

[/quote]

Regrettably that one isn't mine: it's a stock picture from a UK supplier. I shall ask to see if I can get something similar made here, and then I'll probably go and buy it from the UK supplier and bring it back on my trailer .... as I expect the local cost to be on the heavy side.

It's a pity I can't find a supplier of cattle grids - much less aesthetically intrusive, and they would do the job much better.

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Clair (and others)

You're right, too: portail seems to be fine for wooden gates.

This picture describes the gate shown as a portail:

and for anyone who's interested it's from this website.

The model in question is the Don Quichotte. Perhaps that's because you could imagine it's like a medieval knight holding a drooping lance?

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