Lemunda la Superbe

 Excerpt from the French translation of the Blue Book

A few years ago Snorri (of A Wizard in a Bottle) reported in the OD&D74 forums that a French translation of the Blue Book was made at some point between 1978-1982. The translation is of the 2nd edition (Nov 1978) rulebook or later as it includes the extra monsters (Fire Beetle, etc) added starting with that print. It's basically a straight translation in terms of content, except that it lacks all illustration, including the cover, the alignment chart and the Sample Dungeon map (despite including the text for this). And there's no publishing information other than a place (Sannois) at the bottom of the last page.

One interesting twist is that "Halflings" are translated as "Gnomes", but the "Gnome" in the monster listing is unchanged, so Gnomes completely replace Halflings as a character class.

Recently another French poster, kabuki, reported that this translation was included in an imported Holmes Box Set he bought in July 1980, "folded in two in the rules book ... My father and I didn't expect a translation at all and we were very happy to find it inside ... the shop [told us] we were lucky to have this because the previous batch didn't have any translation." This may explain why the map and other illustrations were not included in the translation - it was just intended to accompany the purchase of the English-language set (which kabuki reports also had dice and the module B1). The printing location matches that of the French distributor, so they may have made this translation in order to facilitate sales and happy customers.

Here are the French translations of the monster names. Use them to throw off your players.
"A Charognard What?!?"

Bandit
Basilic
Berserk
Black Pudding
Chien Intermittents (Blink Dog)
Ours De Cauchemard (Bugbear)
Charognard Rampant (Carrion Crawler)
Chimere
Serpent-Coq (Cockatrice)
Puma Demenageur (Displacer Beast)
Djinns
Doppleganger
Dragons - Blanc, Noir, Rouge, Cuivre (White, Black, Red, Brass)
Nains (Dwarves)
Elfes
Scarabees En Feu (Fire Beetle)
Gargouille
Cubes Gelatineux
Goules
Geants (Giants) - des monts (Hill), de pierre (Stone), de glace (Frost), de feu (Fire), des nuages (Cloud), des tempetes (Storm)
Fourmi Geante (Giant Ant)
Mille Pattes Geant (Giant Centipede)
Rats Geants
Tique Geante (Giant Tick)
Gnoll
Gnome
Gobelin
Cendre Gluante (Gray Ooze)
Boue Verte (Green Slime)
Griffon
Harpies
Chien D'Enfer (Hell Hound)
Hippogriffe
Hobgobelins
Cheval (Horse)
Hydre
Kobold
Homme (Lizard Man)
Lycanthropes - Sanglier-garou (Werebear), Rat-garou (Wererat), Ours-garou (Werebear), Tigre-garou (Weretiger), Loup-garou (Werewolf)
Manticore
Meduse
Minotaure
Momie (Mummy)
Ocre Suintant / Gelee Ocre (Ochre Jelly)
Ogre
Orque
Ours Huant (Owl Bear)
Pegase
Pixie
Ver Pourpre (Purple Worm)
Rouille Monstrueuse (Rust Monster)
Ombre (Shadow)
Crieur (Shrieker)
Squelette (Skeleton)
Spectre
Araignees (Spider) - Grosse, Enorme, Geante
Stirge
Troglodytes
Troll
Licorne (Unicorn)
Vampire
Espirit (Wight)
Revenant (Wraith)
Moisissure Jaune (Yellow Mold)
Zombie

Some monsters have different translations in the Wandering Monster table:
Hobgoblins are Farfadets, Stirges are Oiseaux-Vampires, Wights are Etres, Dopplegangers are Mutants, and Blink Dogs are Chien Dresses.