What is the meaning of the word "dessertes" when seen on traffic signs -- for example, "sauf dessertes"? I can't find it in my dictionary, and the online French-English dictionary Word Reference translates it as "side table" which doesn't make much sense.
I would translate "desserte" as "coverage" in the context of public transport. In English it means the village or neighborhood is covered or served by the bus system. "Sauf desserte" should mean "unless service is provided". I wish I could see the original sentence. Strange, you should be able to find the word in dicos.
My Petit Larousse confirms AinP's post and says: "desserte=fait d'assurer les transports d'une localité" (N.B.: There are other meanings but this is the one related to the question.) The example given: "L'autocar assure la desserte de la plage."
Desservir, as a verb, means among other things to serve with respect to transportation.
There is one of these Sauf Dessertes" signs at the approach to Bonnieux. (Maybe this is where you saw it, Roz?) I seem to recall researching this before, and I think that it means "except for services" just like "Sauf Riverains" means "except for residents.
I think this means that through-trucks aren't supposed to go there (through the village)-- only trucks coming to provide some service to the village. "Sauf Riverains" would mean only residents are supposed to go there.
I am going to see if Kevin can help us out on this...
.... concurring with everyone.... An example from my 5 lb. Harper Collins Robert (which I love):
la desserte d'une localite' par bateau = the servicing of an area by boat; la desserte de la ville est assuree par un car = there is a bus service to the town
Yes, we saw the sign approaching a few different villages -- usually something like "Interdit sauf dessertes". I knew it meant something about a kind of transport, because in one place the sign said "sauf dessertes et cars" and I know that "car" means "bus" (long distance bus) in French. But I'm glad to have the specifics. Thanks!
"Sauf dessertes" is an example of a phrase so highly contextual that it is - rightly - mystifying for all non-French. I also noticed that French cops kept talking about "verbaliser" somebody. Doesn't mean verbalize. Means giving someone a ticket, doh! My fave sign down in Provence - Roz, this is right up Mike's alley, - is on a square in Roussillon, at the entrance of the village. It has a multilingual sign, first with the no-parking symbol and underneath it, the words in French "sur toute la place" (you know "place" means square in French). Then in English: "No parking all over the place". That sign is one of our pilgrimage points whenever we go to the Lubéron, along with the Ile sur la Sorghe market and the Sivergue ferme-auberge.
