It is the salt of the French language. This back and forth between the nature of words is what Muriel Gilbert calls it, author of the book
The best candy on the tongue
(Vuibert, 2021), a
“candy on the tongue”
. This is evidenced by the number of first names that have become banal names, used on a daily basis. Let us think of the
"madeleine"
, this cake dear to Proust, which was first a first name, and very old since a certain Marie-Madeleine already existed in Roman times.
“Jacqueline”
has also crossed over to the barrier of proper names. It designates, without a capital letter,
"a bottle with a large belly, a rustic earthenware jug"
, informs the Treasury of the French language.
Le Figaro
invites you to rediscover these first names which have become everyday terms.
● Thomas
The unbelieving apostle who placed his fingers in Jesus' wounds would once again be stunned.
A
"thomas"
, passed in the common language, designates nothing other than a ... urinal.
It is
"a night vase"
, a
"night tinette"
in old popular language, specifies the Treasury of the French language.
In military slang,
"thomas"
is a
"tub where soldiers urinated"
.
The soldiers also said
"pass the leg to Thomas"
when they were on duty in the latrines, or when they had to empty the toilet.
● Robin
Did Robin Hood know that his first name, made famous thanks to his figure of defender of the widow and the orphan, would give the word ...
"tap"
?
According to the dictionary, a
"robin"
is also a man of little, pretentious and foolish.
And in some regions, it means a sheep, a bull.
Muriel Gilbert explains that in the Middle Ages, "the orifice from which water gushed for public fountains was often adorned with a sheep's head, and we began to call this
tap
hole
-" little sheep ””.
A
"robin"
is also a man of the robe, a magistrate or a lawyer.
● Guillaume
We owe him the essential quotes, informs Jean-Loup Chiflet in
Oxymore mon amour!
(Rediscovered editions, republished in 2021).
Printer in the 17th century, his last name is not known.
The word
"quotation mark"
was found as a diminutive of
"Guillaume"
.
A
"guillaume"
is also a plane, a tool used to scrape stones, as well as a wire mesh placed over a sieve, which is used to grind the powder, we read in the thesaurus.
The names of tools have also often been formed using anthroponyms.
● Jeremiah
"Stop whining"
, we sometimes hear parents reproach their child who complains.
This word has very ancient origins, since it was formed after the first name of the prophet Jeremiah.
The latter is the author of the book of
Lamentations
, which recounts the misfortunes of Jerusalem.
There is also in French the expression
faire le jérémie
, which means
“to lament”
.
● Marcel
This first name, very fashionable a few decades ago, began to designate colloquially (and without capital letters) in the 1980s the famous male undershirt, also called
“tank top”
, reports Muriel Gilbert.
● Renart
Perhaps you have studied
Le roman de Renart
, a fabulous animal story written in old French versified?
Renart was a first name in the Middle Ages,
"neighbor of Renaud when it was published"
, further notes the author.
The animal was called at that time
"goupil"
.
"This goupil story was so successful that its hero's first name came to represent the entire breed of 'foxes' (with a final d since the 16th century)."