How did this noun from Horace's
Odes
(I, 34) Nunc est bibendum (it's time to drink) come to characterize an obese character, we would currently say… overweight?
To discover
Find all the results of the legislative elections
Read alsoMass in Latin: Francis' decision sows trouble
“
Nunc est bibendum (Now we must drink)
Nunc tellus pulsanda (Now the earth must be struck)
Pede libero (With a free foot)
Nunc, sodales, erat tempus (Now, friends, it was time)
Ornare puluinar deorum (D 'adorn the cushions of the gods)
Dapibus Saliaribus (Des mets worthy of the Salians)
'.
Originally, the Universal Exhibition of Lyon
Here is the astonishing story of this Michelin man: "Bibendum
appears for the first time on posters.
Its genesis dates back to the Universal Exhibition in Lyon in 1894. The Michelins had installed two piles of bicycle tires to mark the entrance to their stand.
Seeing this arrangement, Édouard Michelin would have confided to his brother: “Look, with two arms, that would make a good man!”
Some time later, an advertising designer who came to offer his services to the company presented the image of a project refused for a German brewery.
A heavy bodied drinker was represented seated there, brandishing a mug of beer and exclaiming: “Nunc est Bibendum”.
This composition reminds the Michelins of their slogan: “The Michelin tire drinks up the obstacle”.
He was ordered to transform the Bavarian into a man with a body of tires and the bock into a glass of champagne which splashes the table with shards of glass and nails.
The Latin expression of the poet
Horace
is preserved and translated very freely by “the tire drinks the obstacle”.
(Internet source: JDN.)
Read alsoThe “woke” culture wants to drive out Greek and Latin from American universities
Note: during the Great War, the hairy people gave the tough meat they were served the nickname of bibendum.
Excerpt from
Give Us Our Daily Latin
.
Find the entire book on our Figaro Store.