The French language has evolved a lot since its appearance.
Some words have changed meaning, others have been created or have disappeared from our language.
If today you swear with "vertuchou!"
or “saperlipopette”, you will certainly be looked at with astonishment!
But even if these words have had their day, they did exist and their origin is sometimes very surprising.
Sylvie Brunet has therefore decided to bring them back into fashion in a recently published book,
200 outdated words to bring up to date
, in which she delivers enlightening anecdotes on the history and evolution of words in the French language.
● Jarnicoton
The expletive “jarnicoton” is a modification of “jarnidieu” which means: “I deny God”.
But King Henry IV, freshly converted to Catholicism, kept swearing "jarnidieu!", which offended his confessor Father Pierre Coton.
This one would then have answered to the king, that there was no name more familiar than that of God if it is not that of Cotton.
So he suggested to her: “Just say Jarnicoton!”.
See also
Five old-fashioned and charming words (alas) that have disappeared from use
● Devil
The word "devil" originated in the 16th century.
At the time, the devil could be invoked in an oath, but only if his name was disguised.
Thus we created "devil", keeping only the first three letters of the demon.
Classified as a "very familiar word" by the dictionary of the Academy, the word "devil" marks astonishment, perplexity or admiration.
● Saperlipopette
Who could, under this rather amusing word, find the slightest reference to religion?
It is a modified version of saperlotte, in Flemish “saperloot” or in German “sapperlot”.
Here, "sapper" means "holy" or "cursed", and "lot" means "chance" or "fate".
Saperlotte then literally meant “sacred fate!”.
The creation of the word "saperlipopette" would go back to the poet Arthur Rimbaud who, in 1864, seems to have had fun imagining other creations as original as: saperlipote or saperlipouille!
● Vertuchou
Vertuchou!
That's an expletive worthy of Captain Haddock.
This word also finds its origin in religion since it means “by the virtue of God”.
Changed to “vertubieu” in the 15th century, then to “vertubleu” in the 16th century, it was then the “vert” of virtue that called the “chou” (“green like cabbage”), to finally give “vertuchou!” .
● Holy shit
This swear word once again has a religious origin.
Here, it is no longer God who is invoked directly but rather his house: the sacristy.
But the allusion, deemed still too direct, was transformed in the 19th century by changing a letter, which gave: "sapristy!".
The word later became even more unsuspected, by losing the final -e: “damn it!”.
