La Ronde des Jurons -The vanishing art of French swearing

It should not surprise us that Brassens devoted a song to the swearwords of France.   Swearing has been described as “poor men’s poetry” and Brassens, of course, is the champion of the underprivileged in the face of the oppression of the institutionalized forces of State and Church,  whose social and religious taboos have been targeted by swearwords through the centuries.

I have not imposed upon myself the impossible task of finding a precise English equivalent for each French oath.  I feel that there are valid arguments which justify regarding an oath as a unique, national, cultural entity

I have, however, made an attempt to sort out these French swearwords in the translation notes that follow the script of the poem.

The letters in brackets in the French text refer you to my vocabulary notes below.

- La ronde des jurons

- The dance of the swearwords

1 Voici la ronde(a) des jurons 2 Qui chantaient clair , qui dansaient rond , 3 Quand les Gaulois 4 De bon aloi(b) 5 Du franc-parler(c) suivaient la loi , 6 Jurant par-là , jurant par-ci(d) , 7 Jurant à langue raccourci'(e) , 8 Comme des grains de chapelet 9 Les joyeux jurons défilaient(f) : (Refrain) 10 Tous les morbleus , tous les ventrebleus , 11 Les sacrebleus et les cornegidouilles 12 Ainsi , parbleu , que les jarnibleus 13 Et les palsambleus , 14 Tous les cristis, les ventres saint-gris 15 Les par ma barbe et les noms d'une pipe , 16 Ainsi , pardi , que les sapristis 17 Et les sacristis , 18 Sans oublier les jarnicotons , 19 Les scrogneugneus et les bigre' et les bougre' 20 Les saperlott's , les cré nom de nom , 21 Les peste , et pouah , diantre , fichtre et foutre, 22 Tous les Bon Dieu , 23 Tous les vertudieux , 24 Tonnerr' de Brest et saperlipopette  25 Ainsi , pardieu , que les jarnidieux 26 Et les pasquedieux. 27 Quelle pitié ! Les charretiers(g) 28 Ont un langage châtié(h) ! 29 Les harengères(i) 30 Et les mégères(j) 31 Ne parlent plus à la légère ! 32 Le vieux catéchisme poissard(k) 33 N'a guèr' plus cours chez les hussards 34 Ils ont vécu(L) , de profundis(m) 35 Les joyeux jurons de jadis

1 Here is the swearword rondo 2 Sung loud and clear, danced all round,  3 When Gauls of old 4 Of true metal 5 Followed the law of plain-speaking, 6 Swearing here, there and everywhere 7 Counting off their shortened oaths,  8 Like the beads of the rosary 9 Swearwords once poured forth merrily: (Refrain) 10 All the morbleus, all the ventrebleus, 11 The Sacrebleus and the cornegidouilles, 12 Just as, parbleu, with the jarnibleus 13 And the palsambleus, 14 All the cristis, the ventres saint-gris, 15 The par ma barbe and the noms d’une pipe, 16 Just as, pardi, with sapristis 17 And the sacristis, 18 Not forgetting les jarnicotons, 19 The scrogneugneus and the bigre' and the bougre', 20 The saperlott's, the cré nom de nom, 21 The plague, and pouh, diantre, fichtre and foutre, 22 All the Bon Dieu, 23 All the vertudieux, 24 Tonnerr' de Brest and saperlipopette, 25 Just as, pardieu, with the jarnidieux 26 And the pasquedieux. 27 What a shame! The truck drivers 28 Have now cleaned up their language! 29 All the fishwives 30 And harshest shrews 31 Don’t speak now without restraint! 32 The old obscene catechism 33 Is scarce used now by the hussars. 34 They’ve had their day, so rest in peace, 35 The merry oaths of times gone by.

Swearwords	Lines	Full meaning	Type of oath
morbleu,	10	Mort de Dieu	Swearing on the body of Christ - but blurring the vital word
ventrebleu,	10	Ventre de dieu	Swearing on the belly of Christ cut open on the cross- but blurring the vital word
cornegidouille,	11	An oath invented for the surrealist play « Ubu Roi » of 1896
sacrebleu	11	Sacré Dieu	Swearing on the sacred God - but blurring the vital word.
parbleu	12	Par Dieu	Swearing on God - but minced word.
jarnibleu	12	Je renie Dieu	Denying God-total blasphemy !  -but blurring the vital word
palsambleu	13	Par le sang de Dieu	Swearing on the blood Christ shed on the cross - but blurring the vital word
cristi,	14	Christ	Swearing on Christ’s name
ventre saint-gris	14	Ventre de dieu	Swearing on the belly of Christ – but a substitute noun
ma barbe	15	Mon Dieu	Swearing on God but substitute noun
nom d'une pipe	15	Nom de dieu	Swearing on God’s name, but substitute noun
pardi	16	Par Dieu	Swearing on God - but blurring the vital word
sapristi	16	Sacré Christ	Swearing on the sacred Christ - but blurring the vital word.
sacristi,	17	Sacré Christ	Swearing on the sacred Christ - .
jarnicoton	18	Je renie Dieu	Denying God-total blasphemy !  But substitute noun
scrogneugneu	19	Nom de Dieu	Swearing on God’s name but blurring the vital words
bigre	19	bugger	Obscenity - but minced word.
bougre	19	bugger	Obscenity
saperlotte	20	Sacred God	Swearing on God but substitute noun
Cré nom de nom	20	Sacred Name of God	Blurring the  words and substituting the vital noun
peste	21	The Plague	Swearing on the horrific plagues of medieval Europe
pouah	21	Expression of disgust as in English
diantre	21	Devil	Swearing on the Devil - but blurring the vital word.
fichtre	21	F*ck (but less strong in French)	Obscenity
foutre	21	F*ck (but less strong in French	Obscenity
Bon Dieu	22	The Good Lord	Swearing on God’s goodness
vertudieu	23	Innocent God	Swearing on God’s innocence
saperlipopette	24	Sacred God	Swearing on God but substitute noun
Tonnerre de Brest	24	Tonnerre de Dieu	Swearing on God’s thunder- but substitute noun
pardieu	25		Swearing on God
jarnidieu	25	Je nie Dieu	Denying God- total blasphemy - but blurring the vital words.
Pasquedieu	25	Par le sang de Dieu	Swearing on the blood Christ shed on the cross - but blurring the sense

GENERAL VOCABULARY NOTES

a)La ronde = a dance performed in a circle, a square dance, a folk dance .  I thought of using the word “rondo” but that is “rondeau” in French.

b) De bon aloi = honest,  respectable,  sound

c) Le franc-parler = outspokenness, speaking your mind.

d) Par-là …. par-ci = here and there, all over the place

e) Frapper à bras raccourcis= to lay into to some-one with your fists.  The French argue among themselves the significance of shortened arms.  Perhaps the most plausible explanation  is that it means: with shortened sleeves, rolled up for the fight.

f) Défiler - pass by – flash by

g) Les charretiers  =  carters

h) Châtié = polished, refined

i) Les harengères  = the fishwives- a pejorative description as in English

j) Mégère =  a cantankerous, evil tempered woman, a shrew.

k ) Poissard  = vulgar,  coarse

L) Ils ont vécu = If you say something « a vécu », you mean that it has had its day – is a thing of the past

m) De profundis is a phrase for a requiem.

SORTING OUT THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF SWEARING

As I look at the Google chart of readership of this blog, I see that Georges Brassens has followers in most countries of the world.  It is an odd thought that as they read this song they will all relate to swearwords in their own languages with their own distinctive forms.  It is one of the mysteries of the human psychology that swearing is an international phenomenon, as people feel the need to punctuate their communication with apparently redundant words of anger and revolt.

The balance of the swearwords quoted by Brassens shows that the majority of the traditional oaths in France derive from the religion of the population. They refer to the Christian God, to Jesus Christ, to the Saints and to the beliefs and rituals of the Catholic Church.  By calling on our Gods, we are conforming to normal religious practice, Christians do this in prayer.  However, to do this while swearing shows total disrespect.  All well brought-up children in Christian countries know that swearing is wrong and are frequently admonished to wash their mouths out after transgressing.  This mild, domestic reprimand is overshadowed, however, by a much more ancient and awesome authority. The bible tells us that when Moses received the commandments from God, the third in importance was the injunction that the name of God should not be taken in vain. 

It would seem that by calling on religious forces wantonly in oaths, we are tinkering with the mighty electricity of the universe by which God controls his creation.  The Book of Deuteronomy describes in horrific detail how the God of the Old Testament channels his corrective discipline in the form of curses- Chapter 28 verse 15 onwards:

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

Cursed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep……

Deu 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart"

The Church of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as delegated to tap into these powers of the almighty and harnessed them in ecclesiastical curses against the enemies of their faith. A famous example is the Ernulphus curse, used by the Roman Church in excommunications. tTis curse is quoted at some length in Lawrence Sterne’s “Tristram Shandy”.

The common people were prohibited, however, from calling on these powers and numerous women, who thought they had the gift to do so, were burnt alive as witches.  Under the same ruling, the casual references to the deity in popular swearwords were also condemned by the rulers of the Church.  They were convinced that the people’s  habit of cursing, taking in vain not only God’s name but also the beliefs and rituals of the Church impinged on the Church’s role and diminished its prestige.  Swearing was therefore strongly and sometimes cruelly suppressed under the blasphemy laws.

Under the system of the joint share of absolute power by Church and state in Europe it fell to the sovereign to mete out punishment for this offence against the Church and the sovereigns undertook this responsibility from the 13^th century until the 18^th century. Wikipedia tells that the last person hanged for blasphemy in Great Britain was Thomas Aikenhead aged 20, in Scotland in 1697. He was prosecuted for words which denied the veracity of the Old Testament and the legitimacy of Christ's miracles.

Below is a painting by Gerard Hoet, dated 1728: “The Blasphemer Stoned”

In spite of the countermeasures, swearing could not be wiped out.   An escape which people used in order to continue to break the religious taboos was to disguise the religious content by mincing words or phrases or substituting different nouns for the divine.  In French these oaths are called « blasphèmes dérivés » or « blasphèmes euphémistiques”.  Brassens’ song gives us a long list.

Ironically, it was sometimes the sovereigns themselves, who in their compulsion to use a good curse, turned to this neutralized language. It is said that the French king Henri IV (1553-1610), who had the habit of using the strong derived oath “jarnidieu” –“ I deny God” was advised by his confessor, Father  Coton, to substitute his own name. As a result the sterilised oath “jarnicoton” came into use –line 18 in Brassens’ song. 

In this song Brassens is regretting the loss in our times of the wealth of colourful oaths used for centuries past.  The famous English writer, Robert Graves (1895- 1985) in his little book “Lars Porsena or the future of swearing (1929)” expresses the same sentiment.   Graves suggests that swearing as an art in England reached its high water mark in the late eighteenth century at a period when the reformed church in England was somewhat somnolent and relaxed.   He talks of the swearing duels that took place and, probably tongue in cheek, he analyses the essence of the poetry of swearing (page 47): “…. the alliterative emphasis and rhythm of swearing, … the maximum nervous reaction that can be got from a normal subject by combinations and permutations of the oath.”  He speaks admiringly (page 27) of those who swore “luxuriantly, from anti-institutional conviction.” When I discussed this extract with my well-read Russian daughter-in-law, she told me that there is still a strong tradition of swearing in Russia, where it is sourced by a rich vocabulary, which its most skilled practitioners can turn into an impressive rhetorical art.

The gradual onset of democracy in Europe saw the weakening of traditional prohibitions imposed by princes and priests.  Without the consciousness of breaking the awesome taboos of an all-powerful Church, the old oaths became nothing more than standard expressions of irritation. 

 Those who felt the need to shock and express social revolt from then on found greater power  in swearwords that broke the sexual taboos.  Robert Graves and apparently Georges Brassens saw this as the moment when swearing went into decline having lost the grandeur of its revolt. Offending a few strait-laced persons did not compare with sniping at the ruthless dictatorial heads of Church and state.

Brassens mentions only four obscene words (and mild ones at that) “bougre” and “bigre” on line on line 19,  “fichtre” and “foutre” on line 21. 

I became aware of the word “foutre” immediately after I arrived in Arras to take up a post of English assistant.  I incorporated the verb with all its variants into my active vocabulary.  It was only several months later after a meeting with the female teachers of the girls’ lycée, that I was informed that the word I was using profusely was similar to the English word “f*ck”, which I would not think of using in its oath form in English.

Brassens is of the opinion that the contemporary habit of swearing using a limited number of obscene words has destroyed the previous inventive and vivid art.   He cites the paucity of the invective of the modern hussar compared with that of hussars in previous centuries.  Robert Graves has once again exactly the same opinion.  Graves had been an army officer during the First World War (His memoirs:  “Goodbye to all that” are widely recognized as a masterpiece).  He despaired of the unimaginative monotony in the swearing reported when soldiers appeared before him charged with insubordination.  We read on page 41 of Graves’s book:

"Orderly-room charges of obscene and blasphemous language show a distressing sameness:

“Sir, the accused called me a f*cking c*nt” or

“Sir, the accused called me a f*cking prick.”

Both Brassens and Graves believe that swearing has had its day.  Those of us who lived with it during our military service,  blasting loud and long in our ears, would not regret its passing.

D.Y.  21/06/2013

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