Pinard is a French term for wine (particularly red wine), popularised as the label for the ration of wine issued to French troops during the First World War. The term became wrapped up in the public conception of the poilu ("hairy one", the typical French foot soldier) and his beloved pinard, joined in a "cult of wine".[1][2]

"Prayer to Saint Pinard"

Etymology edit

Although the definite answer is unclear, a contemporary work defined the term's origin thus:

Thus, for instance, pinard, wine, was all but unknown in Paris before the war, yet it is now perhaps the most famous word in the whole soldier vocabulary. Pas de pinard, pas de poilu. The origin of the word is not far to seek. The second syllable is an orthodox ending, and pinaud is the name of a well-known small Burgundy grape.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Pierre Nora; David P. Jordan (15 August 2009). Rethinking France: Les Lieux de Memoire, Volume 3: Legacies. University of Chicago Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-226-59134-6.
  2. ^ Patricia E. Prestwich (1988). Drink and the politics of social reform: antialcoholism in France since 1870. Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship. p. 172. ISBN 9780930664084.
  3. ^ Edward Jewitt Wheeler; Isaac Kaufman Funk; William Seaver Woods (1918). The Literary Digest. pp. 5–.

Further reading edit