When we look through the millions of letters that were exchanged during the Der des Ders, we see that the Poilus had created a language of their own… A language that is quite fascinating to discover, because it is similar to a sort of yarrow composed of various layers. There we find the popular French language of the Parisian suburbs, the slang vocabulary specific to the trenches, but also the “ordinary” French used on a daily basis, both in the cities and in the countryside. To prepare this column, I read through a monumental work written by Pierre Rézeau, a work called “The words of the Poilus in their correspondences and their notebooks”, published by Editions de Linguistics et de Philologie de Strasbourg in 2018, at the occasion of the centenary of the First World War.
When reading it, what particularly struck me was the creativity and black humor of the soldiers in the face of the violence of the front. Take the example of shells. In his dictionary, Pierre Rézeau listed more than fifty terms to designate these explosive projectiles: “postcards”, “cauliflower”, “infants”, “pots” or even “sausages”. These names, you guessed it, are inspired as much by the shape of the shells as by the noises they produced when they exploded. Here, the metaphor becomes a tool for distance and reappropriation of a terrifying reality.
The soldiers of War 14 came from the four corners of France, and all spoke different dialects. Did it leave any marks?
For many Poilus, speaking French was an act of patriotism, because it was the language they had learned at school and not the language of their daily lives. Faced with this situation, the soldiers did not always know the right word in French and willingly borrowed from their own dialect to make themselves understood by their comrades. Take for example the word “mud” – a word which refers to the soggy earth, omnipresent in the trenches, with which the soldiers lived every day. In the South, getting dirty in the mud was called “getting dirty”. In the North, we spoke of “berdouille”. In Lyon, mud became “gabouille”, and in Paris, it was the word “gadoue” which became popular. In Vendée, a Poilu covered in mud was called a “frambou”. In Ain, the mud puddle or quagmire was called “gouille”, in Ille-et-Vilaine we spoke of “marouillas”, in Aube of “patouillat”.
And this creativity continues to influence our language…
Many of the Poilus' expressions have stood the test of time. Even today, we continue to use words like “pinard” (a word from the Burgundian dialect to speak of a poor quality wine), “gnôle” (a word from the Lyon region which designates alcohol strong), “sock juice” (or “hat juice”) (a coffee whose quality leaves something to be desired)… All these words and so many others including vestiges of this slang from the front. Words popularized by the Poilus, words that remind us of their courage, but also of the incredible richness of our language.
On this November 11, it is a beautiful tribute to remember what they transmitted, beyond the war. Through the words and expressions found in their letters, they leave us a lesson in humanity and sharing, where language becomes much more than a simple means of communication.
