How interesting how it became so named – ‘to promote peace and harmony!’
No Boxing Day. What about the equivalent of Boxing day sales? I hope not!
Rosemary Kneipp
December 28th, 2015 at 8:39 pm
A sweet cures all apparently! No, we don’t have Boxing day sales, just winter sales that begin this year on 5th January and last until mid-February.
Lesley
December 28th, 2015 at 10:05 am
This is NOT a complaint! I looked up the word TREVE and the online Larousse has the word with a circumflex and another with a grave accent. I can type neither on my lap top but wonder why or how these things are deceided. No wonder dictation competions are/were popular in France.
Watched a recording of a TV prog. about ‘John Lewis’, a huge department store in the UK and how thanks to On line shopping, Black Friday and even social media big stores hardly keep to the idea of January Sales. We live in interesting times.
Rosemary Kneipp
December 28th, 2015 at 10:28 am
Hi Lesley, mea culpa! I’ve corrected all the “trève” to “trêve”, which is the correct spelling. The circumflex usually indicates that a letter has dropped out, such as château. It can sometimes be used to distinguish two different meanings. I just assumed it was trève, like grève, because of the pronunciation. Trêve has a rather complicated origin: true (v. 1130), then trieue (12th century) and trive (1150), triue (117() then treve (1210) from the francique “treuwa”, meaning “safety”, attached to the German Treue (fidelity) and English true. It was first used to mean a military armistice. In 1694, “trève marchande” was used to mean the period during which trade is permitted between warring states, so you can see where the “trêve des confiseurs” comes from! The root of all these words is identified as being that of the Greek droos (solid). So I don’t know why there is a circomflex. Someone problably just wrote it at some time and everyone copied! Thank you for pointing it out. Our January sales are not until 6th January (to 16th February) this year.
amazing etymological research Rosemary, however as for the sales they may not start in shops till 6th Jan but every online seller has been doing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales that last a week or more, even in France this year. I hate it!
Rosemary Kneipp
December 4th, 2016 at 9:50 pm
Etymology is one of my passions! I don’t mind Black Friday – I got my daughter in NYC to order one of those upsidedown umbrellas for me at half price :).
I don’t think there is any term for the inter-Christmas and New Year period, but no doubt somebody will invent one. Great opportunity there. 🙂
What an amusing story about “la trêve des confiseurs”, so very French. It reminds me of the 1814 Congress of Vienna, which dragged on for many months. To enliven proceedings, Talleyrand proposed a competition to choose the best cheese from all the countries participating in the Congress.
Of course it was a French cheese which won – Brie, “the cheese of kings and the king of cheeses.”
Do you think that there will ever come a time when anything is more important to a Frenchman than food?
Let us not forget Entre-deux-Mers to assist the cheese on its passage.
Happy New Year.
Rosemary Kneipp
December 28th, 2015 at 8:41 pm
I love the story of Talleyrand. I’ll always remember it when I eat brie now – and drink entre-deux-mers!
“Trêve des confiseurs” – brilliant! And you raise a good point: we indeed don’t have any name for this period in English. The closest thing I can think of is “yuletide” but this has a wider meaning. In our local Luxembourgish language, there is also no direct equivalent. Very interesting – thanks! #AllAboutFrance
I’d never heard of this expression either and asked my Frenchie husband if he knew it and he said “bien sûr”, but then I’ve never heard him use it. It’s a wonderful concept and I love how it came about. Like everyone else, I’m quite sure we don’t have a name for this period in English. Thanks for linking to #AllAboutFrance
Rosemary Kneipp
December 4th, 2016 at 9:49 pm
Glad you learnt a new expression! And thanks for initiating #AllAboutFrance
I can’t think of any English expressions for this time of year. Confectioners Truce… I like that!
Not bad, is it?
How interesting how it became so named – ‘to promote peace and harmony!’
No Boxing Day. What about the equivalent of Boxing day sales? I hope not!
A sweet cures all apparently! No, we don’t have Boxing day sales, just winter sales that begin this year on 5th January and last until mid-February.
This is NOT a complaint! I looked up the word TREVE and the online Larousse has the word with a circumflex and another with a grave accent. I can type neither on my lap top but wonder why or how these things are deceided. No wonder dictation competions are/were popular in France.
Watched a recording of a TV prog. about ‘John Lewis’, a huge department store in the UK and how thanks to On line shopping, Black Friday and even social media big stores hardly keep to the idea of January Sales. We live in interesting times.
Hi Lesley, mea culpa! I’ve corrected all the “trève” to “trêve”, which is the correct spelling. The circumflex usually indicates that a letter has dropped out, such as château. It can sometimes be used to distinguish two different meanings. I just assumed it was trève, like grève, because of the pronunciation. Trêve has a rather complicated origin: true (v. 1130), then trieue (12th century) and trive (1150), triue (117() then treve (1210) from the francique “treuwa”, meaning “safety”, attached to the German Treue (fidelity) and English true. It was first used to mean a military armistice. In 1694, “trève marchande” was used to mean the period during which trade is permitted between warring states, so you can see where the “trêve des confiseurs” comes from! The root of all these words is identified as being that of the Greek droos (solid). So I don’t know why there is a circomflex. Someone problably just wrote it at some time and everyone copied! Thank you for pointing it out. Our January sales are not until 6th January (to 16th February) this year.
amazing etymological research Rosemary, however as for the sales they may not start in shops till 6th Jan but every online seller has been doing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales that last a week or more, even in France this year. I hate it!
Etymology is one of my passions! I don’t mind Black Friday – I got my daughter in NYC to order one of those upsidedown umbrellas for me at half price :).
I don’t think there is any term for the inter-Christmas and New Year period, but no doubt somebody will invent one. Great opportunity there. 🙂
What an amusing story about “la trêve des confiseurs”, so very French. It reminds me of the 1814 Congress of Vienna, which dragged on for many months. To enliven proceedings, Talleyrand proposed a competition to choose the best cheese from all the countries participating in the Congress.
Of course it was a French cheese which won – Brie, “the cheese of kings and the king of cheeses.”
Do you think that there will ever come a time when anything is more important to a Frenchman than food?
Let us not forget Entre-deux-Mers to assist the cheese on its passage.
Happy New Year.
I love the story of Talleyrand. I’ll always remember it when I eat brie now – and drink entre-deux-mers!
Happy New Year to you too.
“Trêve des confiseurs” – brilliant! And you raise a good point: we indeed don’t have any name for this period in English. The closest thing I can think of is “yuletide” but this has a wider meaning. In our local Luxembourgish language, there is also no direct equivalent. Very interesting – thanks! #AllAboutFrance
What a nifty expression to describe the holiday that basically most people take without thinking about it. #AllAboutFrance
I’d never heard of this expression either and asked my Frenchie husband if he knew it and he said “bien sûr”, but then I’ve never heard him use it. It’s a wonderful concept and I love how it came about. Like everyone else, I’m quite sure we don’t have a name for this period in English. Thanks for linking to #AllAboutFrance
Glad you learnt a new expression! And thanks for initiating #AllAboutFrance
Interesting! I didn’t know about this expression. I can’t think of any name for this period in English.
Hi, thanks for stopping by.
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