26151: Saint-Fort (reply) Re: 26135: Raber: (Ask) Word origin (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

> From Hugues Saint-Fort Hugo274@aol.com

The word "capon" has been dated (see "Le Petit Robert,1982, p.250) in the
French lexicon in 1628, with the meaning of "gueux" (beggard) and in 1690 with
the meaning of "flatteur" (flatterer). Its use in contemporary French has
become
somewhat outdated but it has kept its meaning of "poltron, lâche" (someone
who lacks courage) in familiar French. The famous Haitian writer Jacques
Roumain
uses the word "capon" in "Gouverneurs de la rosée" (Masters of the dew) in
the following passage: "Mon frère, défunt Sauveur Jean-Joseph, le bon Dieu ait
pitié de son âme, n'étant pas capon, s'approche le premier..." (see
"Gouverneurs de la rosée", p. 64, Les Editeurs Français réunis, 1946, Paris.

Hugues Saint-Fort