Sharpe Novels (Bernard Cornwall)

[Oedipus]

I'm at present reading "Sharpes Fury" and in this like all the other books, Sharpe refers to the French )or "Frogs" as he sometimes calls them) as "Crapauds" what does this mean, and where does it come from!
Many thanks

[marwel7]

I had though it was a military term,but my dictionary says it is a noun from the Caribbean meaning frog or toad (from the French).

[shaneystar2]

Jean Crapaud is a jocose name given to a Frenchman. It is intended as a national personification of the French people as a whole in much the same sense as John Bull is to the English. It is sometimes used as a literary device to refer to a typical Frenchman, usually in the form of Monsieur Jean Crapaud.

The word crapaud is French for a toad (rather than frog) and is a reference to the ancient heraldic device of the kings of France, consisting of "three toads erect, saltant." Hence the name means Johnny the Toad.

The word crapaud is used extensively by Richard Sharpe, the fictional character depicted in Bernard Cornwell's novels set during the Napoleonic war

[marwel7]

www.southessex.co.uk is a good reference point for all things Sharpe.