Frogs and Froggies: origin revealed

[John Talbott]

May 18th's Le Monde has an article by Jean Claude Ribaut (that just got posted on the web) on garlic from Arleux (between Arras and Cambrai) smoked in hay, sawdust and peat. He says that it was a preparation of frogs with such powerful garlic made by Escoffier for the Prince of Wales that led to the English calling the French "frogs" or "froggies" [sic] over the past 100 years. Etymologists: man your posts {and don't kill me, I'm just the Digester/rapporteur.}

[SuzySushi]

Hmmmnnn... The compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary lists "frog" as

3. As a term of abuse appled to a man or woman. Also, a Dutchman. [Funny... it says nothing about the French.]

It cites references as early as 1626 - "These infernall frogs [Jesuits] are crept into the West and East Indyes" and 1652 - "Neither had I ever wished the charming of those Froggs [the Dutch]," both predating Escoffier by several centuries.

[Busboy]

The Marais School, a relatively prestigious private school (ie, public school, for all you rosboeufs out there) began as a French School. Their mascot? The Frog, of course.

According to Wikipedia:

"Frog A historic pejorative term for the French. The word is probably derived from "frog-eater" (German: Froschfresser), a term listed in the 1913 Webster Dictionary. ... In the United States towns with large French immigrant populations are sometimes called "frog town". In France, the term is often used for the inhabitants of Paris, possibly because the Parisian accent involved a lot of rolled Rs."

The unified explanation: "Frog as a derogatory term for "Frenchman" dates from 1778 (short for frog-eater), but before that it meant "Dutch person," in reference to the marshy land where they lived."