Martinet

Martinet

The martinet is a punitive device traditionally used in France and other parts of Europe. The word also has other usages (see below). It is also a term for a type of hammer in French, a diminutive of marteau (Latin martulus), "hammer".

Contents

Object

A simple, small martinet

A martinet is a short, scourge-like (multi-tail) type of whip made of a wooden handle of about 25 cm (10 inches) in length and about 10 lashes of equal, relatively short length. The lashes are usually made of leather, but sometimes soap-stiffened cords are used in place of leather. It is a traditional instrument of physical punishment in France (in French, it also meant a similar dusting implement; the type for chastisement was also known as fouet d'enfant, 'child's whip') and other European countries.

The martinet was often applied on the calves, so that the children did not have to disrobe. Otherwise it was usually applied on the bare buttocks, adding humiliation to the physical pain, like the English and Commonwealth caning, birching, naval boy's pussy, American paddling, et cetera.

It is generally considered abusive to use it for spanking children in modern times. Still, martinets were still sold in the pet section of French supermarkets; it is generally believed that a large share of those sold are meant for use on children, not pets, or at least to threaten them. But, nowadays many supermarkets in France have stopped selling the martinet, even in the pet section. Some supermarkets in Spain still sell martinets.

  • The martinet is also used as an implement in erotic spanking scenes, hard to distinguish from the flogger, but that is usually lighter.
  • A French homonym, from first name Martin and suffix -et, is a kind of swallow.

Martinet as a person

in French

The term was used for an external pupil of a collège (i.e. continental high school, especially Catholic). Jean Bodin, quoting the examination of three witches by Paolo Grillandi of Castiglione at the Castello San Paolo, Spoleto, records that the witches referred to the Devil as Master Martinet (maistre Martinet), or the Little Master (petit maistre).

in English terms

  • In English, the term martinet is usually used not in reference to the whip itself, but rather him who would use it, a person who demands strict adherence to set rules, especially such a person in the military. This sense of the word reputedly comes from the name of Jean Martinet, Inspector General of the army of Louis XIV and thus would be etymologically only by accident related to the earlier sense.
  • In an extended sense, a martinet is any person for whom a strict adherence to rules and etiquette is paramount: martinets often use etiquette and other rules as an excuse to trump ethics, to the point that etiquette loses its ethical ground. The Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was famously described as a "strutting martinet" by Time in 1977.[1]

References

  1. ^ "Amin:The Wild Man of Africa", Time Magazine, 28 February 1977

External links


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  • martinet — [ martinɛ ] n. m. • 1315; de Martin, n. propre I ♦ Techn. Lourd marteau à soulèvement, mû par la vapeur, un moulin à eau, etc. Martinet de forge. ⇒ marteau pilon. II ♦ (1530; cf. oiseau Saint Martin « martin pêcheur ») 1 ♦ Cour. Oiseau passereau …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • martinet — 1. (mar ti nè ; le t ne se lie pas ; au pluriel, l s se lie : des mar ti nè z en troupes ; martinet rime avec traits, paix, succès, etc.) s. m. 1°   Espèce d hirondelle à très longues ailes. Les martinets étaient pour Linné dans les espèces du… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • Martinet — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: André Martinet (1908–1999), französischer Linguist Charles Martinet (* 1956), US amerikanischer Schauspieler und Synchronsprecher Jean Pierre Martinet (1944–1993), französischer Schriftsteller Julius… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • MARTINET (A.) — MARTINET ANDRÉ (1908 ) Né en 1908 à Saint Albans des Villards en Savoie, André Martinet, après avoir obtenu l’agrégation d’anglais, commença sa carrière dans l’enseignement secondaire. Mais ayant très tôt étendu sa compétence aux langues… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Martinet — Martinet, André Martinet, Jean Louis …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • martinet — (n.) 1670s, system of strict discipline, from the name of Jean Martinet (killed at siege of Duisburg, 1672), lieutenant colonel in the Régiment du Roi, who in 1668 was appointed inspector general of the infantry. It was his responsibility to… …   Etymology dictionary

  • martinet — ► NOUN ▪ a strict disciplinarian. ORIGIN named after Jean Martinet, 17th century French drill master …   English terms dictionary

  • martinet — [märt΄ n et′, märt′ n et΄] n. [after Gen. Jean Martinet, 17th c. Fr drillmaster] 1. a very strict military disciplinarian 2. any very strict disciplinarian or stickler for rigid regulations …   English World dictionary

  • Martinet — Mar ti*net , n. [F.] (Zo[ o]l.) The martin. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Martinet — Mar ti*net , n. [So called from an officer of that name in the French army under Louis XIV. Cf. {Martin} the bird, {Martlet}.] In military language, a strict disciplinarian; in general, one who lays stress on a rigid adherence to the details of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Martinet — (spr. nä), Achille Louis, franz. Kupfer stecher, geb. 21. Jan. 1806 in Paris, gest. da selbst 11. Dez. 1877, war Schüler des Kupferstechers Forster und des Malers Heim und stach mit gründlichem Verständnis und genauem Eingehen in den Geist und… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

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