Cochon (The French Insult, Possible Etymology)

When Americans learn French in school, we’re always told of the insult word: “cochon”, meaning pig. But I think there’s another reason why that word is an insult in France. You see, the judge at the kangaroo court that burnt Joan of Arc at the stake was named: “Cauchon”. My guess is (and it’s just a guess) that this guy’s name became so hateful to the French, his name became an insult, and over time it became cochon.

I could be wrong, but I think this is like the American phrase: “Your name is mud.” That comes not from the slimy mixture of water and dirt, but rather, from a doctor named Samuel Mudd, who helped John Wilkes Booth with his broken ankle after he shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln. Some say he was part of the conspiracy, and some say he was just an innocent doctor who saw a patient. Nobody really knows for sure. But he was arrested and sent to some awful prison for four years anyway until he helped with an outbreak of yellow fever and was subsequently pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869. (There is a movie about it called: The Prisoner of Shark Island, and I would absolutely recommend it.) But his name is also spelled a bit differently from the modern day colloquial expression named after him.

So is it possible, or even likely that I’m correct in this? Lots of history gets lost over the years, but I doubt the French will ever forget Cauchon and what he did. I won’t either. And so I think it’s more likely that the hatred that led to the insult cochon might be far more likely to stem from Cauchon, and not from a pig, which as we mostly all know is a nice and relatively intelligent animal that also tastes really good: what’s to hate? But a cynical judge who gets an innocent national heroine burnt at the stake through a rigged court proceeding? That’s a reason for antipathy, I’d think.

Boris Karloff, the classic horror movie actor, who was an extremely cultivated English gentleman, had a pet pig named Violet. And from what I hear, they can make nice pets.

This is Boris Karloff and his pet pig, Violet:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/249316529350365455/

This is The Prisoner of Shark Island, for those who are unfamiliar with it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028141/

And this is what happened to Joan of Arc:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

BTW: I have no idea if Joan of Arc was sent by God or is she was just a schizophrenic who was so convinced in her beliefs that she would not stop until what she saw as her calling was fulfilled. I would like to think she was sent by God, but my problem with that was that I never understood why God would really care who was in charge of France, as both the French and the English could be pretty nasty when they liked back then. But then I had what felt like an epiphany: it wasn't about who was in charge of anything at all; it was to show that it does not matter who you are or where you come from: if you believe enough, and you will not ever give up, one person can change the world. If an uneducated farm girl in a man's world could commandeer an army and turn the tide for her country in a long line of national military losses, then what can someone else do with that kind of resolve? If she was sent by God, I think that is possibly why.