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Last modified: 2025-06-19 by antónio martins
Keywords: drapeau | drapeaux | pavillon | pavillons | bannière | bannières | étendard | étendards | fanion | fanions |
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drapeau
[Other words also meaning "flag" in French:]
In the past, "pavillon" was
more used than "drapeau" and was the name for all flags.
Pascal Vagnat, 23 Jan 1996
The French word "pavillon(s)" is (theoretically) the
same as the English
"ensign".
"Pavillon" is only used now to name a flag displayed
on a boat at sea. However in the past, "pavillon" was
more used than "drapeau" and
was the name for all flags. When it was an ensign, we said
«pavillon en mer» («ensign at sea») or
«pavillon de commerce» («merchant
ensign»).
Pascal Vagnat, 23 Jan 1996
Not used now to name a flag, we use it more to say that
«we put us under the bannière of a party».
It was the middle-ages word for "flag" in French.
Pascal Vagnat, 23 Jan 1996
"Étendard" is rarely said and means in French more a sort
of flag (middle-ages) than the personal flag of a head of state.
Pascal Vagnat, 23 Jan 1996
We have this semantic distinction in French between
"drapeau" (flag) and
"étendard" (used for instance in La Marseillaise:
«L’étendard sanglant est levé», which
translates as «the blood-stained standard had been
raised» rather than «the bloody flag is
up!»). Similarly, «lever l’étendard»
(to raise the standard) is used for pretentious declarations such
as «lever l’étendard de la paix», and a
«porte-étendard» (standard bearer) is
usually the man associated with a noble cause.
Ivan Sache, 12 Aug 2007
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.
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