panache
{{Short description|French word indicating "flamboyance" or "courage"}}
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File:Henri_IV_à_la_bataille_d'Arques_21_septembre_1589.jpeg in battle, wearing white plume.]]
Panache ({{IPA|fr|panaʃ}}) is a word of French origin that carries the connotation of flamboyant manner and reckless courage, derived from the helmet-plume worn by cavalrymen in the Early Modern period.{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=The Road to Middle-Earth |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=Grafton (HarperCollins) |isbn=978-0261102750 |pages=142–145}}
The literal translation is a plume, such as is worn on a hat or a helmet; the reference is to King Henry IV of France (13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), famed for wearing a striking white plume in his helmet and for his war cry: "Follow my white plume!" ({{langx|fr|Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc!}}).
''Cyrano de Bergerac''
The epitome of panache and the reason for its establishment as a virtue are found in Edmond Rostand's depiction of Cyrano de Bergerac, in his 1897 play of that name. Prior to Rostand, panache was not necessarily a good thing and was seen by some as a suspect quality.
Panache is referred to explicitly at two points in the play but is implicit throughout: Cyrano's challenges to Montfleury, Valvert, and, at one point, the whole audience at the theatre (Act I), and his nonchalant surrender of a month's salary to pay for the damages; his duel with a hundred footpads at the Porte de Nesle (Act II), as well as his dismissal of the exploit when talking to Roxane ("I've been much braver since then"); his crossing the Spanish lines daily to deliver Roxane's letters (Act IV); and his leaving his deathbed to keep his appointment with her in Act V.
The explicit references bring in the double entendre: first, in Act IV, when sparring with de Guiche over the loss of de Guiche's white sash, he says: "I hardly think King Henry would have doffed his white panache in any danger." A second instance is in Cyrano's last words, which were: "yet there is something still that will always be mine, and when I go to God's presence, there I will doff it and sweep the heavenly pavement with a gesture: something I'll take unstained out of this world... my panache."
Current use
In Canadian French, the word panache may also refer to antlers, such as those of a moose or deer.{{Cite web|last=Bergerud|first=A.T|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/fr/orignal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413175509/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/fr/orignal|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 13, 2012|title=Original|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=August 19, 2012}} The Panache River is a tributary of the east bank of the Wetetnagami River flowing into Senneterre in the La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in Quebec, in Canada. Lake Panache is a lake in the Sudbury area of Ontario."Blue-green algae detected on Panache". Sudbury Star, October 8, 2021. Antlers was the English name of Panache, a 2007 documentary film by Canadian director André-Line Beauparlant.Brendan Kelly, "Celebrating Quebec cinema, Take 25". Montreal Gazette, February 7, 2007.
Panache is a loan word that remains in use across English dialects, denoting a style that is confident and flamboyant.{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/panache |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402091211/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/panache |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |title = PANACHE {{!}} Meaning & Definition for UK English {{!}} Lexico.com}}
Notes
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References
- Cyrano de Bergerac (Penguin translation by Carol Clark) {{ISBN|978-0-14-044968-6}}