History, all kinds of

"Your most noble goats have eaten my humblest potatoes" -- A priest from Wurthenberg writing to his superiors.

This was an extract from Egon Friedell's A Cultural History of the Modern Age, that about 15 years ago got me interested in history. For some time I was indeed interested in "serious history" like economics and philosophical study of history a la Michel Foucault.

However much we'd respect the historical views of Weber, Foucault, Ellul (whom I have neglected) or even Marx, there is much pleasure in the "odd history": manners, folklore, fashion, myths, jokes, coincidences, misunderstandings and misguided scientific theories.

Back to business. André Larané has written a cool small booklet "Cronologie universelle", available in francophone bookstores for a couple of Euros. It's fast-paced and therefore may be occasionally a bit inaccurate. But the depiction of the Western front in the second world war seemed very accurate to me. I had heard that French history books often omit embarrassing details about it, but Larané certainly does not.

What did I learn: many artisanal words used in French are related to the places where the artisanal activity was best known. Among these cordonnier (rope maker) for Cordoba (Spain) and maroquin (leather goods) for Morocco.