Chauvinisme

Chauvinisme, a term that has come to mean an extravagant and absurd patriotism and pride in one's own country, with a corresponding enmity towards and contempt for foreign nations. It is the French equivalent for the Jingoism of the London music-halls after Lord Beaconsfield's return from the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The origin of the word is due to Chauvin, the name of a figure in the comedy La Cocarde tricolore (1831), by the brothers Théodore and Hippolyte Cognard, the action in which includes the conquest of Algeria. Chauvin is a young recruit who speaks much, displays great courage, and sings several couplets with the refrain: 'J'suis Français, j'suis Chauvin, j'tape sur le Bédonin.' The authors of the comedy, however, borrowed the name from that of Nicolas Chauvin, an old soldier of Napoleon, well known in his time in Paris for his devoted enthusiasm for the emperor. Calvin is a Latinised form of the same family name.