Reflections on 1831 "Jazz"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> >This assumes that "jaser" has/had the sense "f*ck". I cannot find any
> >reference which supports this, except for an entry in Farmer's "Vocabula
> >Amatoria" (1896), in which the supporting citation is opaque to me. ....

>Pierre Guiraud in his "Dictionnaire érotique" (Paris 1978, 1984, 1993) has
>"jaser = coiter" and gives as a quotation "Tu as les genoux chauds, tu
>veux jaser"
>(La Comedie des proverbes XVIe s.)
>As his source he gives "Glossaire érotique de la langue francaise depuis
>son origine
>jusqu'à nos jours" by Louis de Landes, Bruxelles 1861

Very interesting. I don't have immediate access to these books.

----------

 From the French Academy Dictionary, 1694:

"Vous jasez bien à vostre aise, vous avez les pieds chauds."

Another version, from 1835:

"Il en parle bien à son aise, il a les pieds chauds." ["se dit
proverbialement d'un homme qui parle de sang-froid des misères et des
douleurs qu'il n'éprouve pas"]

----------

The citation in the 1861 book is from "La Comédie des Proverbes",
apparently 1616 (?!). This is the same quotation which appears in Farmer's
book: presumably he took it from "Landes":

"Tu as les genoux chauds, tu veux jaser."

What does this "comic proverb" mean? What is the significance of "avoir les
genoux chauds" (I guess = "have warm knees")? Presumably the "proverb" is a
satire on the above conventional expressions involving "avoir les pieds
chauds" = "be comfortable" or so -- I imagine originally referring to a
warm house, with a cozy fire?

Maybe it's just my profound ignorance of French, but I still have trouble
making this "comic proverb" support "jaser = coiter".

Any help from any of the scholars?

-- Doug Wilson