chevaux (not cheveux) de frise

[Gerald Cohen]

>At 8:25 PM -0400 8/11/02, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>In place of the not-yet-invented barbed wire, soldiers sharpened stakes and
>>planted them in front of the breastworks, with the sharpened ends facing the
>>enemy.  The jargon term in English-speaking armies for the stakes was
>>"cheveaux-de-frise", generally rendered "frizzy horses".  This will provide
>>an antedating for "frizzy" in the OED if anyone can locate a contemporary
>>soldier's reference to to "frizzy horses".
>>
>
>Can we assume this was CHEVAUX rather than CHEVEUX?  If the latter,
>it's more like frizzy hair.


**************
  Larry Horn's assumption is correct: It's CHEVAUX "horses," not
CHEVEUX "hair." And the term has no direct connection with "frizzy,"
its original meaning was  "horses of Friesland."

    OED2, under "cheval de frise" says: "usually plural: chevaux de
frise" and then gives the etymology:
[Fr.; lit. 'horse of Friesland'; because first employed by the
Frisians in their struggles for freedom during the latter half of the
17th century to supply their want of cavalry; cf. the Du. name
Vriesse ruyters (Frisian horsemen). In 17th c. Horse de Freeze
occurs.]

********

For easy reference, here's the rest of the OED2 entry:

     1. A defensive appliance of war, employed chiefly to check
cavalry charges, and stop breaches: see
description in the quotations.

   1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2375/3 The Count de Serini..posted his men on
the other side, and covered them with Chevaux
de Frise..fastened together with Chains. 1692 LUTTRELL Brief Rel.
(1857) II. 520 Numbers of chevaux de frize were
shipt, an instrument to fix in the ground to keep off a body of horse
from attacking the foot. 1704 J. HARRIS Lex.
Techn., Chevaux de Frise, or Friseland Horse, in Fortification. 1708
KERSEY, Chevaux de Frise are large Joists, or
pieces of Timber, Ten or Twelve Foot in length, with Six Sides into
which are driven a great Number of wooden Pins
aboue Six Foot long, crossing one another, and having their Ends
armed with Iron-Points. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4675/1
The Danes..had planted themselves..behind their Chevaux de Frize.
1727-38 CHAMBERS Cycl., Cheval de Frise, a
large piece of Timber, etc. 1810 WELLINGTON in Gurw. Disp. V. 11, I
shall be very glad to see the chevaux de frise.
1869 PARKMAN Disc. Gt. West xiv. (1875) 168 Its declivities
were..guarded by chevaux-de-frise. 1885 Harper's
Mag. Jan. 219/1 The main trunk seems..to stand upon its lower
branches like a cheval-de-frise.


     2. transf.    a. A line of spikes or nails similarly fixed along
the top of a railing, paling, or wall.    b.
fig. Protective lines of spines or hairs in the corolla tube of
plants; the eye-lashes, teeth, etc.    c. A
name for jagged edges of women's dresses and caps in the 18th c.
   Chevaux-de-frise is sometimes made a collective sing.

   1753 Songs Costume (1849) 231 Your neck and your shoulder both
naked should be, Was it not for Vandyke, blown
with chevaux-de-frize. 1759 Apollo or Muses Choice xxvi. 21 Each nymp
that one sees, Can teach us the use of the
Chevaux de Frize. 1802 FORSYTH Culture Fruit-trees xxiii. (1824) 332
An oak paling..with a cheval-de-frise at top, to
prevent the people's getting over it. 1807-8 W. IRVING Salmag. (1824)
79 When he laughed, there appeared from ear to
ear a chevaux-de-frize of teeth. 1813 Examiner 26 Apr. 271/2 The top
of the wall of the prison, where there is a chevaux
de frieze. 1837 DICKENS Pickw. xli, Bounded by a high brick wall,
with iron chevaux-de-frise at the top. 1862
Possibilities Creation 182 Is it important that the organ of vision
should be protected by a cheval-de-frise of bristle?
1879 LUBBOCK Sci. Lect. iii. 96 Sometimes..flowers are protected by
chevaux de frise of spines and fine hairs pointing
downwards. 1883 Harper's Mag. July 172/2 An unsightly fence with
chevaux-de-frise of nails.