huguenot

Usually derived from Middle French eiguenot, eyguenotz (“Swiss confederate; kind of soldier”), from German Eidgenosse (“confederate; Swiss person”), from Eid (“oath”) + Genosse (“companion”). It would then appear that the singular in -t is a French backformation from the plural, although it has also been compared to the Dutch eedgenoot (eed + genoot).

An alternate theory considers it a diminutive of Hugues (“Hugh”). The theory states that the term was originally used by Savoyard Roman Catholic supporters of the ruling Savoy dynasty as a derogatory designation (later embraced by Geneva republicans and by French Calvinists), with a meaning similar to "little Hughey", after the surname of Geneva burgomaster Besançon Hugues, who (though a Catholic himself) supported and participated in the rebellion against the rule of the Savoy dynasty, which led to the independence of Geneva in 1526.

See Huguenot on wikipedia for more.

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /yɡ.no/

  • Audio

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /yɡ.nɔ/ (older, now chiefly Belgium)
• Rhymes: -o, -ɔ

huguenot (feminine huguenote, masculine plural huguenots, feminine plural huguenotes)

1. Huguenot

huguenot m (plural huguenots)

1. Huguenot

• huguenoterie
• huguenotique
• huguenotisme

• → Spanish: hugonote

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
• Brachet, A., An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language [Crowned by the French Academy], translated by G.W. Kitchin, 3rd ed., Oxford, 1882.

• “huguenot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.