I've found quite a few speculations about this. As is so often the
case when investigating slang, the actual origin of the term "frog"
for a French person is not crystal-clear. Below, I've provided several
sources that offer various explanations.
Two entertaining discussions of this question:
Bonjour Paris: Ask The History Doc: Why are the French called Frogs?
http://www.bparis.com/newsletter1464/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=89550
Word Detective (see section entitled "No respect.")
http://www.word-detective.com/041400.html
Here are a couple of bilingual pages on the subject, in both English
and French:
All About Frogs: French Frogs
http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/frenchfrogs.html
Personal Page of Cécile Charron : Frogs
http://members.shaw.ca/ccharron/Froggie/frogs.htm
Several newsgroup and forum posts have hopped into the fray:
From soc.history.war.world-war-ii newsgroup: French Frogs?
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&th=cee161621c9960e5&rnum=1
From alt.books.george-fraser newsgroup: Why are the French "frogs"
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&th=e157c65a3f1f3e62&rnum=6
Shaksper.net Archives: Frogs; Hey Nonny Nonny
http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1994/0257.html
The majority of the explanations that I've seen say that the French
are called frogs because they eat frog legs. I find this rather
unsatisfying, since frog legs are consumed in many nations. If I had
to choose, I think the best theory of the French frog phenomenon is
related to the banner of Clovis:
"The original arms of France were a banner with three black toads or
frogs. Clovis, king of the Franks, converted to Christianity and
changed the flag from three frogs to the familiar fleur de lis."
Historicist: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
http://www.historicist.com/america/unclean.htm
My Google search strategy:
"french" + "called frogs"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=french+%22called+frogs
Thanks for asking an interesting question that was enjoyable to
research! If anything I've said is unclear or incomplete, or if any of
the links do not function, please request clarification before rating
my answer, and I'll be glad to offer further assistance.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
