by Judith James
In regards to language, Gabriel’s isn’t always appropriate or polite, but neither is his background, and he spends much of his life in the company of mercenaries and soldiers. Several words we sometimes assume to be common only since the twentieth century, have in fact been in wide use for a very long time. The writings of the seventeenth century court poet, the Earl of Rochester would put some modern rappers to shame, as would the ode Horace Walpole wrote to the Earl of Lincoln in 1743. You can find it in The British Abroad, by Jeremy Black.
Bohemia, which now forms the core of Czechoslovakia, was home to nomadic populations of Roma (gypsies) and also provided refuge for Huguenots fleeing France. Kali Sara, also know as the Black Madonna, is by some accounts Patron Saint of the Romany people, and was said to be an Egyptian maid who accompanied the three Marys as they escaped Palestine for France after Christ’s crucifixion. It was said she begged alms for the Marys and spread her cloak over the water to save them when their boat was sinking. To others she is a Romany Goddess, one of the faces of Kali, whose worship predated Christianity and was later incorporated by the Christian church. The origin of her statue in France is lost in antiquity, and the latter explanation seems most likely.
Vingt-et-un was a precursor to the card game blackjack, one of the few games where attentive statisticians and card counters can have an advantage over the odds. Although there are many accounts of card counters making a fortune and being banned from casinos today, I can find none from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Perhaps Gabriel was the first to recognize and profit from this method.
Several prominent Cornwall families made fortunes from smuggling (or free trading, as it was called at the time), piracy, and privateering, including the Killigrew family who established Falmouth. There was an upswing of privateering during the Napoleonic wars. Although most of the characters in this story are fictional, Lieutenant Gabriel Brey did scour the coast of Cornwall at the time in the revenue cutter the Hind, leading raids by land and sea and in one instance catching his man after a chase lasting twenty-eight hours. There was increased pressure to curtail the trade after the murder of a customs officer on the Lottery in 1798.
The turmoil and shifting alliances in Europe at the time resulted in an increased number of Europeans being taken captive and held for slavery and ransom in the Mediterranean. The practice was at its peak in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but still flourished well into the nineteenth; indeed, the words from the United States Marine Corp anthem “to the shores of Tripoli” refer to a campaign instigated by Thomas Jefferson to suppress the Barbary pirates and free American slaves in 1804. There were still 120 European slaves in the bagnio in Algiers when the French took it over in 1830. Sultan Mulai Slimane ruled Morocco from 1792 to 1822 and had to put down several rebellions in the early years. The Scottish renegado Peter Lisle, known as Murad Reis, was also active at this time, eventually becoming admiral of Tripoli’s navy and marrying a daughter of Yusuf, the bashaw. Galleys had been largely replaced for use in warfare in Europe by the early 1700s but were used in the Mediterranean in an auxiliary capacity until the advent of steam propulsion. Chain mail was worn in the Barbary states until well into the nineteenth century.
The quotations and snippets of poetry are borrowed from Thomas Bullfinch, William Shakespeare, and the Bible. For those who are interested, I have included a glossary and loose translation of the foreign phrases used in this story.
French words and phrases (in order of appearance)
Maison de Joie: House of Joy.
Non? C’est bien: No? That’s fine.
Au contraire, monsieur: On the contrary, sir.
Les Anglais sont ici: The English are here.
On-dit: The gossip, what everyone’s discussing.
S’il vous plait: If you please.
Mon vieux: Older French phrase, my old friend, old man, old boy.
Mignonne: Small and pretty, dainty, cute, a term of endearment.
Et bien: And so, it’s good, all right, ok (depends on the context used).
Au revoir: Until next time, until we meet again, good-bye.
Ma belle: My beauty, my pretty.
Réveille toi, mon ange: Wake up my angel.
Bon Dieu: Good God!
Ma chère: My dear
Mon chèri: My darling.
Mon ange, ma belle amie, mon amour: My angel, my beautiful friend, my love.
Merde: Shit.
Je t’aime, je t’adore, ma vie, mon âme, mon cœur: I love you, I adore you, my life, my soul, my heart.
Salut, mon vieux: Hello, old friend.
Enchantée, mademoiselle: Enchanted, miss.
Mon amour, chère amie: My love, dear friend.
À la victime: In the style of a victim (refers to those who were guillotined during the revolution).
Entrée into the beau monde: Entry into fashionable society.
Vingt-et-un: Twenty-one (card game similar to and pre-dating blackjack).
Mon ami: My friend (masculine).
Mon amie (feminine).
Ancien régime: The old order of pre-revolutionary France.
Bienvenue, mon frère: Welcome, my brother.
Chevalier: Literally a horseman or knight. A rank within the French nobility including members of families of ancient nobility, even when untitled.
Ma fois: An exclamation of great surprise. My faith!
Oui, c’est moi: Yes, it’s me.
J’y suis, j’y reste: French saying ‘here I am, here I stay.
Et bien, mon frère: All right, my brother.
Mais c’est charmant!: But how charming!
A votre santé: To your health (a toast).
Chacun à son gout: Each according to his taste.
De rien, madame: It is nothing, madame.
Touché: Touched, a term from fencing, acknowledging a point was scored.
C’est la vie: That’s life.
Congé: Leave, permission to depart, term sometimes used in French and English when a lover has been discarded and told they aren’t wanted anymore.
Il faut d’argent: Money is required, one must have money, it takes money.
Une vie manquée: A misspent life.
À la bourgeois: In the style of the middle classes, conventional etc.
Je ne sais quoi: An indescribable something, I don’t know what.
Laissez faire: Easy going, non interfering.
Sang-froid: Cold blood, cold-blooded.
Affair d’amour: Love affair.
C’est un embarras de richesses: French expression “It’s an embarassment of riches”.
Croix de Dieu: Cross of God! Sacrilegious French expression.
Affair d’honneur: A matter of honour.
Noblesse oblige: Expression meaning those in high positions are obliged to act responsibly.
Sou: A penny.
Arriviste: Social climber, a person with money but no ancient gentility.
Demimondaine: Woman who lives on the fringes of society, a women of questionable repute.
Bon soir: Good evening.
Pardonnez moi: Excuse me, pardon me.
No, merci: No thank you.
Je suis de trop: French expression meaning I am one too many, superfluous, not needed, sometimes unwanted.
Sans pareille: Matchless, without match, without parallel.
Nom de Dieu: In God’s name, Name of God.
Mes enfants: My children.
Je suis désolé: I am sorry, desolate, heart broken.
Bouleversé: Overwhelmed, staggered, deeply moved, bowled over, etc.
Grande passion: Overwhelming passion, all consuming love affair.
Grande amour: Great love, (a person) love of one’s life.
Latin words and phrases
Veni, vedi, vici: I came, I saw, I conquered (attributed to Caesar)
Spanish
Querida: My dear, my love.
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