Home  Language and Learning La Grève - A Must Know Word |
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La Grève - A Must Know Word |
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Written by Eva Gilpin
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From Reporter Issue 105
As in my case, the word “la grève” may have been one of the
first you learned in French. Years ago I was waiting early one morning
at a bus stop in Lille. No bus came; finally a passer-by, with a
kindliness commoner in the north than here, called out to me “il y a une grève!” I fumbled in my bag for my pocket dictionary and soon knew the dispiriting truth: there was a strike.
But why la grève?
In the sense of a work stoppage the word first appears in a text of
1785. It comes from the name of la Place de Grève, now la Place de
l’Hôtel-de-ville, in Paris. La grève simply meant the bank of
the Seine. It was at that place that traditionally workers seeking jobs
met with potential employers (it was also the site of public
executions). If the conditions proposed proved unacceptable and workers
refused to take a particular job they were said to “se mettre en grève” — that is, they stayed put till something else turned up.
Sadly common in news reports are the expressions “grève sauvage” — wildcat strike; “grève du zèle” — go-slow; and, of course, “grève de la faim” — hunger strike. Incidentally, a “blackleg” or non-striker has a change of colour in French. C’est un jaune …
© Eva Gilpin
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