Recently Simon had a vasovagal faint and passed out just before
having an angiogram. The colloquial phrase for fainting in French is
'tomber dans les pommes' and I wondered why. Various people told me
various things, so here it is.
It appears to be widely believed that the phrase comes from being overcome by the fumes when distilling calvados or fermenting cider. Whilst at first glance this seems plausible, there doesn't appear to be any real evidence for it being the origin of the phrase. It smacks to me of a back formation, conflating the strong green apple smell of malic acid you get when fruit is fermenting (including grapes for wine) and the danger of CO2 in the process, then associating it with a phrase that mentions apples.
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| Organic heritage apples at our local market. |
According to another explanation, it comes from an expression by George Sand to indicate extreme fatigue. George Sand apparently wrote about 'etre dans les pommes cuite' (to be in the cooked apples) in a letter to a relative. In her day it was common for disgruntled theatre goers to chuck apples (baked or spoiled) at performers. Tomatoes were too expensive in those days to consider chucking, but it might have been baked potatoes (pommes de terre)... The idea is that cooked apples are structurally weak, collapsing easily. It just doesn't seem a satisfactory explanation to me as the two phrases don't seem close enough in meaning to me. I feel George Sand's intent was more like 'pédaler dans la semoule' (to pedal in semolina -- to be working hard but getting nowhere).
The most convincing explanation I have seen is that the expression is a corruption of the medieval phrase 'tomber dans les pâmes', which means to lose consciousness. The only reservation I have is that the medieval expression went out of use in the 15th century, and 'tomber dans les pommes' doesn't appear in the lexicon until 1889. On the other hand, there is still the literary phrase 'tomber en pâmoison' which means the same thing and continued in usage into the 17th century before becoming obscure but not disappearing entirely.
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| Homegrown apples. |
The 'proper' French word for fainting is 's'évanouir' (to faint).
4 comments:
"from being overcome by the fumes when distilling calvados"
In the '60s and '70s the Head Brewer at Adnams in Suffolk was also a whisky blender for Distillers in Edinburgh.... he was breathalyzed one evening after leaving the Distillers' premises and was way over the limit. He was immediately charged, etc and a representative had to come and collect him. He hadn't touched a dram all day, just sniffed samples and categorised them. When this was explained to the magistrate the next day, charges were dropped and he was taxied from his hotel to the blending bench thereafter.... it made the local papers in both Edinburgh and Suffolk.
And he also frequently enjoyed recounting the experience... if you bribed him!
So, if someone is distilling, breathing in fumes and probably making sure the taste was right when making artisinal calvados.... there probably have been occasions!
Le Pré de la Forge: Sure, but it doesn't make it the origin of the phrase.
There really wasn't a unified or official French lexicon until the end of the 19th century. Many dialects, with their own pronunciations, might have continued to use the expression tomber dans les pâmes or dans les pommes for centuries before the expression was recognized by official French.
Ken: Yes, I think that is a very likely scenario.
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