camisard means one of the Huguenots of the Cévennes region of south-central France, who rose up against the persecutions which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. It carries an Arena rating of 1458, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, camisard ranks #648 of 13,222 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,561 of 13,222 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,271 of 13,222 for Most Exacting Words, #4,133 of 13,222 for Most Storied Words.
Why “camisard” is a great word
A Huguenot insurgent from the Cévennes region of France who fought against persecution following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. From French *camisard*, from Provençal *camisa* (“shirt”) + the French pejorative suffix *-ard*; a reference to the peasant smocks the rebels wore over their clothing. First attested in English 1695–1705. Unlike “Huguenot,” a general term for French Protestants, or the broad “insurgent,” a Camisard was a specific creature of geography and faith—a guerrilla of the stony hills. The image is of a man moving like a shadow through the chestnut groves, the rough linen of his *camise* catching on the thorns of the maquis, his psalm-singing rising above the crackle of burning châteaux; a brief, fierce testament to the fact that when a people are stripped of every legal protection, their last fortress is the landscape itself.
Etymology
French, from the peasant's smock or camise which they wore.
noun
- One of the Huguenots of the Cévennes region of south-central France, who rose up against the persecutions which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
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