In "Historically Vôtre", Stéphane Bern explains every day the origin of a word or an expression.
Tuesday, he looks back on the birth of "looking at oneself in faience dogs", which originates from small canine figurines formerly placed on fireplaces.
Every day in "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern sets out to discover expressions that we use every day, without necessarily knowing them well. Tuesday, he explained the origin of the expression "to look at oneself in faience".
"To look at oneself like a faience dog" is, according to Le Robert, "to regard oneself with suspicion".
But first, what is earthenware?
It is a ceramic composed of tin and clay which covers the pottery.
This technique comes from Italy, more precisely from the city of Faenza in the northeast of the country.
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Small figurines to decorate the fireplaces
It was in the 16th century that the fashion for earthenware was launched and it was a hundred years later that the expression "looking at oneself in earthenware" was born.
At that time, we still heat ourselves with wood.
It was then customary to decorate the fireplaces with small trinkets, in particular earthenware dog statues placed face to face, which, in fact, spent their time looking at each other without moving with an air of defiance.
The expression takes its origin from there.
Note that another equivalent formula, "to look yourself in the white of the eyes", can mean as much to gaze at yourself with challenge as to admire yourself lovingly.
In Anglo-Saxon countries, we say "to look daggers at each others", that is to say "look at each other while throwing daggers".
In Brazil we prefer the formula "fuzilar com os ohlos", for "to glance at".