In the Europe 1 program "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern looks every day at the roots of an everyday expression.

Wednesday, he is interested in the origins of "on the field", a phrase full of haste that comes to us both from wars and tax levies in 15th century France.

Stéphane Bern offers every day, in 

Historically yours 

with Matthieu Noël, to discover these expressions that we use on a daily basis without necessarily knowing their origin. On Wednesday, the host explains the roots of the impatient and directive expression "on the spot".

Whether you're leaving right away or having to complete a task right away, either way, you have to hurry.

But one question remains: where does this famous field come from?

From a battlefield?

Or a field of poppies?

Both, my general!

The phrase "on the spot" dates from the 15th century.

At the time, we used to say "on the spot" to mean "right here, where we are".

Usually, we used it when we were on a battlefield and there was a dispute between two strong personalities who wanted to resolve the problem immediately.

A duel was taking place on the battlefield.

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A tax levied directly on farmers at work

And this duel was done immediately.

In short, "on the spot".

It was at the end of the 15th century that its meaning shifts from "here, where we are now" to "now, immediately". 

But the expression also comes from our taxes.

At the time, taxes were collected directly from farmers.

And the eagerness of the officials ensured that the transaction always took place without delay, directly, on the spot.

Note that there is another rustic expression: "At any end of the field". It refers to the plowing that we had to do everywhere in the meadow, going back and forth. Plowing was done literally "all the time". To say "on the spot", the Germans prefer "off the cuff", the Dutch "like thunder and lightning". Once you have explained this, all you have to do is take the key to the fields.