''Montjoie! Saint Denis!'' () was the battle-cry and motto of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

. It allegedly refers to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

's legendary banner, the

Oriflamme The Oriflamme (from Latin ''aurea flamma'', "golden flame"), a pointed, blood-red banner flown from a gilded lance, was the sacred battle standard of the King of France and a symbol of divine intervention on the battlefield from God and Saint ...

, which was also known as the "Montjoie" and was kept at the

Abbey of Saint Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

, though alternative explanations exist. The battle-cry was first known to be used during the 12th century reign of

Louis VI of France Louis VI (1 December 1081 – 1 August 1137), called the Fat () or the Fighter (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 1108 to 1137. Like his father Philip I of France, Philip I, Louis made a lasting contribution to centralizing ...

, the first royal bearer of the Oriflamme.

Etymological theories

Whilst "Saint Denis" undoubtedly refers to the ancient

Saint Denis of Paris Denis of Paris (Latin: Dionysius) was a 3rd-century Christian martyr and saint. According to his hagiographies, he was bishop of Paris (then Lutetia) in the third century and, together with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius, was martyred fo ...

, the

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of the term "Montjoie" is overall uncertain. It is first attested in ''

The Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French li ...

'' (12th century). The ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' suggested it originated in a term for marking stones or

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

s set up on the roadside in

Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...

known as ''mons Jovis'' which from 1200 in French appears as ''monjoie''. According to the ''Encyclopedia'', cairns were used by warriors as gathering places, and the term was applied to the

by the

analogy Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...

that it was a place warriors gathered for combat. "Montjoie" has also been proposed as being derived from a

Common Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...

phrase, ''*mund gawi'' ("pile of stones"), supposedly used as a

battle cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religio ...

in a sense like "hold the line!". It has alternatively been proposed as deriving from ''*mund galga'', from ''mund'' ("protect") and ''galga'' ("cross,

rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixio ...

") (as pilgrims would often affix

crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...

es to these stones). Charles Arnould claimed the word originated in

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

''*mant-'' ("path") and ''*gauda'' ("pile of stones"). Additional etymological theories exist which do not connect the term "montjoie" to the traditional explanation of the Oriflamme. Henri Diament believed it was in reference of the martyrdom of Saint Denis of Paris, which he claimed was associated with a ''Mons Jovis'' or ''Mons Gaudii'' ("Mountain of Joy"). However this connection is unexplained, as the name of the place of St. Denis' martyrdom,

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

, originated from ''Mons Martis'' rather than ''Mons Jovis''. A connection to

is re-affirmed by G. Bugler, who believed the "joie" came from a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

of " Gau", or region, presumably translating the phrase as "the place of the hill of St. Denis". Laura Hibbard Loomis believed the phrase to have originated from ''"meum gaudium"'' (my joy). This alternative Latin etymology is given by

Gerhard Rohlfs Gerhard Rohlfs (July 14, 1892 – September 12, 1986) was a German linguist. He taught Romance languages and literature at the universities in Tübingen and Munich. He was described as an "archeologist of words". Biography Rohlfs was born i ...

, who connected it to "Mons Gaudii", a name given by medieval pilgrims to a point where one would get their first glimpse of their destination.

Contemporary usage

The term has been sometimes associated with the royalist right-wing in France. In June 2021, French president

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

was slapped in the face by a man who shouted the motto. French legislator

Éric Coquerel Éric Coquerel (; born 30 December 1958) is a French politician representing La France Insoumise (LFI). He was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. In 2022, following the p ...

claimed that the perpetrators of a 2018 pie attack against him, associated with

Action Française ''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelot ...

, had also used the phrase.

Etymological theories

Contemporary usage

Notes

References

Further reading