Coup dEtat and Coup de Grace

Coup dEtat and Coup de Grace Coup d’Etat and Coup de Grace Coup d’Etat and Coup de Grace By Maeve Maddox Watching a rerun of Castle (U.S. television police drama), I was startled to hear a character use the expression counting coup. TV script writers rarely throw in literary or historical allusions. I was pleased to hear it, but disappointed to hear the character pronounce the p in coup. English has borrowed coup from the French not once, but twice. In about 1400, coup came into English with the literal meaning of â€Å"a blow or a stroke.† As a completely naturalized word, this use of coup was pronounced with a p until it dropped out of use. Later, in about 1640, the word coup was borrowed into Modern English in the expression coup d’etat. coup d’etat /ËÅ'ku deÉ ªÃ‹Ë†tÉ‘/. noun. a sudden and decisive stroke of state policy. In this figurative expression, the p at the end of coup and the t at the end of etat (French for â€Å"state†) are silent. Several other figurative expressions containing the word coup may be found in English texts written since then. At least twocoup d’etat and coup de graceare still common in the general media. Coup d’etat is often shortened to coup and used to describe a take-over of power, as in â€Å"a military coup.† The p is silent. coup de grace /kudÉ™ ˈgrÉ‘s/ noun. a blow by which one condemned or mortally wounded is quickly killed to be spared further suffering. As novelist Rick Castle explains to his bewildered detective friends, counting coup refers to a custom of the North American Plains Indians. Counting or taking coup could be a literal touching of an enemy with hand, weapon or stick and escaping alive, but it could also refer to taking a scalp, stealing horses, or any other bold act that bestowed prestige upon the doer. I’ll mention one more use of coup that may be familiar to billiard players: to run a coup. This, according to the OED, is â€Å"the act of holing a ball without its first striking another ball.† In case anyone is wondering, the word coupe, in which the p is pronounced, comes from the French verb couper, â€Å"to cut.† The French past participle form is coupà ©, pronounced /kuˈpeÉ ª/. American usage dropped the accent mark, changing the pronunciation to /kup/. The word first came into use to describe a type of horse-drawn carriage. Now it refers to a two-door automobile. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:5 Uses of InfinitivesHyper and HypoMay Have vs. Might Have