View source for Martinet

{{Short description|Type of whip or strict person of authority}}
{{other uses}}
{{mcn|date=April 2024}}
{{wiktionary}}
The '''martinet''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɑːr|t|ɪ|n|ᵻ|t|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-martinet.wav}}<ref>[[OED]] ''s.v.'' ''martinet'', ''n.''2, "''[[A New English Dictionary|N.E.D.]]'' (1905) gives the pronunciation as (mā·ɹtinėt) /ˈmɑːtɪnɪt/ ."</ref>) is a punitive device traditionally used in France and other parts of Europe. The word also has other usages, described below.

==Object==
[[Image:Martinet.jpg|thumb|right|A simple, small martinet]]
A martinet is a short, [[scourge]]-like (multi-tail) type of [[whip (implement)|whip]] made of a wooden handle of about {{convert|25|cm}} in length and about 10 lashes of equal, relatively short length. The lashes are usually made of [[leather]], but sometimes [[soap]]-stiffened cords are used in place of leather. It was a traditional instrument of [[physical punishment]] in France and other European countries. In French, it also refers to a similar dusting implement; the type for chastisement was also known as ''fouet d'enfant'', meaning ''child's whip''. The lashes are light, so they are ineffective unless the child is whipped naked. The advantage is they give a stinging pain on bare skin, but will not cause an injury.

The martinet was often applied on the calves, so that the children did not have to disrobe. Otherwise it was usually applied on the bare buttocks, adding humiliation to the physical pain, like the English and Commonwealth [[caning]], [[birching]], naval [[cat o' nine tails]], American [[Paddle (spanking)|paddling]], et cetera.

Around 1962, annual production in France was estimated at 300,000 per year. Approximately 33-50% of French households were estimated to currently or formerly own a martinet.<ref name="french-punish">{{cite book |title=Quand et comment punir les enfants? |date=1989 |publisher=Paris : Editions ESF |isbn=978-2-7101-0748-4 |pages=68 |url=https://archive.org/details/quandetcommentpu0000inst/page/66/mode/2up |language=French |quote=Based on sales figures from druggists, department stores, wholesalers and artisanal manufacturers, I estimated French production of martinets at 300,000 per year. Taking into account the population of martinable children, the probable duration of use of a family object, I arrived at an approximation of one family in two or three having or having had a martinet.}}</ref>

It is now considered [[Child abuse|abusive]] to use a martinet to [[punishment|punish]] children. However, martinets were still sold in the [[pet]] section of French [[supermarket]]s. Many believe that a large share of those sold are meant for use on children, not pets, or at least to threaten them. Nowadays, however, many supermarkets in France have stopped selling the martinet, even in the pet section. 

The martinet is also used as an implement in [[erotic spanking]] scenes, hard to distinguish from the [[Flagellation|flogger]], but which is usually lighter.

==Person==
===In French===
The term was used for an external pupil of a ''collège'' (i.e., a kind of French high school, especially Catholic). [[Jean Bodin]], quoting the examination of three witches by [[Paolo Grillandi]] of Castiglione at the Castello San Paolo, [[Spoleto]], in his [[Jean Bodin#De la démonomanie des sorciers|writings about demonology]] records that the witches referred to the Devil as ''Master Martinet'' (''Maître Martinet''), or the ''Little Master'' (''Petit maître'').{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}{{clarification needed|}October 2018|reason=What is the relevance of this to the definition?|date=October 2018|post-text=(see [[Talk:Martinet#Clarification needed|talk]]) }}

===In English===
In English, the term ''martinet'' usually refers not to the whip but to those who might use it: those who demand strict adherence to set [[wiktionary:rule|rules]] and mete out punishment for failing to follow them. This sense of the word is reputedly [[Eponym|derived from the name of]] [[Jean Martinet]], Inspector General of the army of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], such that its relationship to the word's earlier sense is merely coincidental.

In an extended sense, a martinet is any person who believes strict adherence to rules and [[etiquette]] is paramount. Martinets often use etiquette and other rules as an excuse to trump [[ethics]], to the point that etiquette loses its ethical ground. In 1977, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine famously referred to the Ugandan dictator [[Idi Amin]] as a "strutting martinet".<ref name=time>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070902230955/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918762-1,00.html "Amin:The Wild Man of Africa"], ''Time Magazine'', 28 February 1977</ref>

==Other uses==
A French [[homonym]], from the bird name ''Martin'' and suffix -et, is the [[Swift (bird)|swift]]. 
== Etymology ==
{{wikt|martellus}}
In French, martinet also means a type of [[hammer]], a [[diminutive]] of ''marteau''  (from [[Latin]] ''martulus'', "little hammer").<ref>Online Latin Dictionary, ''Martulus'', small hammer  [https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?lemma=MARTULUS100 ] </ref><ref>Latin Lexicon, ''martulus'' or ''marculus'', small hammer; diminutiv from ''martus'' or ''marcus'', hammer [https://latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2034689&p2=m]</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{commons category|Martinets}}
* [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=martinet&searchmode=none Etymology OnLine]
* [https://ditsong.org.za/en/the-klopfeitsche-martinet/ On clothes whip use in Germany] (DITSONG: Museums of South Africa)
[[Category:Whips]]