From Карандаш to Caran d’Ache...
Word - Слово (and History...)
Карандаш (karandash): Russian word coming from the Turkish karadaş, formed from kara = black and daş = stone (same origin as in the Tatar qara taş = graphite). Карандаш = pencil.
From Карандаш to Caran d'Ache...
Once upon a time... A grenadier in Napoleon's Grande Armée. Wounded during the Battle of Borodino, he was left behind and remained in Russia. His grandson, Emmanuel Poiré, born in Moscow on November 6, 1858, returned to his country of origin in 1877. He asked to regain French nationality and joined the army for 5 years, where he worked in design of uniforms, and contributed to their newspaper, La vie Militaire, for which he drew satirical illustrations...
In a few years, he became one of the most popular satirical cartoonists in the press of the time. He signed his drawings with the artist name that he invented by transforming the Russian word pencil (karandash), which is his working tool, to give it the form of a noble proper first name and name: Caran d'Ache .
When the Swiss entrepreneur Arnold Schweitzer bought the "Fabrique Genevoise de Crayons" in 1924, in homage to the famous French caricaturist of Russian origin, he renamed the company with the pseudonym of Emmanuel Poiré: Caran d'Ache... And it is by this way that almost all Europeans (of a certain age) know, at the same time as the famous box of colored pencils from their childhood, and without suspecting it... a Russian word (at least phonetically).
Illustrations:
1. Emmanuel Poiré, known as Caran d'Ache, photographed by Nadar in 1890.
2. The famous box of colored pencils from our childhood...
Other Intercultural Notes...
"Si vis pacem..." the article, some kind of manifesto of our association.
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