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French language
French language member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages ). It is spoken as a first language by more than 70 million people, chiefly in France (55 million speakers), Belgium (3 million), Switzerland (1.5 million), former ...
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Maginot Line
Maginot Line , system of fortifications along the eastern frontier of France, extending from the Swiss border to the Belgian. It was named for André Maginot, who was French minister of war (1929-32) and who directed its construction. Although considered impregnable, the line was still not com...
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François Joseph Gossec
François Joseph Gossec , 1734-1829, Belgian composer; pupil of Rameau. In 1784 he organized the École Royale de Chant and taught (1795-1816) composition at its successor school, the Paris Conservatory. Enthusiastic about the French Revolution, he wrote many works to celebrate patriotic...
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pillbox
pillbox small, low fortification that houses machine guns and antitank weapons. Similar to a blockhouse, it is usually made of concrete, steel, logs, or filled sandbags. Pillboxes came into use during the early 20th cent. in the Belgian and French fortresses that were built before World War I. They...
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Marguerite
Marguerite For French women thus named, use Margaret.
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Walter Hagen
Walter Hagen , 1892-1969, American golfer, b. Rochester, N.Y. Hagen won the U.S. Open championship in 1914 and again in 1919; he took the British Open title in 1922, 1924, 1928, and 1929. "The Haig," as he was known to his admirers, also won the U.S. Professional Golfers Association championship...
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French Union
French Union 1946-58, political entity established by the French constitution of 1946. It comprised metropolitan France (the 90 departments of continental France and Corsica); French overseas departments, territories, settlements, and United Nations trusteeships; French colonies, which became overs...
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Jules Laforgue
Jules Laforgue , 1860-87, French symbolist poet. He was one of the first French poets to write in free verse. The revolutionary form of Les Complaintes (1885) and Derniers Vers (1890) influenced later French poets as well as such foreign poets as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.
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Neerwinden
Neerwinden , village, Liège prov., E Belgium. In the War of the Grand Alliance the French under Marshal Luxembourg defeated (1693) William III of England there. In the French Revolutionary Wars, a French defeat (1793) at Neerwinden resulted in the defection of General Dumouriez to the Aus...
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Papeete
Papeete , town (2007 pop. 26,017), capital of Tahiti and of French Polynesia , South Pacific. A port on the NW coast of Tahiti, Papeete ships copra, vanilla, and mother-of-pearl. The town has an important French nuclear laboratory and an international airport. The University of French Polynesia i...
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