Today's Word "Martinet"
Published in Vocabulary
martinet \mar-tehn-ET\ (noun) - An unreasonably harsh and unyielding disciplinarian; an extreme stickler for detail and form.
"Elliot is such a martinet in the office you could cut the tension with a knife."
The eponym of today's word is Jean Martinet, 17th century French army officer and Inspector-General of the Infantry under Louis XIV. This rigid disciplinarian was fragged (shot by his own men) at the Battle of Duisburg. Today's word was actually around before Jean Martinet but associated with other meanings, e.g. the demon who summons witches to their assemblies and a medieval military engine that catapulted large stones. The word named two birds, too, the martin and the swift, until it became too unsavory to be associated with creatures so innocent and lovely.
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