How 'Anglo-Saxon' Became The Term For So Many Of France's Bêtes Noires

Le monde anglo-saxon. Le modèle anglo-saxon. Le capitalisme anglo-saxon. L'hégémonie anglo-saxonne. You hear and read the term more and more in France these days, almost always for something opposed to the way the French do things and usually for something undesirable or worse. Yet before the mid-19th century, "anglo-saxon" was used in France only to refer to pre-Norman Conquest England. Emile Chabal lays out how the word went from historical designation to disparaging epithet. (It's not really about English-speakers at all.)

Article source here:Arts Journal