Œil pour œil, dent pour dent / La loi du talion
Meaning: Retaliation exactly proportionate to the injury.
Language: French
Literally: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From Exodus, and older still in the Code of Hammurabi. It was framed as a limit rather than a license — the punishment may go no further than the offense — which is the reading modern use tends to lose. The principle has a name of its own in French — la loi du talion, from Latin talio, retaliation in kind — and that is the term lawyers use.
More idioms — Daily Life
- Tuer dans l'œuf — To stop something before it can develop.
- À pied d'œuvre — On site and ready to begin.
- S'occuper de ses oignons — To mind one's own business.
- Pousser des cris d'orfraie — To protest with theatrical outrage.
- Un ouvrier de la onzième heure — A latecomer who receives the same reward as those who did the work.
- La paille et la poutre — Noticing a small fault in others while ignoring a large one in oneself.
More French idioms
- Un homme de paille — A front man acting for someone who stays hidden.
- Envoyer paître — To tell someone to get lost.
- La boîte de Pandore — Something that releases a host of troubles once opened.
- Le dessus du panier — The pick of the crop; the best of a group.
- Un panier percé — Someone incapable of holding on to money.
- Le parcours du combattant — A gruelling series of obstacles.
From our false friends
- Attendre — Actually means 'to wait for'. J'attends le bus = I'm waiting for the bus. For attend an e…
- Actuel — Actually means 'current' or 'present-day'. Actuellement = currently — not 'actually'.
- Blesser — Actually means 'to wound' or 'to injure'. Je suis blessé = I am injured — not blessed.
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