Noyades

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical reference to mass executions by drowning, particularly during the French Revolution
2. An act or series of executions conducted by submerging victims in water
3. A term describing the brutal practice of eliminating individuals through forced drowning, often as a form of political purge

Etymology: The word is the plural of "noyade", borrowed from French, where it names the mass drowning of prisoners. The most famous episode gave the term its grim reputation: during the Reign of Terror in 1793-1794, Jean-Baptiste Carrier, the representative on mission sent to Nantes, had prisoners loaded onto barges that were scuttled in the Loire, a method that became known as the "noyades" of Nantes. The French noun is formed from the verb "noyer", "to drown", which descends from Latin "necare", "to kill", a verb that also gave Old French its general sense of drowning. The core idea is simply the act of drowning someone, and the political sense came from the particular atrocities of the Revolutionary period rather than from any change in the word's basic meaning.