après moi le déluge

French edit

FWOTD – 19 April 2022

Alternative forms edit

après nous le déluge

Etymology edit

Literally, “after me, the deluge”. Attributed to French King Louis XV^[1] or his mistress Madame de Pompadour.^[2] Sometimes quoted as après nous le déluge (“after us, the deluge”).

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /a.pʁɛ mwa l(ə) de.lyʒ/
Audio (file)

Phrase edit

après moi le déluge

Used to indicate indifference to events that will happen after one’s death, or to indicate one’s own importance in maintaining order; after us the deluge
- 1908 [1895], Charles Wagner, La vie simple‎^[1]; republished as Mary Louise Hendee, transl., The Simple Life, 1904:
  Les sociétés qui ont de trop grands besoins s’absorbent dans le présent, elles lui sacrifient les conquêtes du passé et lui immolent l’avenir. Après nous le déluge!
  When society has too great needs, it is absorbed with the present, sacrifices to it the conquests of the past, immolates to it the future. After us the deluge!

Descendants edit

→ Czech: po mně potopa (calque)
→ Dutch: na mij de zondvloed (calque)
→ English: after me the deluge, after us the deluge (calque)
→ Finnish: meidän jälkeemme vedenpaisumus (calque)
→ German: nach mir die Sintflut (calque)
→ Norwegian: etter oss syndfloden (calque)
→ Polish: po nas choćby potop, po nas choćby i potop (calque)
→ Russian: по́сле на́с хо́ть пото́п (pósle nás xótʹ potóp) (calque)
→ Lithuanian: po manęs nors ir tvanas (calque)

References edit

^ “après moi le déluge”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ The Expression “Après moi le déluge”, and Its Classical Antecedents