Wiktionary

lansquenet

English edit

 
Daniel Hopfer, Landsknecht with his wife, c. 1525

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French lansquenet, from German Landsknecht, from Lands (“of the land”) + Knecht (“servant”). Doublet of Landsknecht.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɑːnskəˌnɛt/, /ˈlanskəˌnɛt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌlænskəˈnɛt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun edit

lansquenet (countable and uncountable, plural lansquenets)

  1. (countable, historical) Any of a class of German mercenaries of the 15th and 16th centuries, most of whom were pikemen and foot soldiers.
    • 1855, Gottfried Keller, translated by A.M. Holt, Green Henry, Calder Publications, published 1960, page 440:
      […] arising out of this festival there was established an individual lansquenet tradition, in speech and outward appearance, and the bare, sunburnt necks of the vagabond soldiers, their baggy garments hanging in shreds, and their short swords, could be seen all over the country for long afterwards.
    • 1999, HJC von Grimmelshausen, translated by Mike Mitchell, Simplicissimus, Dedalus, published 2016, page 52:
      Ruthless killing, wanton strife / Add up to a lanzknecht’s life.
    • 2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 55:
      I have never really been outdoorsy enough to make a mercenary landsknecht, although their immense two-handed swords, flowing moustaches and puffed-silk slashed sleeves take some beating.
  2. (uncountable) A gambling card game in which the dealer is given an initial card and the players another; cards are then turned up until the value (rank) of one of those cards is met.
    Synonym: skin the lamb
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
    • 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire:
      One could see part of the dimly lit court where under an enclosed poplar two soldiers on a stone bench were playing lansquenet.
    • 1782, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, translated by Helen Constantine, Dangerous Liaisons, published 2007, page 196:
      And so it was over the game of lansquenet that I scored my first triumph.

Translations edit

Further reading edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from German Landsknecht.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

lansquenet f (plural lansquenets)

  1. lansquenet

Descendants edit

  • → English: lansquenet
  • → Portuguese: lansquenete, lansquené
  • → Spanish: lansquenete

Further reading edit

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