Word of the Day:

"The graphic novelist Posy Simmonds has won the Grand Prix at France's Angoulême International Comics festival—the first time a British artist and author has been awarded the world's most prestigious prize for lifetime achievement in comics. … "I wanted to take the story of Madame Bovary but update it and it would be my story," she said. "When it was published in French, I was rather frightened. I was worried it would be seen as lèse-majesté that I had appropriated this great French classic. But they really liked the book, which was wonderful." — Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian (London, England), 24 Jan. 2024

Lèse-majesté (or lese majesty, as it is also styled in English publications) came into English by way of Middle French, from the Latin laesa majestas, which literally means "injured majesty." The English term can conceivably cover any offense against a sovereign power or its ruler, from treason to a simple breach of etiquette, but lèse-majesté has also acquired a more lighthearted or ironic meaning, referring to something that insults or shows disrespect, especially to a particularly pompous or self-important person or organization. As such, it may be applied to a relatively inoffensive act that has been exaggeratedly treated as if it were a great affront.