What is your country’s favourite epithet for traitor?

8 comments

1. Quisling without a doubt. It’s an established noun in Swedish dictionaries and glossaries, synonymous with traitor.

   [A famous Swedish cartoon from 1944, depicting Vidkun Quisling visiting Berlin](https://i.imgur.com/CtVRUJp.jpg).

   > – I’m Quisling!
   >
   > – And your name?

   —

   EDIT:

   A related term is *femtekolonnare* (fifth columner), referring to the [fifth column](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column) of the early phase of the Spanish Civil War.

2. Not an epithet exactly, but an Ireland-specific term as far as I know.

   During the Great Hunger in the mid 19th century, when the mostly Catholic Irish people were starving, some British Protestant religious groups offered soup to the starving on condition that the people they fed also had to sit through Protestant lectures about the evils of Catholicism, or join Protestant congregations, etc. They would intentionally serve only meat soup on Catholic fast days so Catholics would have to violate their faith or starve.

   Some starving people accepted those terms, and since them saying someone is a “Souper” or has “taken the soup” has been an insult in Ireland for people who betray something others see as important.

3. It’s not quite as popular of a term here in the Republic, but up in the North a ‘Lundy’ is a famous example of a traitor to protestant unionists (for reference, Robert Lundy was the governor of Derry city during the English Civil War, who suggested surrendering to the Catholic King James’s army, who were sieging the city at the time). Every year an effigy of him is paraded through parts of Derry and then burned.

   Down South though I’d say a ‘West Brit’ is the most common epithet for traitor – usually describing someone who is too keen on British culture/politics/classism/monarchism, especially if they wish to implement said things into irish society.

4. Not exactly traitor as in “You committed treason against your nation.”, but rather a traitor as in “snitch”:

   In some Swiss German dialects a snitch is called a “Rätschbäse”; a combination of the words “rätsche” (to snitch) and “bäse” (a broom). Basically a snitching broom.

5. It’s not a favourite epithet but it is specifically Polish: a ‘folksdojcz’, Polish pronunciation of a word Volksdeutsch. During war some people pledged allegiance to “German nation” as they claimed to have German roots or just aligned with the Nazis by signing a so called Volksliste. Basically a term for low-key collaborators.
   Another common term for a betrayal is Targowica, a reference to Targowica confederation of 1792. It was a conservative plot (backed by Russian imperial court) to thwart modernisation efforts and reforms aiming to save sovereignty and independence of Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania. This term is particularly common in politics.

6. A phrase I have always heard, and which has always struck me as vehement, is *essere falsi come Giuda* (being as deceitful as Judas). There is also the expression *bacio di Giuda* (Judas kiss) to indicate a flattery that conceals a betrayal.

   In general, insults of various kinds to Judas are very common expletives in Italian.

7. [Artúr Görgei](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art%C3%BAr_G%C3%B6rgei?wprov=sfla1) was claimed to be a traitor by Lajos Kossuth (former governor) for surrendering unconditionally to the Russian army after the 1849 War of Independence. He lives on in public consciousness as a traitor, though modern historians tend to decline this view, as Görgei didn’t really have another choice, while Kossuth was criticizing him from exile.

8. From the ones you’ve mentioned, I’ve only heard Judas being used. The only region specific one I could think of is Boleslav.

   Historically, the national Saint of Bohemia, St Václav (Wenceslas, as in the Carol “Good King Wenceslas”), who was a king of Bohemia, was betrayed by his younger brother Boleslav who had him and his grandmother Lidmila assassinated, hence easing their way to sainthood. The story of St. Wenceslaus is taught at primary school or even kindergarten (with age appropriate adaptations). So this is basically the most famous traitor in our context.

   Sometimes also the early WWII president Hácha, who was in charge when Nazis took over the Czech Republic. Its a bit of a national chip on our shoulder that the West handed us over to the Germans so easily, even though we’ve had close political ties and agreements of mutual protection. Then, even our president refused to put up any resistance even though the country was prepared for war (dozens of military forts built in weeks, mobilised army, etc.). Of course, from today’s point of view, it probably prevented a huge bloodshed. But when speaking about traitors, especially politically, Hácha does come up as a nasty nickname, especially among the older generations.