Today we invite you to get acquainted with an interesting French expression L’avocat du diable. How is this French expression translated? The word L’avocat is translated as a lawyer. The little word Du is just a French continuous article. And the word diable is translated as the devil. And all together this expression is translated as the devil’s advocate?
What does this French expression mean?
To understand the meaning of this French expression, you need to turn to the sources of its origin. For the first time, the term L’avocat du diable or devil’s advocate began to be used in the Middle Ages in the Catholic environment. And this term appeared thanks to the procedure for canonizing a saint. The fact is that the canonization of a new saint in the Catholic Church was carried out in the form of a dispute. One of the participants in the dispute (the so-called “God’s advocate”) extolled the merits of the canonized. And another (the so-called “devil’s advocate”) expressed his objections. Thus, in the course of the dispute, it was decided whether any monk could be considered a saint or not. By the way, the position of the devil’s advocate was officially abolished only in 1983 by John Paul II.
In modern French, in a broader sense, L’avocat du diable is a defender of a hopeless cause, in whose success he does not believe. Also, L’avocat du diable is often called a person who, even in good, will certainly try to find flaws.