Note 41.3 — LOS INTERESES CREADOS

Picardía. A noun of double meaning; as a common noun picardía denotes 'knavery' or 'roguery,' and as a proper noun Picardía is the name of an old province in Northern France centering in the valley of the Somme, and called Picardie (Picardy). In the thirteenth century there sprang up in Picardy a sect of heretics who became known as les picards, which came to mean 'rogues,' 'oath-breakers,' etc. François Villon alludes to them, and they were widely known.