What is a "Cheminot"?

I ran across this word in Madame Bovary. The literal translation seems to be something like "railway worker, railwayman."

In Bovary it is a pastry or bread of some sort:

Madame Homais was very fond of these small, heavy turban-shaped loaves, that are eaten in Lent with salt butter; a last vestige of Gothic food that goes back, perhaps, to the time of the Crusades, and with which the robust Normans gorged themselves of yore, fancying they saw on the table, in the light of the yellow torches, between tankards of hippocras and huge boars' heads, the heads of Saracens to be devoured.

***

The very little I found on "cheminot" (alternate spelling "chemineau") on line seems to confirm Flaubert's description: a special cake or roll eaten at certain festivals (Western France).

http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/chemineau//1

Comments

HyggeMomma said…
I am delighted to see someone else that gets caught up in the details of a good book.
January 8, 2021 at 1:08 PM
R L Swihart said…
Momma, Thanks for commenting. Been reading Cather's "Death Comes for the Archbishop" -- the same thing: so many details that are worth tracking down. Especially since I just drove through that part of the world (Santa Fe). Best, RLS
May 9, 2021 at 10:09 AM
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