Lapalissian. How many times have we heard this peculiar and somewhat comical term in everyday conversations? But where does it come from? Let’s start with its meaning: lapalissian refers to a truism, an obvious statement, something that is so self-evident it becomes almost ridiculous to point it out.

Historically, the word lapalissian owes both its name and meaning to Jacques de La Palice (1470–1525), a French military leader, Marshal of France, and Lord of La Palice. Beyond being a renowned and highly respected soldier throughout France, La Palice also served as the personal guard of King Francis I during the Battle of Pavia in 1525. In this battle, where Francis himself was captured by the Spanish forces of Charles V, the French reliance on medieval cavalry clashed with the Renaissance firepower of the Spanish, who wielded cannons and arquebuses.

During the fight, La Palice attempted to defend his dismounted king, who was attacked by Spanish infantry. He was struck down by arquebus fire and, hindered by his heavy armor, was taken prisoner: “[...] Old as he was, he tried to fight on foot; but Castaldo, lieutenant of Pescara, captured him [...]”. La Palice was later killed in a petty dispute between the Italian lieutenant and a Spaniard over who would claim the ransom for his capture: “[...] Buzarto shot Marshal de Chabannes with an arquebus, saying: ‘Well then, he shall belong neither to you nor to me!’”

After the war, La Palice’s widow recovered his body and had him buried with an epitaph that read: Ci-gît Monsieur de La Palice. S’il n’était pas mort, il ferait encore envie (“Here lies Monsieur de La Palice. If he were not dead, he would still be envied”). Over time, however, some letters on the tombstone deteriorated, transforming ferait envie (“would be envied”) into serait en vie (“would be alive”). Thus, the heroic inscription was twisted into a ridiculous statement: “If he were not dead, he would still be alive.”

This accidental distortion gave rise to the expression we still use today to indicate an obvious, self-evident truth, what we now call something lapalissian.