From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
In the grocery complaint, quarteron is a quarter-pound quantity of butter. It is a measure of a tiny food purchase, not the racial classification found in another historical use of the same French word. The girl’s statement that one risks death for eggs and this much butter makes provisioning absurdly arduous.
Places to read
- Chapter VI, paragraph 26Frenchun quarteron de beurre: A quarter-pound of butter. The speaker anticipates another queue at the grocer’s that evening.