Editing Jean Nicot

{{Short description|French diplomat and scholar (1530–1604)}}
{{distinguish|text=the French logician [[Jean Nicod]]}}{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jean Villemain
| image               = Jean Nicot.jpg
| caption             = 19th-century engraving of Jean Nicot (1530-1600)
| birth_place         = [[Nîmes]], [[Kingdom of France|France]]
| office              = [[France–Portugal relations|France Ambassador to Portugal]]
| death_place         = [[Paris]], France
| death_date          = {{dda|1604|5|4|1530|df=y}}<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/celebrations2004/villemain.htm|title=Célébrations nationales 2004 - Jean Nicot, sieur de Villemain|website=www2.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref>
| birth_date          = 1530
| monarch             = {{plainlist|
*[[Henry II of France|Henry II]]
*[[Francis II of France|Francis II]]
*[[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]]
}}
| term_start          = 1559
| term_end            = 1571
}}
'''Jean Nicot de Villemain''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ niko də vilmɛ̃|lang}}; 1530 – 4 May 1604)<ref name="auto"/> was a French diplomat and scholar. He is famous for being the first to bring tobacco to France, including snuff tobacco. [[Nicotine]] is named after the tobacco plant ''[[Nicotiana tabacum]],'' which in turn is named after Jean Nicot de Villemain, who sent tobacco and seeds to [[Paris]] in 1560, presented it to the King [[Francis II of France|Francis II]],<ref name="Rang H. P 2007, page 598">{{cite book  | vauthors =  Dale MM, Ritter JM, Fowler RJ, Rang HP |title=Rang & Dale's Pharmacology |publisher=Churchill Livingstone |isbn=978-0-8089-2354-1 |edition=6th | page = 598 }}</ref> and who promoted their medicinal use. Smoking was believed to protect against illness, particularly the plague.<ref name="Rang H. P 2007, page 598" />

==Early life==
Jean Nicot was born in 1530 in [[Nîmes]], in the south of France. His father was a [[notary]]. He was educated in [[Toulouse]] and [[Paris]].<ref name="britannica">Kara Rogers, [http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Nicot Jean Nicot: French diplomat and scholar], [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]</ref>

==Career==
At 29 years old in 1559, he was sent from France to Portugal to negotiate the marriage of six-year-old princess [[Margaret of Valois]] to five-year-old King [[Sebastian of Portugal]].<ref name="britannica" /> Nicot served as the French [[Ambassador (diplomacy)|ambassador]] in [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]] from 1559 to 1561 under [[Henry II of France|Henry II]], under king [[Francis II of France|Francis II]] from 1559 to 1560, and from 1560 to 1574 under [[Charles IX of France|Charles IX]].

===Introduction of tobacco===

When Nicot returned, he brought [[tobacco]] plants. He introduced [[snuff (tobacco)|snuff]] tobacco to the French royal court.<ref name="Britannica In particular, he presented the queen mother, [[Catherine de' Medici]], with tobacco leaves to cure her of her migraines.<ref name="thecompleteguide">Steve Luck, ''The Complete Guide to Cigars: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Finest Cigars'', Bath, UK: Parragon, p. 13</ref> The plant was also an instant success with the Father Superior of Malta, who shared tobacco with all of his monks. More and more of the fashionable people of Paris began to use the plant, making Nicot a celebrity.

Although [[André Thevet]] argued that he had introduced tobacco to France,<ref name="ley196512">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Ley
 |first=Willy
 |author=
 |last2=
 |first2=
 |last3=
 |first3=
 |date=December 1965
 |title=The Healthfull Aromatick Herbe
 |department=For Your Information
 |url=
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=88–98
 |type=
}}</ref> the plant was called Nicotina. But [[nicotine]] later came to refer specifically to the particular chemical in the plant. The tobacco plant, ''[[Nicotiana]]'', also a flowering garden plant, was named after him by [[Carl Linnaeus]],<ref name="britannica"/> as was [[nicotine]].<ref>Taylor, R. B.: ''White Coat Tales – Medicine's Heroes, Heritage and Misadventures'', Springer, 2007, p. 96</ref> Nicot described its believed medicinal properties (1559) and sent it as a medicine to the French court.<ref name="britannica"/>

===French dictionary===

For his service to the French royal court, Nicot was given the name 'de Villemain' and land near [[Brie-Comte-Robert]]. There, he compiled one of the first French [[dictionary|dictionaries]], {{lang|frm-1606nict|Thresor de la langue françoyse tant ancienne que moderne}} (published in 1606).<ref name="britannica"/> His dictionary, according to [[Ibram X. Kendi]], was the first that included an entry for the concept of [[Race (human categorization)|race]].<ref>[[Ibram X. Kendi]], [[Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America]], 2016, 3rd chapter{{Page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>
The [[IETF language tag]]s have registered {{code|frm-1606nict}} for "16th century French as in Jean Nicot, 'Thresor de la langue francoyse', 1606, but also including some French similar to that of [[Rabelais]]".<ref name="IANA">{{cite web |title=IETF Language Subtag Registry |url=https://www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry/language-subtag-registry |website=IANA |access-date=7 October 2021 |language=en |date=2021-08-06}}</ref>

==Death==
He died on May 4, 1604,<ref name="auto"/> in Paris, France.<ref name="britannica"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* Nuno Vila-Santa, Diplomacy and Humanism: ambassador Jean Nicot and the French-Portuguese maritime rivalry (1559-1561), Anuario de Estudios Americanos, 80, 1, 2023, pp. 43-77. [https://www.academia.edu/94690617/Diplomacy_and_Humanism_ambassador_Jean_Nicot_and_the_French_Portuguese_maritime_rivalry_1559_1561_Anuario_de_Estudios_Americanos_80_1_2023_pp_43_77]
*[http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wulfric/nicot/ Website dedicated to Nicot's ''Thresor''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302020732/http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wulfric/nicot/ |date=2010-03-02 }} (in French)
*[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/projects/dicos/TLF-NICOT/ -Search the ''Thresor'' online]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicot, Jean}}
[[Category:1530 births]]
[[Category:1604 deaths]]

[[Category:16th-century French diplomats]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of France to Portugal]]
[[Category:French lexicographers]]
[[Category:People from Nîmes]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Tobacconists]]