Bicot, opprobrium of unknown meaning, or origin; melon, slang for "a simpleton"; figuier, "fig tree", because the Algerian peasant allegedly spent his day sitting under its shade; sale raton, "dirty little rat"; hence, later, the odious expression ratonnade, rat-hunt, or Arab-killing (not to be confused with ratissage).

XREF: Connects to broader scholarship on how dehumanizing language enables violence and atrocity, a pattern seen across colonial and genocidal contexts.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 173