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Marsellaise (n.)

French national republican song, 1826, from fem. of adjective Marseillais "of Marseilles." The tune originally was "War Song for the Rhine Army," composed (for the Strasbourg volunteers) by royalist officer Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836); the current name is because it was sung enthusiastically by soldiers from Marseilles advancing on the Tuileries, Aug. 10, 1792. However, during the Revolution, the city was punished for its royalist Sympathies by being stripped of its name and called instead  Ville-sans-Nom "city without a name" (which is, of course, a name).

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