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Just as with the term ''lambic'', there is still no general consensus on the etymological history of the word ''gueuze'' as it relates to beer. ''Gueuze'' is the French spelling whereas ''geuze'' came into use in the Belgo-Dutch dialect. Present-day Lembecq was initially part of the French département of Dyle, created in 1795, solidifying its position as a French-speaking region until it was handed over to The Netherlands in 1815 after the fall of Napoleon I. In the years between 1815 and 1830 when Belgium gained its political and territorial independence from The Netherlands, the town remained a quasi French-speaking area of Flemish Brabant.
Guinard (1990) claims that it was in the town of Lembecq where the gueuze appellation was born. He writes that in 1870 “the mayor of Lembecq, who owned a brewery, hired an engineer by the name of Cayaerts. Together, they decided to apply the ''méthode Champenoise'' to referment lambic beer in a bottle.” It was initially called ''“lambic des gueux”'' as a nod to the mayor’s liberal political party. <ref name="Guinard">Jean-Xavier Guinard, [[Books#Classic Beer Styles: Lambic|Classic Beer Styles: Lambic]], 1990</ref> Acknowledging again the important role that beer has played among the peasantry, it is interesting to note that the word “''gueux''” can best be translated as the obscure French word for beggar or commoner and that the feminine form of the noun is ''gueuse.'' The feminine form of the word is used today as a derogatory word for a woman. Should this story hold true, as further research is needed, then the linguistic home of gueuze is very closely tied to its geographical home of the [[Pajottenland]].
Looking into the words ''gueux/gueuse'' (French) and ''geuze/geuzen'' (Dutch) the historical strand becomes clearer. While it is unclear which term came first (French of Dutch) or if they existed simultaneously, the plural Dutch word ''Geuzen'' historically identifies a group of Calvinist Dutch nobles who opposed the Spanish rule of the Netherlands between 1581 to 1714. It can also be used to refer to a subset of historical beggars, pirates, or privateers in Dutch. As Spanish power waned in the early part of the 18th century France repeatedly invaded the territory. French incursions into the area forged linguistic ties in Flemish Brabant, and the County of Hainaut (now part of present-day France and Belgium (where Hal/Halle/Lembecq) is located) and remain an integral part lambic history today.
From a phonological standpoint there is very little variation in the words ''gueuze'' (French) and ''geuze'' (Dutch). The initial French masculine noun of ''geux'' receives the [se] after dropping the [x] in the feminine form resulting in a final ''/z/'' sound, which is how the French spell it today. The Dutch spelling varies slightly dropping the initial [u] while still retaining the final ''/z/'' sound in a slightly more emphasize and elongated manner. The plural forms of the word in both French and Dutch retain normal grammatical rules respective of their languages, thus transforming the name of the beer back into either a word meaning ‘beggars’ or ‘commoners’ for French or a group of malcontents in Dutch.
The use ''gueuze'' and ''geuze'' today varies brewery by brewery just as the term lambic and lambi(e)k does. The spelling of the word generally follows the geographic-linguistic placement of the brewery using it, but it should be noted that this is not always the case. [[Brouwerij Girardin|Brouwerij Girardin]], which bears a mixed Dutch/French name and is situated in the Belgo-Dutch speaking region of St. Ulrik’s Kapelle, uses the French term ''gueuze'' for their [[Gueuze 1882 (Black label)|Gueuze Girardin]] bottlings. The same holds true for [[Brouwerij Lindemans|Brouwerij Lindemans]] who uses the French term for their [[Gueuze Cuvée René]].
===The Language of Fruit===