Literal Translation
To cry like a madeleine/Magdalene
Actual Meaning
To cry lots (excessively)
Etymology
This expression is used to describe crying profusely, sometimes even excessively, hence its slightly pejorative connotation. In the Bible, Mary Magdalene, a former prostitute, meets Jesus and confesses all her sins to him. She cries so profusely that she is able to wash his feet with her tears.
Jesus then forgives her sins and Mary Magdalene becomes one of his most fervent disciples. She became an inspiration for Renaissance painters, as she can be seen in some paintings, weeping before Christ’s tomb. Naturally, Mary Magdalene is associated with intense crying, and in the 13th century, the expression ‘faire la Madeleine’ (to play the Magdalene) came into use, meaning to pretend to want forgiveness.
It was thanks to Honoré de Balzac in the 19th century and his work La Comédie Humaine that the expression entered everyday language, as he wrote in Les petites misères de la vie conjugale: ‘He did not come back for dinner and returned very late. I swear to you, I stayed in my room crying like a Madeleine, by the fireside.’ Madeleine, which Balzac took the trouble to write with a capital ‘M’ to avoid any confusion.