Literal Translation
Not to have cold eyes
Actual Meaning
To be fearless
Etymology
The origin of this phrase can be traced back to the 16th century. At that time, when people wanted to express a feeling, they used the affirmative form ‘to be cold’ and associated it with a part of the body according to the feeling being expressed. For example, people would say ‘avoir froid aux pieds’ (to have cold feet) to express jealousy or ‘avoir froid aux dents’ (to have cold teeth) to say that they were hungry.
It was then in the 19th century that a variation of this expression appeared. It was used in thieves’ slang, still in the positive form, with the phrase ‘avoir froid au cul’ (to have a cold bum), often shortened to ‘avoir froid’ (to be cold), which meant ‘to be afraid’.
According to linguist Alain Rey, this slang may have been derived from the expression ‘avoir froid aux yeux’ (to have cold eyes), which was transformed into ‘avoir froid au cul’ because in slang, the other word for “anus” is “œil”.