E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Fronde (1 syl.).
A political squabble during the ministry of Cardinal Maz’arin, in the minority of Louis XIV. (1648–1653). The malcontents were called Frondeurs, from a witty illustration of a councillor, who said that they were “like schoolboys who sling stones about the streets. When no eye is upon them they are bold as bullies; but the moment a ‘policeman’ approaches, away they scamper to the ditches for concealment” (Montglat). The French for a sling is fronde, and for slingers, frondeurs.
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“It was already true that the French government was a despotism … and as speeches and lampoons were launched by persons who tried to hide after they had shot their dart, some one compared them to children with a sling (fronde), who let fly a stone and run away.”—C. M. Yonge: History of France, chap. viii. p. 136.
