デタント ― detente

新年の辞で今年も世界を相手に物騒な発言で物議を醸した北朝鮮の金正恩氏ですが、韓国での冬季オリンピックへの参加をちらつかせ、韓国との対話姿勢を鮮明にしました。

昨日はおよそ2年ぶりの南北間での会談が行われましたが、その行方に世界が注目しました。


SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, spent 2017 rattling the world with nuclear and long-range missile tests and has promised more provocations in 2018. So it was a surprise when he deftly seized on the Winter Olympics on Tuesday to turn toward diplomacy with Seoul, playing the part of the statesman even while seeking fractures in the seven-decade alliance between South Korea and the United States.

After his outreach to Seoul on New Year’s Day, Mr. Kim agreed to send a team to compete in the Olympics next month when the Winter Games open in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang. That was followed by an announcement about resumption of military-to-military talks between the two countries — without the United States.

All this is a relief to South Korea’s leader, President Moon Jae-in, who feared the North would find a way — missile launches, terrorism, a nuclear test — to cast a pall over a sports event meant to highlight the South’s emergence as one of the world’s most dynamic economies.

Few in Seoul or Washington believe Mr. Kim, though an avid sports fan, is motivated solely by the Olympic spirit. The Winter Games also present him with an ideal opportunity to throw a wrench in President Trump’s threats of military action if the North does not agree to give up its nuclear program.
(North Korea Moves Toward Détente With Seoul. The Washington Post. January 9, 2018.)


少し引用が長くなりましたが、着目するのは記事のタイトルです。


North Korea Moves Toward Détente With Seoul


"Détente"は緊張緩和、という意味で、日本語でもカタカナの外交用語として「デタント」で知られますが、フランス語です。

フランス語のdestendere、つまり否定の接頭辞des-と動詞tendreから来ていますが、tendreというのは英単語のretainやmaintainなどにも見られるように、「持ちこたえる」という意味合いで、その否定形なので（持ちこたえるのではなく）力を抜く、つまり弛緩、緩和、といった意味になります。