The Latin word Gallus at the same time means "cock" and "Gallic". Certain currencies of Antiquity were struck of a cock, but the animal was not used yet as emblem with the tribes of Gaule. It is gradually that the figure of the cock became the notation symbolic of the French people best shared by all.
At the Average Age, the French cockerel is largely used like religious symbol, sign of hope and faith. It is as from the time of the Rebirth that the cock starts to be attached to the idea of French Nation which emerges little by little. Under the reign of Valois and Bourbons, the effigy of the Kings is often accompanied by this supposed animal to represent France in engravings, on the currencies.
It is the revolutionary period which will devote the cock like representation of the national identity.
At the time of the First World War, the assertion of the patriotic feeling will make French cock the figure of resistance and courage vis-a-vis to the Prussian eagle. This representation manich�enne will be used more and more as from this moment, in particular by the caricaturists, the cock becoming the symbol of France in the beginnings country, proud, obstinate, courageous and fertile.