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guillotine

Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the beheading machine. In 1789 he only asked for a quicker, more humane way to execute people, but the device took his name anyway, and the Revolution's fame carried the word from French into English, across Europe and as far as Japan.

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The story you may have heard

Guillotin invented the guillotine and was executed by it. He did neither: the prototype was built under Antoine Louis, and Guillotin died in his bed in 1814; it was his embarrassed family who changed their name.

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1789French

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