achoppement de brute

[Mariam Soraya]

Does someone know the meaning of "achoppement de brute" in English?

[George Hunt]

 

I think he is talking about  the slouching (or lumbering) gait (achopement) of savages (brutes).

Alternatively  you could say their brutal ungainliness .

 

His (Flaubert's) character  is comparing ,I think, without knowing the full  context a barbarian (=not Roman) people to  animals (or at least  unsophisticated people) by way of their physical comportment.

 

However I never came across the phrase before so I could be mistaken.