Etymologically
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ballet

Etymology and origin of the French word ballet

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1598
Borrowed from
Italian balletto
Ultimate origin
Italian (balletto)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French ballet
English ballet

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ba.lɛ/[1]

Forms

ballet m (plural ballets)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian balletto (“little dance; danced scene”) (16th century),[2][3][4][5] the diminutive in “-etto” of “ballo” “ball, dance”, the noun of “ballare” “to dance”, which corresponds to Old French “baller” (see bal).[2][4] Wiktionary takes “ballare” from Late Latin ballō, and Etymonline from Greek “ballizein” “to dance, jump about”.[1][6] Littré called it simply a diminutive of “bal”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marnix (1598) and d'Aubigné, who writes that Les nymphes descendirent pour danser un ballet, are the first records;[8][9][7] Bloch and Wartburg give 1578.[3]

Semantic evolution

As in Italian it names a dance performed on stage by several people, and by metonymy the company of dancers and the music (Coppélia, by Delibes).[2][9] The 17th century had the ballets de cour and the hybrid comédie-ballet and opéra-ballet, and the 20th the Ballets russes, corps de ballet and maître de ballet.[2][5][9] From about 1950 it is figuratively an intense round of comings and goings (le ballet diplomatique); ballets roses (1958) alludes to a sex scandal.[2][5] Stravinsky (1921) used balletomane.[2] English ballet was borrowed from French in the 1660s.[6]

Timeline

  • 1578 – First record, according to Bloch and Wartburg.[3]
  • 1598 – In Marnix.[8]
  • 1660s – English ballet.[6]
  • 1921 – Balletomane in Stravinsky.[2]
  • c. 1950 – Figurative ballet.[2]
  • 1958 – Ballets roses.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ballet: danser un ballet, ballet classique, corps de ballet.[5][10]
  2. The music for a ballet.[5][9]
  3. A ballet company: les Ballets russes.[5][10]
  4. (figurative) A round of comings and goings: le ballet diplomatique.[5][10]

Word family

  • ballerine
  • balletomane

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ballet.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/ballet. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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