Etymologically
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carrousel

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ka.ʁu.zɛl/[1]
  • IPA: /ka.ʁu.sɛl/[1]

Forms

carrousel[1] Carrouselles (1596), carrousel (1620).[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Neapolitan carusello (Italian carosello), the name of a game of Moorish origin brought to Naples by the Spaniards in the 16th century (about 1580, Sassetti),[2][3][4][5] in which two teams of horsemen threw chalk balls shaped like heads at each other: a special use of “carus(i)ello”, a head-shaped clay money box, from “caruso” “shaven head”.[2][3][4] Rey derives “caruso” from Latin “carosius” “carious, scabby”, from Latin cariēs (see carie).[3] The double ⟨rr⟩ comes from association with carrosse, through the shared idea of horses.[3][4]

Littré took Italian “garosello” from “garoso” “quarrelsome”, and Guiraud, quoted by the Grand Robert, compared French “carrousse” “revelry”.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Blaise de Vigenère's Tableaux de Philostrate (1596) speaks of carrouselles practiquees en Espagne a la genette, tournaments ridden in the Spanish fashion, carrousel is recorded in 1620, from the father of Pierre-Daniel Huet.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was a tournament or parade in which teams of horsemen performed figures and games (un carrousel vis-à-vis les Tuileries, 1662, in Voltaire), and in 1740 the place where one was held (la place du Carrousel in Paris).[2][3][7] By analogy it became a merry-go-round (Journal officiel, 5 May 1870), a sense now used in Belgium, Switzerland, northern France and Quebec.[2][3][8]

Figuratively it is a rapid succession or whirl (un carrousel d'avions, le carrousel ministériel).[7][8][9] After English it names an airport baggage carousel, and in technology a circular conveyor or slide tray.[3][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1580 – Neapolitan carusello.[2]
  • 1596 – Carrouselles in Vigenère.[2]
  • 1620 – Carrousel.[2]
  • 1740 – The place of a carousel, in the Académie.[2]
  • 5 May 1870 – A merry-go-round.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A carousel, equestrian parade or tournament.[8][9]
  2. The ground where it is held: la place du Carrousel.[8][7]
  3. (Belgium, Switzerland, Canada) A merry-go-round.[8][9]
  4. (figurative) A whirl, rapid succession: le carrousel ministériel.[9][8]
  5. (technology) A circular conveyor; a baggage carousel; a slide tray.[9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)