dérouler

Forms

dérouler^[1] Middle French desroller (about 1389) and desrouler (1538); the spelling dérouler is recorded in 1636.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French dé- + rouler,^[2][5][1][6] as the opposite of enrouler.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date it from 1538.^[7]

Bloch and Wartburg derive the base verb from rouelle (“small wheel”), from Late Latin rotella, formed from Latin rota (“wheel”);^[7] the FEW files the family under rotulus (“small wheel, roll”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as desroller about 1389 in Philippe de Mézières' Songe du vieil pèlerin, of unrolling a written roll: il faudrait mon role desroller “I would have to unroll my roll”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant “to undo what was rolled up”, both in everyday use and in trades, later in the woodworking industry.^[3] With a thing as subject it came to mean “to spread out before the eyes, to offer to sight or mind” (1790).^[2][3] The reflexive se dérouler, besides “to unroll”, has been said since 1798 of a series of events that take place in time.^[2][3]

Its main derivative déroulement (1704) was first a term of descriptive geometry, then took the general sense (1805) and the figurative “succession in time” (1799); déroulage (1802) is the technical word for peeling a log into a thin continuous sheet (1870).^[3] Quemada's datings note an intransitive use “to tumble down” in Flaubert (1850).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1389 – Desroller appears in Philippe de Mézières.^[2][3]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records desrouler.^[4][7]
• 1636 – The spelling dérouler appears in Monet's dictionary.^[4]
• 1704 – The derivative déroulement is recorded in geometry.^[3][7]
• 1790 – Used for displaying something to view.^[2][3]
• 1798 – Se dérouler “to take place” appears.^[2][3]
• 1870 – Déroulage takes its woodworking sense.^[3][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To unroll, to spread out what was rolled up: dérouler une carte sur la table.^[10][6][1]
2. Se dérouler: to come unrolled, to uncoil.^[10]
3. (woodworking) To peel a log into a thin continuous veneer.^[10][2]
4. To spread out before the eyes, to display.^[10][3]
5. (figurative) To set out in sequence, as one's thoughts or a story.^[10][6]
6. Se dérouler: to take place, to unfold in time: La réunion s'est déroulée sans incident.^[3][2][1]
7. (of waves) To break.^[1]

Word family

• déroulement
• déroulage

Related words

• rouler
• enrouler
• rôle

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 514b
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert