idylle

Forms

idylle f (plural idylles)^[1] Early spellings idilie (feminine, 1555), idyllie (masculine, 1565) and idille (masculine, 1638); the modern feminine idylle is fixed by Boileau in 1674.^[2][3] Littré's pronunciation is i-di-l'.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian idillio (“little pastoral poem”), itself taken from Renaissance Latin idyllium, the title given to the poems of Theocritus in an edition printed at Venice in 1539.^[2][3][5] The TLFi presents the Latin word as the immediate source, with Italian as the intermediary.^[2] The Latin is a rendering of Ancient Greek εἰδύλλιον (eidúllion, “little poem”), a word chosen by Byzantine scholars for Theocritus's poems, which had until then been called eclogues or bucolics.^[2][3] It is a diminutive of εἶδος (eîdos, “form, shape”), which had taken the sense “lyric poem” in Byzantium.^[3][4][6] Rey traces the Greek word to the Indo-European root meaning “to see”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vauquelin de La Fresnaye wrote idilies in 1555 for short pastoral poems, as the Greek name beside eclogues.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a short poem on a pastoral and amorous subject, as in Theocritus;^[3][7] its gender wavered in the 17th century, and the Académie still noted the masculine in 1740.^[6] It was extended to prose works (1721) and then to paintings and pieces of music on the same themes (1867).^[3][6] Bloch and Wartburg note that while églogue stayed a learned term, idylle widened its sense in the 19th century.^[5]

From 1851 it meant a naive and tender love affair, often a chaste one,^[2][3] and, from 1871, it was used in political and social contexts of a relationship of perfect harmony, often ironically.^[3]

Timeline

• 1555 – Vauquelin de La Fresnaye uses idilie for a pastoral poem.^[2]
• 1565 – Henri Estienne writes the masculine idyllie.^[2]
• 1638 – Chapelain uses the masculine idille.^[2][6]
• 1674 – Boileau's Art poétique has the feminine idylle.^[2]
• 1721 – Used of a prose work.^[3][6]
• 1845 – The derivative idyllique appears.^[5][3]
• 1851 – First recorded in the sense “naive, tender love affair”.^[2][3]
• 1867 – Applied to paintings and music on pastoral themes.^[3]
• 1871 – Used of a relationship of perfect harmony in a political context.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short pastoral poem, usually on a love theme; an idyll: les idylles de Théocrite.^[7][4]
2. A prose work, painting or piece of music on a similar bucolic subject.^[6][4]
3. A naive and tender love affair, generally chaste; a romance: Leur idylle a duré tout l'été.^[7][2]
4. A relationship of perfect harmony between partners, often ironic: Entre les deux partis, ce n'est plus l'idylle.^[7][3]

Word family

• idyllique

Related words

• églogue
• bucolique

References

1. ^ a b 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 o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert