Etymologically
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quadrille

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ka.dʁij/[1]

Forms

quadrille m or f (plural quadrilles)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cuadrilla (“troop, team, company”),[2][3][4] recorded in Spanish from 1546 in these senses and earlier (13th century) for the division of an army into four parts to share the booty.[2][3] The Spanish word is formed from cuadro (“square”), from Late Latin quadrus (“square”).[2][3][5] Rey glosses it as “a group of four” or “a quarter (of a hundred)”.[3] Italian quadriglia is also from Spanish.[4]

Littré derived it from Italian and, after Ménage, from a diminutive of Italian squadra (“troop”);[6] the modern dictionaries follow the Spanish origin.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brantôme uses it about 1580 in the feminine for a troop of fighters;[2] Cotgrave (1611) defines it as a squadron of about 25 soldiers, the quarter of a hundred.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1671 it named a troop of horsemen in a carrousel, in which sense Madame de Sévigné uses it (1685).[2][3] In the 18th century it was used of one of the four groups of dancers in a contredanse (Saint-Simon), the gender now masculine,[2][4] and then (1780–1782) of the dance itself, which was fashionable in the 19th century;[2][3] the familiar call en place pour le quadrille ! “get ready!” comes from it.[3] By metonymy it meant the music for the dance (1845).[7]

In bullfighting it named a matador's team (1897), a sense in which Spanish cuadrilla has prevailed.[2][3] At the Paris Opéra the first two grades of the corps de ballet are called quadrilles (1963).[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1580 – A troop of fighters, in Brantôme.[2]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave's “squadron of about 25 soldiers”.[2]
  • 1671 – A troop of horsemen in a carrousel.[2]
  • 1740–1755 – One of the groups of a contredanse, in Saint-Simon.[2]
  • 1782 – The dance itself.[2]
  • 1845 – The music of the dance.[7]
  • 1897 – A matador's team.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A square dance for an even number of couples, fashionable in the 19th century: le quadrille des lanciers.[8][9]
  2. The set of couples dancing it; the music for it.[9][7]
  3. One of the first grades of the corps de ballet of the Paris Opéra.[8][10]
  4. (historical, feminine) A troop of horsemen in a carrousel.[8][2]
  5. (bullfighting, dated) A matador's team, a cuadrilla.[8][2]

Usage notes

A second quadrille (1722) was a card game, ombre for four players; it is borrowed from Spanish cuartillo, from cuarto (“fourth”), with its form altered by confusion with the dance word.[2][11] The embroidery term point de quadrille (1765) is from Spanish cuadrillo.[3]

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 m n o p q r s 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1405a
  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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert