ravioli

Forms

ravioli m (plural raviolis)^[1] Old French raviolle (early 14th century) and Middle French raviole (about 1393); ravioli from 1803.^[2][3] The plural is raviolis, with the French plural ending, or ravioli as in Italian.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian ravioli, first in a gallicized form, raviolle, and then in the Italian form.^[2][3][1] The Italian word is recorded as Medieval Latin rabiola in 1243 at Cremona and as raviolus in 1284 at Parma, and in Italian in the 14th century; its origin is uncertain.^[2][3]

The FEW, Bloch and Wartburg and Picoche derive it from Lombard rava (“turnip”) of northern Italy (Italian rapa, French rave), on the view that turnips were once part of the dish;^[2][6][7][8] the earliest French sense, “pie of turnips and meat”, has been cited for this.^[3][9] The TLFi objects that neither the oldest French records nor the oldest Italian cookery books confirm it.^[2] Vollenweider instead derived it from Latin rubeola, from rubeus (“reddish”), supposedly a cheese name in Pliny, but the word does not seem to occur in Pliny, and the DHLF finds this explanation doubtful too.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as raviolle in the Jeu d'amour (early 14th century), naming a piece of pastry filled with minced meat.^[2] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date the form raviolle to 1376.^[9][5]

Semantic evolution

The old form raviole (about 1393, in the Ménagier de Paris) went out of use except regionally: Bloch and Wartburg find it in Savoy from the 16th century and a little later in the Dauphiné and at Lyon.^[2][3][7] The Italian form ravioli was taken up in the 19th century: the Petit Robert has rafiolis in 1747, and Boiste has ravioli in 1803.^[10][3][11] Since the 1980s ravioles has come back in restaurants as a regional name (ravioles de Romans, from the Dauphiné) for small filled squares of pasta with more varied fillings than Italian ravioli.^[3][2] The phrase c'est lundi, c'est ravioli, a comic allusion to the film La vie est un long fleuve tranquille (1988), stands for the monotony of plain food.^[3]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – Raviolle appears in the Jeu d'amour.^[2][3]
• c. 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris has raviole.^[2][3]
• 1747 – The form rafiolis is recorded.^[10]
• 1803 – Boiste records ravioli.^[3][11]
• 1842 – The supplement of the Académie dictionary records ravioli.^[11][7]
• 1988 – C'est lundi, c'est ravioli comes from the film La vie est un long fleuve tranquille.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small square of pasta filled with minced meat, herbs or vegetables and cooked in water; usually in the plural: des raviolis au fromage.^{[10][12][4][2]}
2. By extension, a similar filled dough of another cuisine, as in ravioli chinois.^[1]

Related words

• rave
• Italian ravioli

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 72b
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)