rocaille

Forms

rocaille f (plural rocailles)^[1] Old forms: roquailles (plural, about 1360), then, under the influence of roche, roichaille (1373) and rochaille (1611), and rocalle (1636).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French roc¹ + -aille.^{[4][5][3][6][2]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Froissart's Chroniques have roquailles for stony ground; the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Rey date it about 1360, the TLFi to the end of the 14th century.^[4][5][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names a mass of small stones lying on the ground, or ground strewn with them;^[2][4] the singular rocaille is in Scarron (1648 or 1658).^[3][4][7] In Normandy it was applied from 1373 to the shellfish and crabs caught among the rocks.^[2][6]

In 17th-century decorative art it named a contorted stone, used with shells to build artificial grottoes and garden ornaments (1636), then the work built from them (1669).^[2][3] From there it described the ornamental style that flourished under the Regency and Louis XV, with lines recalling rocks and shells (1842 as an adjective, le genre rocaille).^[2][4][7] The irregular derivative rococo came from this sense.^[4][5]

From 1676 it also named the small grains of enamel used to colour glass.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1360 – Froissart writes roquailles “stony ground”.^[5][3][2]
• 1373 – Roichaille, under the influence of roche, for the shellfish of the Norman rocks.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records rochaille “small stones”.^[4]
• 1636 – Rocalle names the stones and shells used for grottoes.^[4][2]
• 1648 – Scarron uses the singular rocaille.^[3][2]
• 1665 – First record of rocailleur, a worker in rockwork.^[4]
• 1676 – Félibien uses it for grains of enamel.^[4][3]
• 1842 – Le genre rocaille in the Académie's supplement.^[4]
• 1845 – Used of the decorative style of the 18th century.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Loose stones covering the ground, or stony ground.^[7][4][6]
2. Stones and shells cemented together to make garden ornaments, rockwork: une grotte en rocaille.^[7][4][6]
3. Une rocaille: a rockery, an arrangement of stones with plants between them in a garden.^[7][1]
4. Small grains of enamel used to colour glass.^[4][6][3]
5. (Normandy, dated) Lobsters, crayfish and crabs caught among the rocks.^[6][2]

Adjective

1. (invariable, art) In the ornamental style of the Regency and Louis XV, with curving lines recalling shells, rococo: le style rocaille.^[7][4][1]

Word family

• rocailleux
• rocailleur
• rocaillage
• rococo

Related words

• roc¹
• roche

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 m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert