roitelet

Forms

roitelet m (plural roitelets)^[1] Middle French reytelet, roytelet, roytellet.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French roitel + -et.^[2][1][5] Old French roitel (“petty king”) (reitel in Gaimar, about 1140) was itself a diminutive of roi, probably from roietel, formed on a diminutive in ⟨-itum⟩; the TLFi compares Old Occitan reiet (“petty king”).^[2][3][4] Littré gives the Walloon form rôietai.^[6]

The base word is from Latin rēx (“king”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is the plural reyteles “petty kings” in a 14th-century Chronique d'Angleterre.^[2] Wartburg dated the bird sense to about 1180, but the TLFi shows that manuscript to be of the 15th century.^[2][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The older roietel already named the bird in the Roman de la Rose (13th century), beside goldfinches and swallows.^[6][2] The bird sense of roitelet itself is found in a 15th-century manuscript of the Roman d'Alexandre, and it is found from 1459 on.^[2][7][5] Paré says that the bird's merry chirping foretells rain.^[6]

Of rulers the word is often ironic: Montaigne wrote that Caesar called roytelets all the lords who held justice in France.^[6][2] It was also used for a king of small stature (about 1550) and for a very young king (1875).^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Gaimar uses Old French reitel “petty king”.^[2]
• 13th century – Roietel names a bird in the Roman de la Rose.^[6][2]
• 14th century – The plural reyteles “petty kings” appears.^[2]
• 15th century – Roytellet names the bird in a manuscript of the Roman d'Alexandre.^[2]
• 1459 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the word.^[7][5]
• 1588 – Montaigne writes roytelet.^[2]
• 1875 – Larousse records the sense “very young king”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pejorative or humorous) A king of little power, the king of a small country.^[9][10]
2. A kinglet, a tiny songbird smaller than the sparrow.^[9][1][10]

Related words

• roi
• royal
• royauté
• Latin rēx

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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)