rondeau

rondeau¹ poem, rondo

Pronunciation

• /ʁɔ̃.do/^[1]

Forms

rondeau m (plural rondeaux)^[1] Old French rondel, also rondiaus (1341), and rondeaulx at the end of the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the poem is inherited from Old French rondel, formed from Old French ront (“round”) + -el.^[2][1][4] The TLFi and the Grand Robert derive it from the adjective rond, while Rey makes it a diminutive of the noun ronde.^[2][4][3] Littré explains the name by the return of the opening words in the poem.^[5] The TLFi compares Medieval Latin rondellus, found before 1250 in Jean de Garlande.^[2]

This adjective goes back to Latin rotundus (“round”), through Vulgar Latin *retundus, with dissimilation of the first vowel.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first meant a round dance: the Grand Robert dates this sense to about 1260, and the TLFi cites li rondel, les caroles from Floriant et Florete (about 1300).^[4][8][2]

Semantic evolution

From the dance the word passed, at the end of the 13th century, to a short fixed-form poem on two rhymes with set repetitions;^[2][3] Nicole de Margival writes Que vous veilliez cest rondel dire (“that you would recite this rondel”).^[2][3] Guillaume de Machaut lists balades, rondiaus, virelais in 1341, and Eustache Deschamps describes rondeaulx cengles et doubles in his Art de dictier.^[2] The form rondeau replaced rondel from the end of the 14th century, except in literary history; the various formulas of the poem took the name rondeau from the 15th century, and some lived on in 19th-century poetry.^[3]

Through the sense “refrain” (Furetière, 1690) it came to name, in music, an instrumental form alternating a refrain and couplets (1740, Académie).^[2][3][8] English took rondeau for the poem in the 1520s, and rondo (1797) came through Italian from the French word.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1260 – First recorded, of a round dance.^[4][8]
• Late 13th century – Rondel names a short fixed-form poem in Nicole de Margival.^[2][3]
• 1341 – Guillaume de Machaut writes of rondiaus.^[2]
• Late 14th century – The form rondeaulx appears in Eustache Deschamps.^[2][3]
• 1520s – English borrows rondeau for the poem.^[9]
• 1548 – Thomas Sébillet names the rondeau redoublé ou parfait.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the musical sense “refrain”.^[2][8]
• 1694 – Recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1740 – The Académie records it for an instrumental piece.^[2][8]
• 1797 – English rondo is recorded, through Italian.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (poetry) A rondeau: a short fixed-form poem of thirteen lines on two rhymes, whose opening words return as a refrain: les rondeaux de Clément Marot.^{[2][10][11][5]}
2. (music) A rondo, a form in which a refrain alternates with couplets.^[2][10][8]

rondeau² round board or disc

Etymology tree of rondeau²

inherited borrowed derived

French rond

French rondeau

Pronunciation

• /ʁɔ̃.do/^[1]

Forms

rondeau m (plural rondeaux)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the round board is formed from French rond + -eau in its own right.^{[4][10][8][5]} The Petit Robert records it first as rondiaus in 1284.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sense, recorded in 1284, was the round board on which pastry cooks set out the blessed bread.^[4][8][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle French the word named various round objects and ornaments.^[12] In the west of France it named a wooden roller drawn over the sown ground to break the clods, a sense found in the 14th century and dated about 1400 by the Petit Robert.^[5][8][10] Later it named a round shovel for putting bread into the oven (1803, Boiste), a disc of fireclay supporting pottery during firing (1842, Académie) and the stone with which watchmakers grind the edges of watch glasses (Littré).^[8][5]

Timeline

• 1284 – Recorded for the round board of pastry cooks.^[4][8][10]
• 1357 – The date the Grand Robert gives for the word.^[4]
• 14th century – A large wooden rondeau is used to break the clods in a field.^[5][8]
• 1803 – Boiste records the round bread shovel.^[8]
• 1842 – The Académie records the fireclay disc used in pottery.^[8]
• 1870 – Littré records the watchmakers' grinding stone.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technical) A disc of wood or metal used as a support, in pottery, optics and watchmaking.^[10][5]
2. (agriculture) A wooden roller drawn over the soil after sowing.^[10][8]
3. A round peel or shovel used to put bread into the oven.^[8]