roue

Forms

roue f (plural roues)^[1] Old French ruode (about 980), rode (late 11th century), roe (about 1112) and ruee (13th century); roue dates from the 14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French roe, earlier rode, inherited from Latin rota (“wheel, roller”).^{[4][2][5][1][6]} The regular outcome of ruee would have been reue, a form still found in many dialects of the east, north and west.^[4][2][5] The modern form was remade after the verb rouer (Latin rotō) and the diminutive rouelle (Latin rotella).^[4][2][5] Wiktionary gives rote as a doublet taken from Medieval Latin.^[1]

Rey connects the Latin word with Lithuanian ritù (“to roll”) and Sanskrit रथ (rátha, “chariot”), and thinks its root was specific to the chariot, while that of Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos) named the wheel.^[2] Cognate with Italian ruota, Occitan ròda, Catalan roda, Spanish rueda, Portuguese roda and Romanian roată.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vie de saint Léger (end of the 10th century) and in Rashi's glosses (end of the 11th) it names a wheel, a round piece that turns on an axle.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From Old French to today its uses followed the vehicles: chariots, carriages, horse-drawn carts and, at the end of the 19th century, bicycles and cars, hence roue libre (1897) and roue de secours (1935).^[2][3] Old phrases include la quinte roue “a useless thing” (15th century), later la cinquième roue du carrosse (1743), pousser à la roue “to help” (1559) and mettre des bâtons dans les roues “to put obstacles in the way” (1807).^[2][4] Les deux-roues for two-wheeled vehicles dates from 1932.^[4][2]

From the 12th century it was also, as in Latin, a turning disc: the instrument of torture on which the condemned were bound (about 1112), and the wheel of Fortune (about 1155, Wace).^[2][4] The machine wheel of power and lifting gear is recorded about 1190.^[2] The peacock's spread tail is a roe in Jean de Meun, whence “to strut” (late 14th century, Eustache Deschamps); faire la roue “to turn a cartwheel” dates from 1734.^[4][3] In 1725 thieves' slang called a two-franc coin a roue de devant.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Ruode in the Vie de saint Léger.^[3][2]
• Late 11th century – Rode in Rashi's glosses.^[4]
• c. 1112 – The wheel of torture.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace writes of Fortune turning her wheel.^[4][2]
• 14th century – The form roue.^[2][7]
• 1559 – Pousser à la roue in Amyot.^[4][2]
• 1734 – Faire la roue “to turn round on oneself”.^[4]
• 1807 – Mettre des bâtons dans les roues.^[2]
• 1897 – Roue libre in cycling.^[2]
• 1932 – Les deux-roues.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wheel, a disc turning on an axle on which a vehicle moves: les roues d'un vélo, roue de secours.^[7][9][10]
2. A wheel in a machine that transmits motion, as a cogwheel: roue dentée.^[10][2]
3. (history) The breaking wheel, an instrument of torture.^[10][1]
4. Faire la roue: of a peacock, to spread its tail; of a person, to strut, or to turn a cartwheel.^[4][7]
5. La roue de la fortune: the changes of fortune.^[2][4]
6. Mettre des bâtons dans les roues: to put obstacles in someone's way.^[2][11]
7. La cinquième roue du carrosse: a useless person.^[2][1]
8. Être dans la roue (cycling): to follow closely behind another rider.^[2]

Word family

• rouage
• rouet
• rouer
• rouerie
• roué
• deux-roues

Related words

• rôder
• rond
• rotatif
• rotation
• rotonde
• rotule
• rouelle
• rouleau
• rouler
• roulette
• Latin rota

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 t u v w Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 490a
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette