rouelle

Forms

rouelle f (plural rouelles)^[1] Old French rodele (late 11th century), rüele (1119), roele and roiele (13th century); rouelle is recorded about 1398.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French rodele, inherited from Late Latin rotella (“little wheel”), a diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”).^[2][5][6] The modern form was remade after roue.^[3] Late Latin also had rotula, the source of rotule.^[3] The Old French verb rueler, roueler, formed from it, became rouler.^[3][6]

Cognate with Italian rotella, Catalan rodella, Occitan rodela and Spanish rodilla (“knee”).^[7][8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is rodeles “thin slices cut in rounds” in the glosses of Rashi, at the end of the 11th century; the literal sense “little wheel” follows in 1119, as rüele in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides a small wheel (Joinville speaks of a plough without rouelles, and the wheels of a plough are still so called in many western dialects), the Old French word named a round shield and the kneecap.^[7][6][8] The kitchen sense, a thin round slice, was soon contested by rondelle, and the Académie of 1935 called it old-fashioned; it held only in two special uses, a thick round slice cut across a leg of veal (1600, Olivier de Serres) and a wheel of cheese.^[3][2]

The word survives otherwise as a historical term: the cloth disc that Jews were made to wear as a badge of infamy in the Middle Ages (about 1170 according to Rey and the GLLF, 1363 according to the TLFi), the disc guarding the hand on a weapon's grip (1481) and the round iron plates covering the joints of armour (1611, Cotgrave).^[3][4][2]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Rodeles “round slices” appears in Rashi's glosses.^[2][4]
• 1119 – Philippe de Thaon writes rüele “little wheel”.^[2][3]
• c. 1170 – Roele names the badge worn by Jews.^[3][4]
• c. 1398 – The form rouelle appears in the Ménagier de Paris.^[4][9]
• 1481 – It names the disc guarding the hand on a weapon.^[2][3]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres uses it for a round slice of veal.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the plates covering the joints of armour.^[2][4]
• 1935 – The Académie calls the sense “round slice” old-fashioned.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (butchery) A thick round slice cut across the leg of veal or pork above the jarret: une rouelle de porc rôtie.^[10][11][7]
2. (dated) A thin round slice: couper des carottes en rouelles.^[7][2]
3. A small wheel, such as the rear wheel of some ploughs.^[2]
4. (history) The round cloth badge that Jews were made to wear on their clothes in medieval France.^[11][2][4]
5. (history) A round metal plate protecting the joints of armour at the shoulder, elbow and knee.^[11][2]
6. (archaeology) A small spoked wheel used as a solar symbol in the Celtic Bronze Age.^[11]

Word family

• rouler
• roulette

Related words

• roue
• rondelle
• rotule
• Latin rota

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 498a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)