rouer

rouer¹ to coil, to turn

Etymology tree of rouer¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin rota

French roue

Italian ruota

Romanian roată

Spanish rueda

English rote

Latin rotō

French rouer

Italian rotare

Italian ruotare

Spanish rodar

From the same root · rouer¹

English rodeo ← rota

Latin rotārius ← rota

Latin rotella ← rota

Latin rotula ← rota

Latin rotulus ← rota

Romanian rotilă ← rota

Romanian roti ← roată

Spanish rodeo ← rueda

Latin rotātiō ← rotō

Latin rotātus ← rotō

Pronunciation

• /ʁwe/^[1]

Forms

rouer^[1] Old French roer;^[2][3] rouer from the 14th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for “to coil, to turn” is inherited from Old French roer, inherited from Latin rotō (“to make turn, to whirl”), from rota (“wheel”).^[4][2][3][5] The same Latin verb gave rôder through Old Occitan.^[2][1] Bloch and Wartburg keep this verb apart from rouer².^[6]

Cognate with Walloon rouwé, Occitan rodar, Spanish rodar and Italian rotare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Marie de France's Fables (about 1180) roer means to turn, go round, whirl.^[4] The GLLF finds it earlier, at the end of the 11th century in the Chanson de Guillaume, meaning to throw far by whirling.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the verb was common for throwing something far by whirling it, for rolling, turning and for prowling about;^[2][4] se rouer meant to turn round (16th century).^[2][4] These uses have disappeared.^[2]

Under the influence of roue it was used of a bird spreading its tail, faire la roue, from about 1330, now only in literary style.^[4][2] At sea it meant to coil a rope in a circle (1691, Ozanam), a use that is now dated.^[4][2][5] The lexicographer Pierre Guiraud linked rouer with rouler, of which it was a synonym.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – Marie de France uses roer for “to turn, whirl”.^[4]
• Late 13th–early 14th century – An Anglo-Norman Art d'aimer uses it for “to throw far”.^[4]
• c. 1330 – Guillaume de Digulleville uses it of a bird spreading its tail.^[4][2]
• 1691 – Ozanam records the nautical sense “to coil a rope”.^[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical, dated) To coil (a rope) in circles, synonym of lover.^[4][5][7][1]
2. Rouer l'encolure: (of a horse) to arch the neck.^[4]
3. (literary, intransitive) (of a bird) To spread its tail like a wheel.^[4][2][1]

rouer² to break on the wheel

Etymology tree of rouer²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin rota

French roue

French rouer

Italian ruota

Romanian roată

Spanish rueda

English rote

From the same root · rouer²

English rodeo ← rota

Latin rotārius ← rota

Latin rotella ← rota

Latin rotō ← rota

Latin rotula ← rota

Latin rotulus ← rota

Romanian rotilă ← rota

Romanian roti ← roată

Spanish rodeo ← rueda

Pronunciation

• /ʁwe/^[1]

Forms

rouer^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to break on the wheel” is from French roue (“wheel”), with the verb ending.^{[4][2][3][8][1]} Bloch and Wartburg note that the punishment of the wheel, of Germanic origin, was rarely used before the 16th century except near the borders of the Empire, where it was called enrouer.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert and the GLLF date it to 1326.^[3][5] The TLFi's first record, in the first half of the 14th century, is the past participle roué, “bruised as if broken on the wheel”, in a translation of Gregory's Dialogues.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to put to death on the wheel” is recorded in Monstrelet in the mid-15th century.^[4][7] The hyperbolic rouer de coups “to beat violently” appears in Scarron in 1648 and is still in use.^[4][2][5] Scarron also used rouer for “to crush under the wheels of a carriage” (1643), a sense now gone.^[4][2]

The past participle roué was used from 1628 for one who had been broken on the wheel, and roué de fatigue “worn out” is recorded in 1694.^[2] Roué then became the name for the Regent Philippe d'Orléans's companions in pleasure, men worthy of the wheel;^[2][6] Wartburg explained it by their exhaustion after their excesses, while Guiraud saw the influence of rouler.^[2][6] From this roué came rouer “to deceive”, in Balzac (1829), and rouerie (1777).^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1326 – First record.^[3][5]
• Mid-15th century – Monstrelet uses it for the punishment of the wheel.^[4][7]
• 1643 – Scarron uses it for “to crush under wheels”.^[4][5]
• 1648 – Scarron writes rouer de coups.^[4][2]
• 1694 – Roué de fatigue is recorded.^[2]
• 1829 – Balzac uses rouer for “to deceive”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (historical) To break (someone) on the wheel as a punishment.^[4][8][1]
2. Rouer de coups: to beat violently: le voleur fut roué de coups.^[8][4][1]
3. (figurative, familiar) To wear out, exhaust: roué de fatigue.^[7][2]
4. (obsolete) To crush under the wheels of a vehicle.^[7][2]

Word family

• roué
• rouerie