ruisseau

Forms

ruisseau m (plural ruisseaux)^[1] Old French russeal (about 1120), ruisel (about 1130), ruissel (about 1155), then ruisseau (about 1380).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ruissel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rivuscellus, a diminutive of Latin rīvus (“small stream”), the source of ru.^[5][2][6][7] It is formed like *ramuscellus, the source of rinceau.^[5][6] The word belongs only to the north of the Gallo-Romance area.^[6]

Italian ruscello comes from the same Vulgar Latin form according to the REW;^[8][9] Littré took it for a borrowing from French.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as russeal in the Cambridge Psalter, for a small stream;^[5][4] the Grand Robert and GLLF date it about 1120, the TLFi to the mid-12th century.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word also named whatever seems to flow without end (Wace, about 1155), and ruisseaux de blood, tears and so on is used of any liquid flowing in abundance, with metaphors such as un ruisseau de perles (1573–1575).^[5][2] By metonymy it named the bed of the stream (1538).^[2][4] From the late 14th century (Eustache Deschamps) it was the water running along the street and the gutter that carried it,^[5] hence a symbol of degradation: Molière's ruisseaux des Halles (1668) and laisser qqn dans le ruisseau in Saint-Simon.^[5][2] The proverb les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières is recorded by Oudin in 1640.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Russeal is recorded.^[2][4]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses ruissel for something flowing without end.^[5]
• c. 1380 – The form ruisseau.^[2][4]
• Late 14th century – The street gutter, in Eustache Deschamps.^[5]
• 1538 – The bed of a stream, in Robert Estienne.^[2][4]
• 1640 – Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières in Oudin.^[5]
• 1668 – Molière's ruisseaux des Halles.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brook, a small shallow stream: Un ruisseau longe le pré.^[10][11][1]
2. The bed of such a stream: Le ruisseau est à sec.^[11][4]
3. (literary) Ruisseau de: a liquid flowing in abundance: des ruisseaux de larmes.^[10][11]
4. A gutter at the side or in the middle of a street.^[10][11]
5. (literary) A low, degraded condition: tirer quelqu'un du ruisseau.^[11][5]

Word family

• ruisseler
• ruisselet

Related words

• ru
• Latin rīvus

Usage notes

The proverb les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières says that small amounts, especially of money, add up to something large.^[10][5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 424b
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)