Etymologically
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sérénade

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /se.ʁe.nad/[1]

Forms

sérénade f (plural sérénades)[1] Written serenade by the Académie in 1694 and 1718, sérénade from 1740.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian serenata, recorded in the sense “evening concert” from the second half of the 15th century,[2][3][4][5][1][6] earlier “clear weather, calm night” (14th century), derived from sereno (“clear, serene”), from Latin serēnus (“clear, calm”), the source of serein.[2][3][5][7] The shift to “evening music” was helped by sera (“evening”).[3][4]

Littré took it from Spanish serenada and notes that Old Occitan said “serena” for a serenade.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Louise Labé's Débat de Folie et d'Amour (about 1555) uses it for a concert given in the evening under someone's windows.[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

As in Italian, a sérénade was music played at night under the windows of a person one wished to honour or court, above all a woman.[3][9] In music (1703–1705) it became a piece meant to be played out of doors at night, and then a free composition in several movements, as by Mozart or Brahms.[2][3][9]

By antiphrasis it meant a nocturnal racket (1646, Boisrobert), and also from 1898 a volley of reproaches: avoir droit à une sérénade is to get a telling-off.[2][3][10]

Timeline

  • 14th century – Italian serenata “calm night”.[3][7]
  • 15th century – Italian serenata “evening concert” (Pulci).[2][3]
  • c. 1555 – Sérénade (Louise Labé).[2][3]
  • 1646 – “Nocturnal racket” (Boisrobert).[2][3]
  • 1703–1705 – A musical genre.[2][3]
  • 1898 – Jouer une sérénade “to scold”.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A serenade, music played or sung at night under someone's window.[9][10]
  2. (music) A vocal or instrumental piece; a free composition in several movements.[9][10]
  3. (familiar) A racket; a volley of reproaches.[10][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 510a
  7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)