trochée

trochée¹ metrical foot

Forms

trochée m^[1][2]

Etymology

The word for the metrical foot is borrowed from Latin trochaeus, a Renaissance borrowing first recorded in 1551.^[3][4][5] The Latin word renders Ancient Greek τροχαῖος (trokhaîos), the masculine of an adjective meaning “suited to running”, used as a noun.^[4][6] The adjective is derived from τροχός (trokhós), which the DHLF glosses “wheel” and the Grand Robert “course, run”, a word connected with τρέχω (trékhō, “to run”).^[4][1][6] Larousse explains the name by the quick pace the foot gives to the verse.^[7]

The English word trochee (1580s) comes from the French word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1551 in C. Gruget's French translation of the Dialogues of the Italian Speron Speroni, as the name of the metrical foot.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It has stayed a term of ancient metrics, for a foot of a long syllable followed by a short one, as against the spondee of two long syllables.^[4] The adjective trochaïque is recorded a little earlier, in 1548, borrowed from Latin trochaicus.^[4] Writers have also applied the word, by analogy, to the stressed and unstressed syllables of French verse, which Gide in 1934 thought somewhat artificial.^[3]

Timeline

• 1551 – Trochée appears in Gruget's translation of Speron Speroni.^[3][1]
• 1580s – English borrows it as trochee.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (prosody) A trochee, a metrical foot of two syllables, a long one followed by a short one, the beat falling on the long one.^[3][2][7]

trochée² cluster of shoots

Forms

trochée f^[1][2]

Etymology

The word for the cluster of shoots is formed from French troche + -ée.^[3][1][6] The Old French troche meant a bunch or cluster of things growing together; the TLFi derives it from Vulgar Latin *traduca, an altered form of Latin trādux (“vine shoot trained from one tree to another”), from trādūcō (“to lead across”).^[3][1] Littré compared Walloon trok and wondered whether the Old French word was a metathesis of torche in the sense of “bundle”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first meant a bunch of fruit: the Grand Robert and the GLLF date it to 1561, the TLFi to 1564 in Liébault's Maison rustique.^[1][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Its present sense, the tuft of young shoots that springs from the stump of a tree cut near the ground, is recorded by Boiste in 1803 according to the TLFi, by Dralet in 1820 according to the Grand Robert and the GLLF.^[3][1][6] The Académie has listed it since 1835.^[3] By analogy it has also been used of a clump of trees growing from one foot.^[3]

Timeline

• 1561 – First recorded as “bunch of fruit”.^[1][6]
• 1564 – Liébault's Maison rustique uses it of a bunch of fruit.^[3]
• 1803 – Boiste records the sense “tuft of shoots from a cut tree”.^[3]
• 1820 – Dralet uses the forestry sense.^[1][6]
• 1835 – The Académie admits the word.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (arboriculture) A cluster of shoots or branches growing from the stump of a tree cut near the ground, a cépée.^[3][2][7]
2. (by analogy) A clump of trees growing from one foot.^[3]