burlesque French · revision 15703

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1594, Satire Ménippée, bourlesque|origins=it burla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /byʁ.lɛsk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''burlesque''' (plural burlesques)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Bourlesque'', ''bourrelesque'' (1594), remade as ''burlesque'' after the Italian.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|burlesco]], at first in “alla burlesca” (before 1566), taken over by ear and later respelled after the Italian.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|1, 646b) It is derived from [[m|it|burla|t=joke, trick]],^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Larousse) probably from [[es|burla]] (1330), which Wartburg traces to a popular Latin “*burula”, a diminutive of [[la-lat|burra|t=wool, rough cloth]], the source of [[bure]] and [[bourre]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Rey finds it hard to follow this path from the concrete to the abstract.^(DHLF 1992) Italian “burla” also gave the short-lived Middle French “bourle” “hoax” and “se burler” “to make fun” (1578).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Satire Ménippée'' (1594) contrasts the long, serious harangue of one speaker with the others, ''toutes courtes et burlesques''.^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word named the comic manner of Italian writers such as Berni, which treats noble subjects in low language.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Between 1640 and 1660 it was a literary fashion in France, led by Scarron's ''Recueil de quelques vers burlesques'' (1643) and ''Virgile travesti'' (1648), and ''le burlesque'' became the name of the genre (1648); Boileau later left it to “the jesters of the Pont-Neuf”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ More generally ''burlesque'' means extravagantly comic, and then ridiculous and absurd.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989) In the cinema ''le burlesque'' is slapstick comedy, and also from American English it also names a bawdy variety show (1935 in France; in Quebec from 1973).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHFQ)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1566 – Italian ''alla burlesca''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1578 – ''Se burler'' “to make fun”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1594 – ''Bourlesque'' (''Satire Ménippée'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1643–1648 – Scarron's burlesque poems.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1648 – ''Le burlesque'', the genre.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1666 – The form ''burlesque''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1690 – ''Burlesquement''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1935 – The American variety show.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Extravagantly comic; [[m|en|ludicrous]], [[m|en|absurd]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(literature)'' Of the [[m|en|burlesque]] genre, which treats a noble subject in a low style.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Of a show or film mixing farce and [[m|en|slapstick]].^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Le burlesque'': the burlesque genre; slapstick comedy in film.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The ludicrous side of something: ''le burlesque d'une situation''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # An American bawdy [[m|en|variety show]].^(Larousse)^(DHFQ)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grotesque]]

+ * [[bure]]

+ * [[en|burlesque]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}