rôle French · revision 15963

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1180, Mort Aymeri de Narbonne|origins=la rota}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁol/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rôle''' ''m'' (plural rôles)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Rolle'' (about 1180), ''role'' (13th century), ''roole'', ''roolle'' (14th–16th centuries, also ''rosle'', ''roulle''); ''rôle'' from 1550 (Du Bellay), usual from the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed from [[la-med|rotulus|t=roll; rolled parchment]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|10, 512b) rare in Late Latin as “rotulus” “little wheel”, a diminutive of [[la|rota|t=wheel]] (see [[roue]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The TLFi takes it from the Medieval Latin form “rollus” (1105).^(TLFi) In Medieval Latin it was a rolled sheet bearing a text (about 751) and, in administration and law, a register or list.^(DHLF 1992) The circumflex comes from the 16th-century spelling “roole”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ [[it|ruolo|t=list]] and [[es|rol]] are from French.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) [[en|role]] was taken about 1600.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Mort Aymeri de Narbonne'' (about 1180) has ''rolle'' for a rolled parchment bearing writing;^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) the ''Saisnes'' already uses it figuratively: ''servoit au role d'escuier'', he served in the capacity of a squire.^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 13th century it meant a list, then a register of deeds (about 1390), the sheet of a notarial deed (1690) and the tax roll of a commune;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) in 1454 it was the list of cases to be pleaded before a court, whence ''à son tour de rolle'' and the everyday ''à tour de rôle'' “in turn” (1636, ''à tour de roulle'', Coquillart, 1478–1480).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The ''rôle d'équipage'' (1728) lists a ship's crew.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ In the theatre ''rôle'' was the part an actor learned from a roll: the character played (1538) and the lines to be spoken (1580, Montaigne).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Hence ''jouer son rôle'' (Ronsard, about 1550) and ''jouer un grand rôle'' (Académie, 1694), and the function of a person or thing within a whole.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The concrete “roll” survived only in trades, such as a twist of chewing tobacco (1681).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 751 – Medieval Latin ''rotulus'' “written roll”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1180 – ''Rolle'' “roll of parchment”.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – “List”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1454 – The list of cases at court, ''à son tour de rolle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1538 – A character in a play.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – An actor's lines, in Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1600 – English ''role''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1636 – ''À tour de rôle''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1681 – A roll of tobacco.^(TLFi)

+ * 1728 – ''Rôle d'équipage''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A part, [[m|en|role]] (in a play, a film): ''jouer le rôle d'Hamlet'', ''premier rôle'': lead.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A function, part (of a person or thing): ''jouer un rôle important'', ''ce n'est pas mon rôle''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''À tour de rôle'': in turn.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(law, administration)'' A roll, register: the list of cases before a court, ''rôle d'équipage''; a tax roll.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(dated)'' A roll of chewing tobacco.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[enrôler]]

+ * [[rôlet]]

+ * [[enrôler]]

+ * [[jeu de rôle]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[roue]]

+ * [[rouleau]]

+ * [[la|rota]]

+ * [[en|role]]

+ * [[en|roll]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}