ballet French · revision 16101

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1598|origins=it balletto}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ba.lɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ballet''' ''m'' (plural ballets)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|balletto|t=little dance; danced scene]] (16th century),^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) the diminutive in “-etto” of “ballo” “ball, dance”, the noun of “ballare” “to dance”, which corresponds to Old French “baller” (see [[bal]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary takes “ballare” from [[la-lat|ballō]], and Etymonline from Greek “ballizein” “to dance, jump about”.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Littré called it simply a diminutive of “bal”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Marnix (1598) and d'Aubigné, who writes that ''Les nymphes descendirent pour danser un ballet'', are the first records;^(BHVF)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) Bloch and Wartburg give 1578.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As in Italian it names a dance performed on stage by several people, and by metonymy the company of dancers and the music (''Coppélia'', by Delibes).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The 17th century had the ''ballets de cour'' and the hybrid ''comédie-ballet'' and ''opéra-ballet'', and the 20th the ''Ballets russes'', ''corps de ballet'' and ''maître de ballet''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989) From about 1950 it is figuratively an intense round of comings and goings (''le ballet diplomatique''); ''ballets roses'' (1958) alludes to a sex scandal.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Stravinsky (1921) used ''balletomane''.^(DHLF 1992) English ''ballet'' was borrowed from French in the 1660s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1578 – First record, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1598 – In Marnix.^(BHVF)

+ * 1660s – English ''ballet''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1921 – ''Balletomane'' in Stravinsky.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1950 – Figurative ''ballet''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1958 – ''Ballets roses''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|ballet]]: ''danser un ballet'', ''ballet classique'', ''corps de ballet''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The music for a ballet.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A ballet company: ''les Ballets russes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A round of comings and goings: ''le ballet diplomatique''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ballerine]]

+ * [[balletomane]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bal]]

+ * [[baller]]

+ * [[en|ballet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}