roman French · revision 16798

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1125, Grant mal fist Adam (ronmanz)|origins=la Rōmānus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁɔ.mɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''roman''' (feminine romane, masculine plural romans, feminine plural romanes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''ronmanz'' (about 1125), ''romanz'' (about 1135), ''romant'' (13th–17th centuries); ''roman'' from the late 12th century, the ⟨s⟩ of ''romans'' having been taken for a plural.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|romanz]], [[inh|la-vul|*rōmānicē|t=in the Roman way, in the vernacular]], an adverb from [[m|la|Rōmānus|t=Roman]] (see [[romain]]),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|10, 452b)^(Wiktionary) used in opposition first to Latin and then to the customs and language of the Franks, considered barbarian.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) Littré notes the thematic ⟨s⟩ of the Old French word, matched in Spanish.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ [[pro|romans]] was borrowed as [[it|romanzo]] and [[es|romance]]; [[romance]], of the same ultimate origin, came into French through Spanish.^(REW 1935)^(Wiktionary) The adjective “Romance;^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) Romanesque” is either borrowed from [[la|Rōmānus]] or derived from the noun (Encyclopédie, 1765).^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 1125 the sermon ''Grant mal fist Adam'' says it was written ''en ronmanz'', in the vernacular of northern France, for those who are not lettered;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wace (1130–40) put his source ''de latin en romans''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By extension, about 1140 it named a narrative in French verse, not in Latin, adapting the legends of Latin and then of Celtic literature, where marvellous and gallant adventures dominate: Wace's ''Brut'' (1155) and the ''Roman de la Rose'' (1225–30).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The sense later passed to such narratives in prose (14th century) and lasted into the 17th century for poems of fabulous adventures; in the 16th century the word already partly meant the modern novel.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Figuratively it is an invented story, a tissue of untruths (Guez de Balzac, 1652).^(TLFi)

+

+ In linguistics ''roman'' was the supposed stage between spoken Late Latin and Old French (1690), then the Romance languages as a whole (1870), and in architecture ''roman'' “Romanesque” is found by 1820.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(BHVF) [[romancier]] (15th century) and [[romanesque]] (Sorel, 1627) follow its literary sense.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1125 – ''Ronmanz'' “the vernacular”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1140 – A narrative in French verse.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1155 – ''Cest romanz'', Wace's ''Brut''.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 12th century – The form ''roman''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1627 – [[romanesque]], Sorel.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1652 – “A tissue of untruths”, Guez de Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1765 – The adjective “Romance”, Encyclopédie.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1820 – ''Architecture romane''.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|novel]]: ''roman policier'', detective novel, ''roman noir'', ''roman à clef'', ''roman-photo'', ''nouveau roman''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(literary history)'' A medieval narrative in the vernacular, in verse or prose: ''le Roman de la Rose'', ''roman courtois''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # An improbable story, ''(colloquial)'' a very long text.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(linguistics)'' The Romance vernacular from which Old French grew.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(linguistics)'' [[m|en|romance|alt=Romance]]: ''les langues romanes''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(art)'' [[m|en|romanesque|alt=Romanesque]].^(Wiktionary)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[romancier]]

+ * [[romancer]]

+ * [[romanesque]]

+ * [[roman-photo]]

+ * [[téléroman]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[romain]]

+ * [[romance]]

+ * [[romand]]

+ * [[romanche]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}