rideau French · revision 16849

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=1347, Medieval Latin of England|origins=goh rīdan}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁi.do/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rideau''' ''m'' (plural rideaux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle French [[m|frm|ridel]] (1436).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|fr|rider|-eau]], from the old sense of [[rider]] “to pleat, gather”, a curtain being gathered in folds.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb is probably from [[goh|rīdan|t=to turn, twist]], earlier [[m|goh|wrīdan]];^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|16, 705a) Rey finds the sense development hard to explain, and other proposals, derivatives of [[m|la|rūga|t=wrinkle]] or of [[m|la|rigidus|t=stiff]], meet serious phonetic difficulties.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Wiktionary also mentions [[m|goh|ridil|t=headband]] as a direct source of the Middle French noun.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Medieval Latin of an English text of 1347 has ''ridellos'';^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) the French ''ridel'' “piece of fabric, usually gathered, hung to hide or shelter something” is found in 1436.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The theatre curtain is in Robert Estienne (1538), and Aubigné has ''tirer le rideau sur quelque chose'', figuratively, before 1616.^(TLFi) In the 15th and 16th centuries a ''ridel'' or ''rideau'' was also a fold of ground, a low ridge, as in Aubigné's ''rideaux de terre''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) It named a hornbeam hedge (1755), a screen of mangroves (Raynal, 1780) and, in the Académie of 1798, any line of trees or houses that cuts off the view.^(TLFi)

+

+ ''Rideau de fer'' was first the theatre's iron safety curtain (1893), then a shop's metal shutter (Colette, 1900), and in 1945 the political ''iron curtain'', a calque of English ''iron curtain'' (attested 1920, made famous by Churchill in 1946).^(TLFi) ''Le rideau tombe'' is recorded by Littré in 1870, and ''doubles rideaux'' in Jules Romains (1934).^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1347 – ''Ridellos'' in an English Latin text.^(TLFi)

+ * 1436 – ''Ridel''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1538 – The theatre curtain.^(TLFi)

+ * Before 1616 – ''Tirer le rideau sur'', in Aubigné.^(TLFi)

+ * 1755 – A hedge.^(TLFi)

+ * 1798 – ''Former rideau''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1893 – ''Rideau de fer'' in the theatre.^(TLFi)

+ * 1900 – A shop's metal shutter, in Colette.^(TLFi)

+ * 1945 – The political iron curtain.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|curtain]]: ''rideaux de fenêtre'', ''doubles rideaux'', ''tirer les rideaux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The curtain of a stage: ''lever de rideau'', curtain-raiser, ''le rideau tombe''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A screen (of trees, smoke): ''rideau de fumée'', a smokescreen.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Rideau de fer'': a theatre's safety curtain; a shop's metal shutter, ''(politics)'' the [[m|en|iron curtain|alt=Iron Curtain]].^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A veil, something that hides.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rider]]

+ * [[ride]]

+ * [[dérider]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}