English
rideau
Rideau comes from French rideau ‘curtain’, and goes back to Old French ridel ‘plaited stuff’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ridel‘plaited stuff’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600rideau
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘curtain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1759same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ridel‘plaited stuff’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600rideau
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘curtain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1759same form
Earliest quotation: 1759, Guillaume Le Blond, Jacques Prempart: “A judgment may be formed of the weakness of…”
The story
Borrowed from French rideau (‘curtain’), from Middle French rideau, from Old French ridel (‘plaited stuff; cloth curtain; blind’), from rider (‘to plait; to wrinkle’), perhaps from Old High German ridil (‘a headband; a ribbon’) or rīdan, wrīdan (‘to wrinkle’) (related to English writhe), from Proto-Germanic *wriþilaz, from *wrīþaną (‘to twist, wind, wrap’).
Linked words
through Old French ridel ‘plaited stuff’
Today it means
noun A fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French ridel / rideau