Belle au bois dormant

French

Etymology

From the phrasing used by Charles Perrault in Ma Mère l'Oye (published in 1697).

Literally, “Beauty sleeping in the wood”,[1][2] with the archaic positioning of the present participle after its complement which was frequent in Old French (as in chemin faisant and tambour battant);[3] the modern French equivalent would be Belle dormant au bois. It is also dormant and not dormante because present participles have been invariable in French since a decision of 3 June 1679 of the Académie Française (of which Perrault was a member).[4]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /bɛ.l‿o bwa dɔʁ.mɑ̃/
  • Audio(file)
  • Audio (Paris)(file)

Proper noun

Belle au bois dormant f

  1. Sleeping Beauty (fictional character)

References
  1. Moss, Anita (1986) The Family of Stories: An Anthology of Children's Literature‎, page 90
  2. Terzuolo, F. P. (1864) Études sur le Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française‎ (in French), page 62: “[…] exactement comme on dit : La Belle au bois dormant, ce qui ne veut pas dire la belle au bois qui dort, mais la belle qui dort au bois […]”
  3. Constans, Léopold (1890) Chrestomathie de l'ancien français (IXe-XVe siècles)‎ (in French), page 15
  4. Larive & Fleury (1888) La troisième année de grammaire‎ (in French), page 148
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