Carousel or Carrousel?

[bakerudall]

Have you ever noticed the King Arthur has a "Carrousel," and King Triton has a "Carousel?"

What gives?

 

[Girimama33]

I have noticed that before...I always assumed they were using the French version of the word in the FL village, and then the English version on Paradise Pier.

 

[kayleigh83]

I'm guessing it's the French vs. English spelling too.. although the legends of King Arthur are obviously English, most of the legends come from a time when even in England, among English nobility, all things French were a kind of byword for elegance and class... so a word like carrousel was borrowed from the French language and the spelling wouldn't have been Anglicized for a while yet. Just one more of those little extra authentic touches that make Disney so special! Carousel with one "r" would have been too modern!

 

[mystic_path]

I never noticed that!!! However I am not surprised. Both spellings are actually correct. LOL! I'm a bit of a history idiot so I will try my best to explain. Bare with me as it is very interesting:

This goes back to the Crusades. In Europe soldiers discovered a game played by the Arabs and Turks which was called "Little Wars". In Italian it was called "Garosello", and in Spanish "Carosella". So there you will notice the ONE "R" in the name. That was basically where you see Men on horseback with a lance and they spear a ring which was hung on a tree with a colored cloth on it. You think of this game being played when watching a jousting tournament. So the Crusade soldiers took different variations of this game back to their own home lands. In France (The Little Mermaid and King Triton being French) the variation of that game became known as "CARROUSEL".

So to assist in the training of this game, and to make sure the horses didnt tire, they created carved wooden horses and chariots, and suspended them from a pole. The rider would attempt to catch the rings while another person pushed the rider and carved horse. This is where the beginnings of the carousel originated.

 

[bakerudall]

Wow! Solid analysis, everyone.

I guess both rides should have been called "carrousel," since King Triton was off the coast of France, but, as Girimama said, they were both probably named to fit their lands, and Paradise Pier is distinctly American.

mystic_path, I know who to go to with my homework questions (yes, I'm 35 and still doing homework ). Plus, you have made carousels cool. I will not feel so ridiculous riding one with my kids knowing that they were once used for war games!