Belle au bois dormant

French Etymology From the phrasing used by Charles Perrault in Ma Mère l'Oye (published in 1697). Beauty sleeping in the wood,The Family of Stories: An Anthology of Children's Literature 90 Moss Anita 1986 https://books.google.com/books?id=LGSkodyFGQMCfr Études sur le Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 62 Terzuolo F. P. 1864 https://books.google.com/books?id=MgsLAAAAQAAJ 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 with the archaic positioning of the present participle after its complement which was frequent in Old French (as in fr chemin faisant and fr tambour battant);fr Chrestomathie de l'ancien français (IXe-XVe siècles) Constans Léopold 1890 15 https://books.google.com/books?id=P0MyU9BCNd4C the modern French equivalent would be fr Belle dormant au bois. It is also fr dormant and not fr 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).fr La troisième année de grammaire 148 Larive & Fleury 1888 https://books.google.com/books?id=3S0hh4odEqoC Pronunciation [Belle au:Belle‿au] 1 fr Fr-La Belle au bois dormant.ogg fr Fr-Paris--Belle au bois dormant.ogg Paris Proper noun f Belle au bois dormant Sleeping Beauty fictional character References fr Fairy tale characters