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Origin and history of waltz

waltz(n.)

round dance performed by couples to music in triple time, extraordinarily popular as a fashionable dance from late 18c. to late 19c. (the dance itself probably of Bohemian origin), 1779, walse, in a translation of "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" from a French translation, which has walse; from German Waltzer, from walzen "to roll, dance," from Old High German walzan "to turn, roll."

This is from Proto-Germanic *walt- (cognate with Old Norse velta), from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve." Related verbs include Middle English walt (v.) "to turn over, be overturned; surge, well up" (c. 1200); provincial walter "waver, totter;" also compare welter.

Described in 1825 as "a riotous and indecent German dance" [Walter Hamilton, "A Hand-Book or Concise Dictionary of Terms Used in the Arts and Sciences"].

The music struck up a beautiful air, and the dancers advanced a few steps, when suddenly, to my no small horror and amazement, the gentlemen seized the ladies round the waist, and all, as if intoxicated by this novel juxtaposition, began to whirl about the room, like a company of Bacchanalians dancing round a statue of the jolly god. "A waltz!" exclaimed I, inexpressibly shocked, "have I lived to see Scotch women waltz?" [The Edinburgh Magazine, April 1820]

[T]he waltz became a craze at the end of the [eighteenth] century, a double-dactylic, joyful experience of liberation, breaking resolutely away from the proscriptions of the minuet and the philosophy inherent in the minuet, which had emphasized a pattern of order and reason overseen by a sovereign, the individual submerged in the pattern. [Miller Williams, "Patterns of Poetry"]

also from late 18c.

waltz(v.)

"dance a waltz," 1794, from waltz (n.). Hence extended sense of "move nimbly and trippingly" (as one does in dancing a waltz), by 1853. Related: Waltzed; waltzing.

also from 1794

Entries linking to waltz

welter(v.)

"to roll, twist, turn over, tumble," early 14c., welteren, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German welteren "to roll," from Proto-Germanic *waltijan (source also of Old English wieltan, Old Norse velta, Old High German walzan "to turn, revolve," German wälzen "to roll," Gothic waltjan "to roll"), which is reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve." Compare welt (v.).

By c. 1400 as "writhe." Also in Middle English "live self-indulgently, wallow." Also from c. 1400 as "toss (on the waves), roll" as a ship at sea, also in reference to the waves, "to surge, roll." Related: Weltered; weltering.

two-step(n.)

1893 as a dance style, from two + step (n.); so called for the time signature of the music (as distinguished from the three-step waltz). Positions taken by the dancers involved direct contact, and in its day the two-step was scandalous and popular.

To the Two Step may be accredited, serious injury to the Waltz, awkward and immodest positions assumed in round dancing, also as being a prominent factor in overcrowding the profession and causing a general depression in the business of the legitimate Master of Dancing. [The Director, March 1898]

When we used to waltz, we clasped arms easily, took a nice, respectable position, and danced in a poetry of motion. Now, girls, how do you two-step? In nine cases out of ten the dear girl reposes her head on the young man's shoulder, or else their faces press each other. He presses her to his breast as closely as possible, and actually carries her around. Disgraceful? I should say so. Do you wonder at the ministers preaching on dancing as a sin, when it looks like this to a woman like myself who believes in dancing and has danced all her life? Mothers, as you love your girls, forbid them to dance after this manner. [letter in the ladies' section of Locomotive Engineers' Monthly Journal, March 1898]

*wel-(3)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn, revolve," with derivatives referring to curved, enclosing objects.

It might form all or part of: archivolt; circumvolve; convoluted; convolution; devolve; elytra; evolution; evolve; Helicon; helicopter; helix; helminth; lorimer; ileus; involve; revolt; revolution; revolve; valve; vault (v.1) "jump or leap over;" vault (n.1) "arched roof or ceiling;" volte-face; voluble; volume; voluminous; volute; volvox; volvulus; vulva; wale; walk; wallet; wallow; waltz; well (v.) "to spring, rise, gush;" welter; whelk; willow.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit valate "turns round," ulvam "womb, vulva;" Lithuanian valtis "twine, net," vilnis "wave," apvalus "round;" Old Church Slavonic valiti "roll, welter," vlŭna "wave;" Greek eluein "to roll round, wind, enwrap," eilein "twist, turn, squeeze; revolve, rotate," helix "spiral object;" Latin volvere "to turn, twist;" Gothic walwjan "to roll;" Old English wealwian "roll," weoloc "whelk, spiral-shelled mollusk;" Old High German walzan "to roll, waltz;" Old Irish fulumain "rolling;" Welsh olwyn "wheel."