[‘ A baton carried by a fool or jester as a mock emblem of office; = bauble n. 4. Now hist.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /maˈrɒt/, U.S. /məˈrɑt/
Forms: 16 *marrot*, 18– *marotte*.
Etymology: < French /marotte/ object of a ridiculous and exaggerated affection (1639), foolish idea (1618), jester’s baton bearing a head with multicoloured belled cap (c/1470 in Middle French), image of the Virgin Mary (1468 in Middle French) < /Marie, the name of the Virgin Mary (see Mary n.1) + -ot/ -ot suffix (compare marionette n.). With the phrase /to crown with a marotte, compare French /coiffer d’une marotte/ (/c/1620).
The semantic development in Middle French from ‘image of the Virgin Mary’ to ‘jester’s baton’ is surprising, and cannot be explained with any certainty: it may take as its starting point the use of the word in the context of mystery plays, thence being transferred to puppet theatre and to the puppets themselves (compare marionette n.); the term may thus have come to be used for the puppet head on a fool’s sceptre. However, this explanation cannot be accepted with any certainty.
The pretended etymology in quot. 1611 at sense 1 is < the name of Clément Marot, French poet (see Marotic adj.).
*1.* A baton carried by a fool or jester as a mock emblem of office; = bauble n. 4. Now hist.
†to crown with a marotte: to make a fool of (obs.).
In quot. 1611 the explanation is meant derisively.
1611 R. Philips in T. Coryate /Crudities/ sig. c7v, Thee of the Marrot worthy doe we deeme. [/Margin/] That is, the Lawrell, so called from one Marrot a French Poet.
1612 J. Taylor /Laugh & be Fat/ 13 They crowne thee with a Marrot, or a Mard.
1840 W. H. Ainsworth /Tower of London/ ii. xiv, This last shaft likewise hit its mark, though Jane [/sc./ the Fool] endeavoured to ward it off with her marotte.
1979 /Renaissance Q./ *32* 335 Holbein stresses the traditional costume of the fool in his portrayals of Folly, emphasizing especially the marotte or bauble-puppet and the mirror.
1988–9 /18th-cent. Stud./ *22* 172 Color figures prominently in the painting otherwise in the red curtain and diagonally opposite it, the red suit of the seated fool with his marotte.
*2.* A pet notion, a craze.
1852 Earl of Malmesbury /Mem. Ex-Minister/ (1884) I. 324 To be Emperor has been his [/sc./ Louis Napoleon’s]/marotte/ since he was twenty years old.
1978 W. M. Spackman /Armful of Warm Girl/ 8 And all your darling little marottes..like the peacocks. And great-grandfather’s stone poets you were going to have scoured.