Literal Translation
Rose water-flavoured
Actual Meaning
Mushy, usually of a novel or movie
Etymology
A true romance novel, filled with clichés, predictable situations and very conventional feelings. Eau de rose, first called ‘eau rose’ in the 15th century, then ‘eau de rose’ in the 16th century, is obtained by distilling rose petals; it is therefore a rose distillate.
Alain Rey dates the probable appearance of the expression to the end of the 19th century, but there are several works that use it at the beginning of the same century (in 1826 or 1833, for example); and Claude Duneton even locates it as early as the end of the 18th century in a play by a Dumoncel entitled ‘L’intérieur des comités révolutionnaires’ (Inside the Revolutionary Committees).
That said, in the form ‘à l’eau rose’ or ‘à l’eau rosée’, it is older, as it was already found in Voltaire’s work in 1759.
In any case, few of the best-known authors of the 19th century used it, perhaps because it was considered too familiar. As for why rose water became a symbol of sentimentality, it is assumed that it was simply because the colour pink was associated with femininity, and therefore indirectly with good feelings, with a pejorative connotation.