Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RO-MANCE', n. [romans', ro'mans; Fr. roman; It. romanzo; Sp. romance, the common vulgar language of Spain, and romance; Port. id. any vulgar tongue, and a species of poetry; W. rham, a rising over; rhamant, a rising over, a vaulting or springing, an omen, a figurative expression, romance, as an adjective, rising boldly, romantic; rhamanta, to rise over, to soar, to reach to a distance, to divine, to romance, to allegorize; rhamantu, to use figurative or high flown language, &c. The Welsh retains the signification of the oriental word from which Rome is derived, and indeed the sense of romance is evidently from the primitive sense of the root, rather than from the use of the Roman language. The Welsh use of the word proves also the correctness of the foregoing derivation of Roma, and overthrows the fabulous account of the origin of the word from Romulus or Remus. It is probable that this word is allied to ramble.]

1. A fabulous relation or story of adventures and incidents designed for the entertainment of readers; a tale of extraordinary adventures, fictitious and often extravagant, usually a tale of love or war, subjects interesting the sensibilities of the heart or the passions of wonder and curiosity. Romance differs from the novel, as it treats of great actions and extraordinary adventures; that is, according to the Welsh signification, it vaults or soars beyond the limits of fact and real life, and often of probability. The first romances were a monstrous assemblage of histories, in which truth and fiction were blended without probability; a composition of amorous adventures and the extravagant ideas of chivalry. – Encyc.
2. A fiction. – Prior.