Mona Ozouf studied the subject in her dictionary of the French Revolution.

The term has two traditional meanings: to rotate, and a cosmic cycle (like I said, a rotation). The revolutions usually were against a sovereign, not against the regime itself. So, when a revolution started, the main goal was to change the sovereign or improve the people's conditions of life, but without questioning the regime structure itself.

Ozouf assets that both French and American revolutions started following the old principia. It's easier to see this in the American rev ("No taxation without representation" was the motto against the oppressive regime of England over the American taxpayers). The situation escalated quickly. The American, in the beginning didn't want to emancipate, they want some "congressmen" in the parliament.

After some point, the discussion radicalized and reached a no-return point where the revs learned that no agreement could be made. That's where the term revolution gained a new "significant" (idk the English word)

I'll edit and add the source when I'm home, now in mobile it's hard to find.

Sorry for terrible English, it's not my native language