rampart

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French rempart, also rampart and rempard,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from 1370 for a defensive earthen wall around a town.^[2] The French noun comes from Middle French remparer (“to fortify”), also ramparer,^[2][6][7] through an older form rempar.^[8][9] Its final -t does not belong to the verb: it was added through association with French boulevart, the source of boulevard.^{[2][8][10][6]} The verb is made up of re- (“again”) and emparer (“to defend, fortify”), also amparer,^[2][4][10] from Old Occitan amparar (“to take possession of”), also antparar, recorded from the late 11th century,^[2][6] from Vulgar Latin *anteparō (“to prepare beforehand”),^[4][6][10] from Latin ante- (“before”) and parō (“to prepare”),^[3][6][10] from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, procure”).^[4][11] English had already taken rampire from the variants without -t.^[2][8] The Latin verb also gave prepare,^[10] and Barnhart and Klein refer the word to pare.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A defensive wall or mound of earth with a broad top: 1550, in T. Nicolls's translation of Thucydides, in the OED, revised in 2008.^[2] Barnhart's first date is 1583,^[12][3] Etymonline's is the 1580s,^[4] and Dictionary.com gives 1575–85.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of fortification: Etymonline describes an earthen elevation able to resist cannon shot, sometimes with parapets on it.^[4] Writers soon applied it to whatever defends or protects: French had this figurative use by the first half of the 16th century,^[2] and in English it is dated 1536 by Merriam-Webster and 1567 by the OED.^[7][2] The verb, to fortify with a rampart, appears in 1585 and is used chiefly in the past participle ramparted.^[2] In western Canada, from 1851, ramparts were the steep rocky banks of a river gorge, or the gorge itself.^[2][14] English dialect narrowed the word to roads and paths: in Derbyshire a rampart was a high road, and in Lancashire a kerbstone or a raised side-walk with a slope to it.^[15]

Timeline

• 1550 – a defensive wall or mound of earth with a broad top; the walkway along it.^[2] Barnhart dates the word to 1583.^[3]
• 1567 – in extended use, of something other than a fortification.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the sense "something that protects" to 1536.^[7]
• 1585 – verb, to fortify or surround with a rampart.^[2]
• 1851 – in western Canada, a steep rocky bank of a river gorge; the gorge itself.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A broad embankment or wall raised around a place as a fortification, usually topped by a parapet: Sentries paced the ramparts of the old citadel.^[14][7][2]
2. Something that defends or protects; a bulwark.^[14][7][2]
3. (Canada) A steep rock wall in a river gorge, or the gorge itself; usually in the plural.^[14][2]

Verb

1. To fortify or surround with a rampart.^[14][7][2]

Word family

• ramparted

Related words

• rampire
• boulevard
• prepare
• pare

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)