Etymologically
Log in

car

Etymology and origin of the French word car

History Permalink

French has separately a conjunction car “for, because”, from Latin, and a noun car “coach”, shortened from autocar, from English.[1][2][3]

car1 for, because

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
10th century, Sermon sur Jonas
Inherited from
Latin quare via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (quārē)

Pronunciation

Forms

car[4] Old French car, quar and quer, from the unstressed and stressed forms of the Latin word.[3][5]

Etymology

The conjunction is inherited from Old French car, inherited from Latin quārē (“why?; therefore”), literally “by which thing”, from quā and rē, the ablatives of quī and rēs (“thing”).[3][5][6][7][4] Latin “quārē” was an interrogative and a causal adverb; its use as a conjunction of cause is already found in Pompeian inscriptions before 79 AD, and in popular Latin it displaced nam.[3][5][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan car and Catalan car.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 10th-century Sermon on Jonah.[3][1] In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it is also a particle urging an order: Franc chevalier, car m'eslisez baron “Frankish knights, choose me a baron then”.[8]

Semantic evolution

Old French used it as a causal adverb, “therefore” (until the 16th century), as a particle with the imperative and the subjunctive of wishing, and as a conjunction of subordination, “because” (1167–70), later replaced by parce que.[3][5][6] Only the coordinating use, giving the reason for what precedes, has survived.[5]

In the 17th century Malherbe and other purists attacked car as old-fashioned, Voiture defended it in a famous letter, asking why one should say in three words (pour ce que) what one can say in three letters.[3][6][9] The noun phrase sans si et sans car “without conditions” dates from 1616–20.[3]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Car in the Sermon on Jonah.[3]
  • c. 1050 – Quer, quar in the Vie de saint Alexis.[3]
  • 1167–1170 – Car “because”, subordinating, in Gautier d'Arras.[3]
  • 16th century – The adverbial sense “therefore” dies out.[6][5]
  • 17th century – The “car quarrel”: Malherbe against, Voiture for.[3][6]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. For, because, since: introduces the reason for what has just been said: méfie-toi, car il est dangereux.[10][2]
  2. (noun) Les si et les car: objections, quibbles.[2]

car2 coach

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1928, Larousse du XXe siècle; 1873 (tramcar)
Borrowed from
English autocar
Ultimate origin
Old French (car)

Pronunciation

Forms

car m (plural cars)[4]

Etymology

The coach is a clipping of autocar (1907–1910), borrowed from English autocar, formed with car.[3][5][6][1] An earlier “car” “tramcar”, found from 1873 in American contexts, was borrowed from English car “vehicle on rails” (1830), itself from Anglo-Norman or Old Northern French Anglo-Norman car, the northern form of char.[3][5][4][11] It is thus a doublet of “char”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cars de tramways appears in Jules Verne's Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1873), of San Francisco.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “tramcar” did not survive outside American contexts.[5] The modern sense, a large motor vehicle carrying passengers outside towns, as opposed to the town autobus, is recorded in 1928.[3][5] In African French and in Madagascar car covers various public transport vehicles (car rapide, car-brousse), and in Switzerland the car postal carries passengers as well as mail.[5] In Canada char was used to render American car.[5]

Timeline

  • 1873 – Car, a tramcar, in Jules Verne.[3][5]
  • 1907 – Autocar.[6]
  • 1912 – Side-car, from English.[6]
  • 1928 – Car, a motor coach.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A coach, bus for long journeys or tours: un car de touristes.[2][10]
  2. Car de police: a police van.[10]
  • char
  • autocar

References

  1. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1421a
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 39b

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Car.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/car. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·