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descente

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Etymology and origin of the French word descente

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1260 Anglo-Norman record More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin dēscendō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin scandō
English scan
Latin dēscendō
Romanian deștinge
English descend
French descendre
French descente
Spanish descender
From the same root
English scanner ← scandō
Latin ascendō ← scandō
Latin cōnscendō ← scandō
Latin escendō ← scandō
Latin īnscendō ← scandō
Latin scāla ← scandō
Latin scandula ← scandō
Latin scansiō ← scandō
Latin trānscendō ← scandō
Latin condēscendō ← dēscendō
Latin dēscēnsus ← dēscendō

Pronunciation

Forms

descente f (plural descentes)[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include decente, dessente and discent.[2] Old French also had the derivatives descendement, descendue and descense in the same sense.[3][4]

Etymology

It is from French descendre, formed on the model of pente, rente and vente beside pendre, rendre and vendre.[5][6][7][3] Littré notes that the Latin supine dēscēnsum had regularly given Old French descensse and dēscēnsus had given descens, while the noun was made within French after these models.[4] The verb itself is inherited from Latin dēscendō (“to come down”).[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record, of 1304, is a legal one: descente de héritage, the passing of an inheritance by succession, in the Anglo-French Year Books of Edward I.[5][9] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the word from 1260 in the senses “line of descent” and “descent of an inheritance”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense “succession” went out of use, and the physical sense “going down” took over, first in Oresme (1370–82).[5][9] From it came a run of special senses: in war an incursion or sudden attack (1559, Amyot), at sea a landing from a ship (1574, faire descente), and in medicine the dropping of an organ (1585, Paré).[5][9] Furetière records in 1690 the dismounting from a horse and the action of bringing something down, as in descente de croix.[5][9]

By metonymy the word named the slope by which one goes down (1594) and, technically, a pipe for draining water (1676).[5][9] Descente de lit, a small rug at the bedside, is in Balzac in 1837, and figuratively names a spineless person.[5][9] Descente de commissaire (1769) and descente de police (1789) gave the sense “police raid”, used absolutely by Balzac in 1847 and meaning “search” by 1901.[9] In the French of Madagascar it is an inspection visit, and in African French the end of the working day.[9] In skiing it names the downhill race.[7][1] English descent comes from the Old French word, about 1300, first in the sense of lineage.[10]

Timeline

  • 1260 – First Anglo-Norman record, of lineage and inheritance.[2]
  • 1304 – Descente de héritage “succession” in the Year Books of Edward I.[5]
  • c. 1300 – English borrows it as descent, of genealogical descent.[10]
  • 1370–82 – Oresme uses it for movement downward.[5]
  • 1559 – Amyot uses it for a sudden attack on a place.[5]
  • 1574 – Faire descente “to land from a ship”.[5]
  • 1594 – It names a downward slope.[5]
  • 1676 – Félibien records it for a drainpipe.[5]
  • 1690 – Furetière records descente de croix and the dismounting from a horse.[5]
  • 1789 – Descente de police appears.[9]
  • 1837 – Descente de lit appears in Balzac.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of going down from a higher place to a lower one: la descente dans le puits a duré une heure.[11][5]
  2. The act of getting off a vehicle or a mount: à la descente du train.[11][4]
  3. (military) A sudden incursion by troops landing on enemy territory.[11]
  4. Descente de police, descente de justice: a police raid or search, also (familiar) a sudden visit by a group to a place.[11]
  5. The downward movement of a thing, such as an aircraft coming in to land, and (medicine) the prolapse of an organ.[11]
  6. The act of bringing something down;[11] descente de croix, a painting of Christ taken down from the cross.[11]
  7. A downward slope or road: une descente dangereuse.[11][5]
  8. A drainpipe (tuyau de descente).[11]
  9. Descente de lit: a small bedside rug.[11][5]
  10. (sports) The downhill event in skiing.[7][1]
  11. Avoir une bonne descente (familiar): to be able to drink a great deal.[11]

Usage notes

Descente is pronounced the same as décente, the feminine of décent.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  3. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 51a
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Descente.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/descente. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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