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gué

Etymology and origin of the French word gué

History Permalink
Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (guez)
Borrowed from
Frankish *wad
Ultimate origin
Frankish (*wad)

Pronunciation

Forms

gué m (plural gués)[1] Old French plural guez (1080), singular gué from about 1170.[2]

Etymology

According to the TLFi, Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF it is borrowed from Frankish *wad (“ford”),[3][4][5][2][6] reconstructed from Old High German wat and Middle Dutch wat,[3][4] with the usual change of Germanic /w/ to /g/.[3] Bloch and Wartburg, the Petit Robert and Littré instead derive it from Latin vadum (“ford”), which took its initial /w/ from the related Germanic word;[7][8][9] Wiktionary allows both, the Latin word perhaps reinforcing the Frankish one.[1] Latin “vadum” gave Spanish vado, Portuguese vau and Romanian vad,[3][4] while Italian guado and Old Occitan ga have the Germanic consonant.[7] Both go back to an Indo-European root meaning “to go”.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has guez, shallow places in a river where it can be crossed on foot.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense.[4] About 1200 it also meant a pond or watering place, a sense it took from Frankish and which is still common in northern and eastern dialects.[3][4] Passer à gué “to ford” and the old figurative sonder le gué “to test the water” (Retz, before 1679) are the main phrases.[2][8] The verb guéer (early 12th century guaër) and guéable “fordable” are from the same family.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Guez (Roland).[3][2]
  • c. 1170 – Singular gué.[2]
  • c. 1200 – “Pond, watering place”.[3][4]
  • before 1679 – Sonder le gué.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A ford, a shallow place for crossing a river: passer à gué.[8][1]
  2. Au milieu du gué: halfway through an undertaking.[8]
  • Latin vadum

Usage notes

Ô gué, in songs such as La bonne aventure, ô gué, is a different word, a variant of gai “merry” (Molière, 1666).[5][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 438b
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette

Related etymologies

  • malle · also from Frankish
  • houx · also from Frankish
  • halle · also from Frankish
  • canif · also from Frankish
Cite this entry

“Gué.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/gu%C3%A9. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·