300–201 BC

French words from Latin words first recorded in the 3rd century BC

288 French words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 3rd century BC, earliest Latin record first (page 2).

mettre
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin mitto

It is inherited from Old French metre, inherited from Latin mittō (“to let go, release; to throw; to send”). Rey describes the Latin verb as an expressive word with a double consonant and no sure…
mille
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin mille

It is inherited from Old French mile, inherited from Latin mīlle (“thousand”). Two Latin forms lie behind the French word: the singular “mīlle” gave Old French “mil”, and the plural mīlia gave…
prix
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin pretium

It is inherited from Old French pris, inherited from Latin pretium (“value; price; reward”). The origin of “pretium” is unclear; rather than with Balto-Slavic words such as Russian “protiv”…
saint
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin sanctus

It is inherited from Latin sanctus (“made sacred, inviolable; holy”), the past participle of sanciō (“to make sacred; to ratify”) (see sanction). In Christian Latin “sanctus” took on the sense of…
terre
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin terra

It is inherited from Old French terre, inherited from Latin terra (“earth, land, ground”). The Latin word is found only in Italic and Celtic (Old Irish and Welsh “tír” “land”), and Rey derives it…
venir
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin venio

It is inherited from Old French venir, inherited from Latin veniō (“to come; to arrive; to fall to; to reach”). The Latin verb meant “to move so as to reach a place (where a person is)”, and also…
vin
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin vinum

It is inherited from Latin vīnum (“wine; grape; drink made from other fruits”). The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos) and to Semitic forms in “*wayn-” such as Biblical Hebrew…
voir
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin video

It is inherited from Old French veoir, earlier “vedeir”, inherited from Latin videō (“to see”). The Latin verb belongs to the Indo-European root “*weid-”, which expressed seeing as a means of…
voler
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin volo

It is inherited from Latin volō (“to fly; to go quickly”), keeping both Latin values, movement through the air and speed. Rey notes that a link with a Vedic word for “winged” has been suggested but…
œil
240 BC–207 BC

from Latin oculus

It is inherited from Old French oil, inherited from Latin oculus (“eye”), through a Vulgar Latin “oclus”. The Latin word also named anything shaped like an eye, such as a spot on a fur or a…
aimer
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin amo

It is inherited from Old French amer, inherited from Latin amō (“to love”). The infinitive “amer” was remade after the stressed forms such as “aime”, and “aimer” prevailed in the 16th century. Rey…
ami
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin amicus

It is inherited from Old French amic, inherited from Latin amīcus (“friend, (of a woman) lover”), from amō (“to love”) (see aimer). In Latin “amīcus” meant a friend, also a lover, and a political…
amour
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin amor

It is inherited from Old French amor, inherited from Latin amor (“love”), from amō (“to love”). The regular French development would have been “ameur”, which is attested and survives in Picard; the…
an
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin annus

It continues inherited from Latin annus (“year; annual harvest”). Rey describes the Latin word as apparently native to Italy, close to Oscan akenei (“in the year”), Wiktionary traces it to…
autre
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin alter

It is inherited from Old French altre, inherited from Latin alterum (“the other (of two)”). Late Latin gave up the classical distinction between alius (“another”) and “alter” “the other of two”…
bœuf
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin bos

It is inherited from Old French buef, inherited from Latin bōs (“ox, cow”) (accusative bovem). Rey explains bōs as a dialect form preferred to the native Roman development, from an Indo-European…
chair
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin caro

It is inherited from Latin carō (“flesh; meat”), accusative “carnem”. The Latin word belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”) and must first have meant a piece of…
chanter
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin canto

It is inherited from Latin cantō (“to sing”), a frequentative of canō (“to sing; to prophesy”) that very early competed with the simple verb and took its place. “Canere” was a word of augury and…
clair
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin clarus

It is inherited from Old French cler, inherited from Latin clārus (“bright; loud; clear, evident; illustrious”). Rey relates “clarus” to Latin calō (“to call”) and Latin clāmō (“to cry out”) (see…
commun
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin communis

It is inherited from Old French comun, inherited from Latin commūnis (“shared by all or many”), formed from “cum” “with” and “-munis” “who performs his duty”, related to Latin mūnus (“duty; gift”)…
contre
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin contra

It is inherited from Old French contre, inherited from Latin contrā (“opposite, facing; against”). It is first written in its Latin form “contra” (842), then “cuntre” (1080) and “contre” (about…
cou
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin collum

It is the old oblique plural “cous” of Old French col (see col), inherited from Latin collum (“neck”), earlier “collus”. The neuter “collum” may have been drawn in by other neuter names of body…
couler
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin colo

It is inherited from Latin cōlō (“to filter, strain, purify”), from cōlum (“sieve, strainer”), a rustic technical word of obscure origin. Already in Latin the verb had come to mean “to flow” of a…
courir
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin curro

It is inherited from Old French curre, inherited from Latin currō (“to run”), with a change of conjugation to “-ir”. The older “courre” kept the Latin stress, and the future “je courrai” still comes…
deux
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin duo

It is inherited from Old French deus, inherited from Latin duōs (“two”), the masculine accusative plural of “duo”. The Old French subject form “dui”, “doi” comes from popular “*duī”, and the…
entier
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin integer

It is inherited from Old French entier, inherited from Latin integer (“untouched, intact; sound; upright”) (accusative “integrum”), formed from the negative in- and the root of tangō (“to touch”)…
fait
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin factum

It is inherited from Old French fet, inherited from Latin factum (“deed, act”), the neuter past participle of faciō (“to do, make”) used as a noun. It is thus the same word as the past participle…
flamme
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin flamma

It is inherited from Old French flame, inherited from Latin flamma (“flame, fire”), used literally and figuratively. Rey explains the Latin word as an expressive formation from “flag-ma”, related to…
frère
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin frater

It is inherited from Old French frere, inherited from Latin frāter (“brother”), accusative “frātrem”. The Latin word continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr (“brother”), as do Ancient Greek φράτηρ…
gens
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin gens

It is inherited from Old French genz, the old plural of gent, inherited from Latin gēns (“clan, family, people”) (accusative “gentem”). The Latin word is from gignō (“to beget”), from the…
gâter
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin vasto

It is inherited from Old French guaster, inherited from Latin vāstō (“to lay waste, depopulate; to ravage”), from vāstus (“empty, desolate”), whose initial was changed to /w/, and hence /g/, under…
hier
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin heri

It is inherited from Old French ier, inherited from Latin heri (“yesterday, (Late Latin) lately”). Rey compares Sanskrit ह्यस् (hyás) and Irish “in-dé”, Littré took “heri” from an older “*hesi”, as…
laver
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin lavo

It is inherited from Latin lavō (“to wash, bathe”). Latin “lavare” was at first intransitive, with a reflexive sense, while the transitive “to wash” belonged to the related lavere, “lavare” later…
lettre
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin littera

It is inherited from Old French letre, inherited from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet; in the plural, a missive, a writing, literature”). The Latin senses “missive”, “written work” and…
meilleur
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin melior

It is inherited from Old French meillor, inherited from Latin melior (“better”), accusative “meliōrem”, the comparative of bonus (“good”). Rey takes “melior” to be built on the same root as multus…
ne
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin non

It is inherited from Old French ne, inherited from Latin nōn (“not”), with a special development due to its place in front of the verb, where it was unstressed. “Non” weakened to nen before a vowel…
neuf
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin novem

1. The numeral is inherited from Old French nuef, inherited from Latin novem (“nine”). The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥; it matches Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun) and, with an…
nez
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin nasus

It is inherited from Old French nés, inherited from Latin nāsus (“nose; sense of smell; mockery; spout of a vessel”). Like nārēs (“nostrils”), the Latin word contains an Indo-European root for…
nombre
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin numerus

It is inherited from Old French nombre, inherited from Latin numerus (“number; quantity; rank; grammatical number; rhythm”), a word that rendered all the technical senses of Ancient Greek ἀριθμός…
non
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin non

It is inherited from Old French non, inherited from Latin nōn (“not”), in stressed position; unstressed, the same word gave ne. In Latin “nōn” is a strengthened form of the negation ne with the…
ogre
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin Orcus

It is inherited from Old French ogre, probably an alteration of an unattested *orc, inherited from Latin Orcus (“god of the underworld; the underworld”), with the “r” moved, perhaps under the…
où
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin ubi

It is inherited from Old French ou, inherited from Latin ubi (“where; when”), a relative and interrogative adverb of place without motion, also used of time. Latin “ubi” belongs to the group of the…
palais
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin palatium

1. The palace is inherited from Old French paleis, inherited from Latin palātium, which properly named the Palatine Hill in Rome. Augustus built his house on the Palatine, and the name passed to the…
pas
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin passus

It is inherited from Old French pas, inherited from Latin passus (“step, pace; footprint; a measure of length”). The Latin noun belongs to pandō (“to spread out, open by stretching”) (whence…
peindre
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin pingo

It is inherited from Old French peindre, inherited from Latin pingō (“to paint, colour; to embroider; to adorn; to depict”). Rey and the Petit Robert relate the Latin verb to the Indo-European root…
perdre
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin perdo

It is inherited from Old French perdre, inherited from Latin perdō (“to destroy, ruin; to waste; to lose”), formed from per- (“thoroughly”) and dō (“to give”), so properly “to give away to no…
prouver
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin probo

It is inherited from Old French prover, inherited from Latin probō (“to test, try; to approve; to make credible, prove”), from probus (“good, upright”). The Latin verb spread to most of the Romance…
saluer
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin saluto

It is inherited from Old French saluer, inherited from Latin salūtō (“to greet; to pay one's respects; to visit”), properly “to wish someone health (salus)”, for example when he sneezes; it is…
sauf
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin salvus

It is inherited from Latin salvus (“whole, intact; in good health”), which in Church Latin took the moral sense “saved (from evil, by the Saviour)”. Rey relates “salvus” to salūs (see salut) and…
seul
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin solus

It is inherited from Old French sol, inherited from Latin sōlus (“alone, only; solitary, deserted”), a word of unknown origin. Littré compared Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and Latin salvus…
sœur
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin soror

It is inherited from Old French suer, inherited from Latin soror (“sister; cousin”). Old French had the nominative “suer” from “soror” and the oblique “seror” from the accusative “sorōrem”…
taire
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin taceo

It is inherited from Old French taire, inherited from Latin taceō (“to be silent; to say nothing of”): by 980 the infinitive had been remade from taisir, the regular outcome of the Latin verb. The…
tard
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin tarde

It is inherited from Old French tart, inherited from Latin tardē (“slowly; late”), from tardus (“slow”). Latin “tardus” has no known etymology, though Rey notes its resemblance to Ancient Greek…
terme
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin terminus

It is inherited from Old French terme, inherited from Latin terminus (“boundary stone; limit, end”). The Latin word was personified and deified as Terminus, the god who guarded boundaries, and also…
valoir
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin valeo

It is inherited from Old French valeir, inherited from Latin valeō (“to be strong, be well; to be worth”). The Latin verb meant “to be strong, healthy, powerful, valid” and, of coins, “to be worth”…
vendre
235 BC–200 BC

from Latin vendo

It is inherited from Latin vendō (“to put up for sale; to praise, cry up”). The Latin verb is a contraction of “venum dare”, from vēnum (“sale”) (whence vénal) and dō (“to give”). Cognate with Old…
vif
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin vivus

It is inherited from Latin vīvus (“alive; lively; natural (of water, rock)”), from vīvō (“to live”) (see vivre). The Petit Robert relates it to Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”) and Breton bev…
âme
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin anima

It is inherited from Old French anme, inherited from Latin anima (“breath, air; life; soul”). Rey traces it to an Indo-European root also seen in Sanskrit अनिति (aniti, “he breathes”) and Ancient…
épais
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin spissus

It is inherited from Old French espes, inherited from Latin spissus (“thick, dense, compact”). The modern form comes from the variant espeis, espois, in a development like that of roide to raide…
île
235 BC–201 BC

from Latin insula

It is inherited from Old French isle, inherited from Latin īnsula (“island; block of houses”), often pronounced “isula”. The origin of the Latin word is unknown; a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean…

All French words inherited from Latin, by century →