300s

French words from Latin words first recorded in the 4th century

14 French words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 4th century, earliest Latin record first.

1. centaine

   317

   from Latin centena

   It is inherited from Late Latin centēna, a military term for a group of a hundred men in the early 7th century. The Latin noun is the feminine of centēnus, first a distributive, “a hundred each”…

2. soupe

   325–403

   from Latin suppa

   It is inherited from Old French sope, inherited from Late Latin suppa (“sopped bread”) (about 500), which also gave Italian zuppa and Spanish sopa. Suppa is of Germanic origin according to Bloch and…

3. compte

   334–337

   from Latin computus

   It is inherited from Old French conte, inherited from Late Latin computus (“calculation; reckoned amount; estimate”), from Latin computō (“to reckon”). The ⟨p⟩ was restored after the Latin in the…

4. branche

   354–430

   from Latin branca

   It is inherited from Late Latin branca (“paw (of an animal)”) (4th century), which developed the sense “branch of a tree” only in Gallo-Romance, by likeness of shape (1073). The Latin word is rare…

5. jambe

   360

   from Latin gamba

   It is inherited from Late Latin gamba (“pastern or hock of a horse”), a veterinary word extended to other four-legged animals and then to people. The Latin word was a popular borrowing of Ancient…

6. chat

   380–420

   from Latin cattus

   It is inherited from Late Latin cattus (“cat”), a late Latin word first found in the 4th century (Palladius), with a feminine “catta”. It replaced fēlēs (see félin), which also meant the wild cat…

7. chemise

   383–420

   from Latin camisia

   It is inherited from Late Latin camisia (“shirt, linen undergarment”), which appeared in the 4th century with the garment it names, and took the sense “cover” in the 12th century. Its first record…

8. coup

   383–420

   from Latin colpus

   It is inherited from Old French colp, inherited from Late Latin colpus (“blow”) (Salic Law), a popular syncopated form of Latin colaphus (“blow with the fist, cuff”), which transcribes Ancient Greek…

9. mot

   383–420

   from Latin muttum

   It is inherited from Old French mot, inherited from Late Latin muttum (“sound, grunt”), a back-formation from muttiō (“to mutter, say mu”), built on an onomatopoeia “mu” for a sound made with the…

10. chaudière

    390–400

    from Latin caldaria

    It is inherited from Old French chaudiere, inherited from Late Latin caldāria (“cauldron”), the plural, taken as a feminine singular, of calidārium (“hot bath; cauldron”), from calidārius…

11. empêcher

    390

    from Latin impedico

    It is inherited from Old French empeechier, inherited from Late Latin impedicō (“to catch in a trap, shackle”), from in- and pedica (“fetter, snare for catching animals by the foot”), from pēs…

12. semaine

    390–406

    from Latin septimana

    It is inherited from Old French samaine, inherited from Late Latin septimāna (“week”), a word of Church Latin (4th century), the feminine of Latin septimānus (“of the number seven”) used as a noun…

13. oiseau

    400

    from Latin aucellus

    It is inherited from Old French oisel, inherited from Late Latin aucellus (“bird”), a syncopated form of “*avicellus”, diminutive of avis (“bird”). The simple “avis” survives in Romance only in…

14. tombe

    400

    from Latin tumba

    It continues inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin tumba, used by Prudentius in the 4th century, borrowed from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound; tomb”). The Greek word, which first named…

All French words inherited from Latin, by century →