500–401 BC

French words from Latin words first recorded in the 5th century BC

54 French words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 5th century BC, earliest Latin record first.

avoir
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin habeo

It is inherited from Old French avoir, inherited from Latin habeō (“to have, hold, possess”). The Latin verb meant at first “to hold, occupy” and “to dwell”, like its derivative habitō (whence…
chose
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin causa

It is inherited from Old French chose, inherited from Latin causa (“cause, lawsuit; matter”). In legal language “causa” was often used beside rēs (“thing”) (whence rien), and, from it took the…
faux
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin falsus

1. The adjective “false” is inherited from Old French fals, inherited from Latin falsus (“false, falsified, deceitful”), the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”). The same Latin verb gave faillir…
fils
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin filius

It is inherited from Old French fils, inherited from Latin fīlius (“son, child”). The modern form is the Old French subject case, kept because it was often used as a vocative, and probably also to…
fruit
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin fructus

It is inherited from Latin frūctus (“enjoyment; produce, revenue; fruits of the earth”), from fruor (“to enjoy, have the use of”); the TLFi calls it a borrowing. Its abstract sense was kept alive by…
fuir
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin fugio

It is inherited from Late Latin fugire, a 3rd-century change of conjugation of classical fugere (“to flee; to be exiled”). The Latin verb goes back to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European…
homme
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin homo

It is inherited from Old French home, inherited from Latin hominem (“human being”), the accusative of “homō”. In imperial Latin “homō” came to mean a rational being, as opposed to a beast, and…
je
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin eo

It is inherited from Old French jo, inherited from Late Latin eo (recorded in the 6th century), a contraction of Classical Latin ego (“I”). The Late Latin form is supposed from the Romance languages…
juge
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin iudex

It is inherited from Latin iūdex (“judge, arbiter”), through its accusative; its sound development followed that of the verb juger. The Latin word is formed from iūs (“law, right”) and dīcō (“to…
langue
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin lingua

It is inherited from Old French langue, inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue; language”), which already had both senses, and the figurative one of a tongue-shaped object. Rey groups the Latin word…
lire
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin lego

1. The verb is inherited from Old French lire, inherited from Latin legō (“to gather; to choose; to read”). The sense “to read” grew out of “to gather, collect” in a way that is not clear: perhaps…
loin
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin longe

It is inherited from Old French loing, inherited from Latin longē (“far, far off; by far”), from longus (“long”), whence long. With a verb of difference, Latin “longē” also meant “by far”. Cognate…
mais
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin magis

It is inherited from Old French mais, inherited from Latin magis (“more; rather”). “Magis” meant “more”, but unlike plūs, which expressed number and quantity, it usually had the qualitative sense…
mourir
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin morior

It is inherited from Old French morir, inherited from Latin morior (“to die”), whose classical infinitive “morī” had a variant “morīrī” in early and popular Latin (Plautus), which became “morīre” in…
on
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin homo

It is inherited from Old French om, inherited from Latin homō (“human being”), the nominative, which developed in unstressed position; the accusative hominem gave homme. In Late Latin “homo” is…
peine
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin poena

It is inherited from Old French peine, inherited from Latin poena (“penalty, punishment; pain”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “blood money, fine; punishment”). The Greek word, a legal…
pleurer
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin ploro

It is inherited from Old French plorer, inherited from Latin plōrō (“to cry out, lament”), an expressive word of popular Latin for which no convincing cognate has been found. Distinct from lacrimō…
plus
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin plus

It is inherited from Old French plus, inherited from Latin plūs (“more”), the comparative of multus (“much”) (whence moult), corresponding to Ancient Greek πολύς (polús). With adjectives “plūs”…
rompre
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin rumpo

It is inherited from Old French rompre, inherited from Latin rumpō (“to break, burst”), used in Latin of physical breaking as well as of breaking off. The nasal infix of the Latin present stem is…
témoin
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin testimonium

It is inherited from Old French tesmoin, inherited from Latin testimōnium (“testimony; proof”), which in Late Latin also meant “a witness” (late 4th century, in Egeria's account of her pilgrimage)…
un
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin unus

It is inherited from Old French un, inherited from Latin ūnus (“one”). The Latin numeral early took on the value of an indefinite article, already in Plautus and Cicero. In the sense “alone” “ūnus”…
vingt
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin viginti

It is inherited from Old French vint, from Late Latin “vinti”, found in inscriptions, a contraction of classical inherited from Latin vīgintī (“twenty”). The Latin numeral is made of “vi-”, a…
vivre
451 BC–450 BC

from Latin vivo

It is inherited from Old French vivre, inherited from Latin vīvō (“to live”). The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷīwō and the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)…
de
450 BC

from Latin de

It is inherited from Old French de, inherited from Latin dē (“down from, away from; about”). In Latin it marked origin, distance and separation, with an added idea of movement downwards, and also…
double
450 BC

from Latin duplus

The adjective is inherited from Old French doble, inherited from Latin duplus (“twice as large, double”), and the noun continues its neuter duplum (“twice as much”). The Latin adjective is formed on…
droit
450 BC

from Latin directus

The adjective is inherited from Old French dreit, inherited from Latin dīrēctus (“straight, direct; at right angles”), figuratively “straightforward, just”, through a syncopated Late Latin form…
défendre
450 BC

from Latin defendo

It is inherited from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off, repel; to protect”), from dē- and a simple verb “*fendō” “to strike”, found only in compounds (see offense). The sense “to forbid”, found in Late…
elle
450 BC

from Latin ille

It is inherited from Old French ele, inherited from Latin illa (“that one (feminine)”), the feminine of the demonstrative “ille” “that”. Rey connects “ille” with an Indo-European base with “l” for a…
et
450 BC

from Latin et

It is inherited from Old French e, inherited from Latin et (“and; also; yet”), a coordinating conjunction used to join words and clauses, to mark opposition or emphasis, and often found at the head…
fort
450 BC

from Latin fortis

It is inherited from Old French fort, inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, sturdy; brave”), a word of uncertain origin, Wiktionary mentions Old Latin “forctis”. The adverb (early 12th century) and…
le
450 BC

from Latin ille

It is inherited from Old French le, inherited from Latin ille (“that”), from the accusative forms illum, “illam”, “illōs”, “illās”, with the loss of the first syllable because these words were…
leur
450 BC

from Latin ille

It is inherited from Old French lor, inherited from Latin illōrum (“of those, of them”), the masculine genitive plural of the demonstrative “ille”. Romanian lor shows that the first syllable was…
long
450 BC

from Latin longus

It is inherited from Old French lonc, inherited from Latin longus (“long, extended”). The Latin word, used of both space and time like Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós), is related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃…
main
450 BC

from Latin manus

It is inherited from Old French man, inherited from Latin manus (“hand; force, power; handwriting; band of men”). Besides the hand itself, Latin “manus” stood for force and authority (of the…
moins
450 BC

from Latin minus

It is inherited from Old French meins, inherited from Latin minus (“less”), the neuter of minor (“smaller, less”) used as an adverb, serving as the comparative of “parum” “little”. In Latin “minus”…
ni
450 BC

from Latin nec

It continues Old French ne, inherited from Latin nec (“and not, nor”). Latin “nec” was a variant of neque, used first before consonants, which displaced the full form; it goes back to the…
or
450 BC

from Latin aurum

1. Gold is inherited from Latin aurum (“gold; gold object; gold coin; wealth”). The /r/ of the Latin word comes from an older /s/, as shown by Sabine “ausom”, Old Prussian ausis and Lithuanian…
ou
450 BC

from Latin aut

It is inherited from Old French ou, inherited from Latin aut (“or”), a disjunctive conjunction distinguishing two things or ideas of which one excludes the other, often doubled as “aut… aut” “either…
par
450 BC

from Latin per

It is inherited from Old French par, inherited from Latin per (“through, across; during; by means of; in the name of”). Latin “per” had the local sense “through, along, over”, the temporal sense…
part
450 BC

from Latin pars

It is inherited from Latin pars (“share; part; side”), from the accusative “partem”. The Latin word meant a share given to someone out of a whole, a part of a whole and, in space, a side or…
peuple
450 BC

from Latin populus

It is inherited from Latin populus (“people of a state or city; the citizens; people, the public”). The Old French “pueble” became “pueple” and “peuple” by assimilation of the inner /b/ to the…
quand
450 BC

from Latin quando

It is inherited from Old French quant, inherited from Latin quandō (“when”), an adverb and conjunction which, from the oldest texts, has the same sense as cum (“when”). Classical Latin partly…
quinze
450 BC

from Latin quindecim

It is inherited from Old French quinze, inherited from Latin quīndecim (“fifteen”), a compound of quīnque (“five”) (see cinq) and decem (“ten”) (see dix); Littré notes that the stress was on the…
quoi
450 BC

from Latin quis

It is inherited from Old French quei, inherited from Latin quid (“what”), the neuter of the interrogative, relative and indefinite pronoun “quis”; it is the stressed form beside unstressed que. In…
rien
450 BC

from Latin res

It is inherited from Old French rien, inherited from Latin rem (“thing”), the accusative of “rēs”, “reī” “thing”. The Latin word first meant “property, possessions”, as in “res publica” (whence…
se
450 BC

from Latin se

It is inherited from Old French se, inherited from Latin sē (“himself, herself, themselves”), the accusative of the third-person reflexive pronoun, in unstressed position. The stressed form of the…
si
450 BC

from Latin si

1. The conjunction “si” is inherited from Old French se, inherited from Latin sī (“if; whenever”). The Old French form “se” comes from popular *se (recorded in the 6th century), an alteration of…
soi
450 BC

from Latin se

It is inherited from Old French sei, inherited from Latin sē (“himself, herself, themselves”), the accusative of the Latin reflexive pronoun, in its stressed position. The unstressed form of the…
son
450 BC

from Latin suus

1. The possessive “son”, “sa”, “ses” is inherited from Old French son, inherited from Latin suum (“his, her, their own”), from the accusative forms “suum”, “suam”, “suōs”, “suās” of Classical Latin…
te
450 BC

from Latin tu

It is inherited from Old French te, inherited from Latin tē (“you”), the accusative of “tū”, in unstressed position; the stressed form of the same Latin word is toi. Wiktionary traces it to…
toi
450 BC

from Latin tu

It is inherited from Old French tei, inherited from Latin tē (“you”), the accusative of tū, in stressed position; unstressed, the same Latin form gave te. Littré explains the difference between…
tu
450 BC

from Latin tu

It is inherited from Old French tu, inherited from Latin tū (“you (singular)”), in the nominative and vocative. The Latin pronoun is an Indo-European word, found in Old Church Slavonic ты (ty), Old…
voie
450 BC

from Latin via

It is inherited from Old French veie, inherited from Latin via (“way, road, street; journey; method”). In Latin the word was the road as opposed to sēmita (“path”) (see sente), and it also had the…
vous
450 BC

from Latin vos

It is inherited from Old French vos, inherited from Latin vōs (“you (plural)”). Bloch and Wartburg note that “vous” is the form that developed in unstressed position, and that it is the only one…

All French words inherited from Latin, by century →