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Etymology and origin of the French word ver

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 980 Jonas fragment of Valenciennes More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin vermis via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin vermis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vermis
French ver
Italian verme
Romanian vierme
From the same root
Latin vermiculus ← vermis

Pronunciation

  • /vɛʁ/[1]
  • Quebec: /vaɛ̯ʁ/[1]

Forms

ver m (plural vers)[1] Old French verme (about 980) and verm (1150); ver is a remaking after the plural vers (about 1174).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French verm, inherited from Latin vermis (“worm”).[4][2][5][6] Rey compares Old High German wurm and Old English wyrm, the source of English worm;[2] Littré adds German Wurm and Ancient Greek ἕλμινς (hélmins).[7] A variant vermen is known only through vermina, the source of vermine.[2]

Cognate with Romanian vierme, Italian verme, Occitan verm, Catalan verm and Portuguese verme.[8][9] Bloch and Wartburg consider Spanish verme a medical term taken again from Latin, the popular word being lombriz.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the Valenciennes fragment of a sermon on Jonah (about 980), uses verme for the grub that God sends to gnaw the plant shading Jonah.[4][7][2]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word first meant a destructive insect larva, especially one that gnaws wood.[2] The sense of earthworm, now the most usual, is found in Wace (verm, 1150), and ver de terre is recorded by Palsgrave in 1530; by likeness it named any small animal shaped like an earthworm.[2][4] The comparison nu come vers (Guillaume de Lorris, about 1225–1230), later nu comme un ver (Cotgrave, 1611), means “stark naked” and figuratively “destitute”.[4][2]

From about 1174 les vers were also the vermin believed to devour the bodies of the dead,[2][4] and it has named a parasite of people and animals since about 1380.[2][4] Insect names followed in the 16th century: ver à soie (1538), ver coquin (1538), ver luisant (1556).[4] Figurative uses include remorse (1488) and tirer les vers du nez “to worm the truth out of someone” (mid-17th century).[4][8]

Timeline

  • c. 980 – Verme “grub” in the Jonah fragment of Valenciennes.[4]
  • 1150 – Verm “earthworm” in Wace's Saint Nicolas.[4]
  • 1174–1176 – Ver “vermin” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.[4]
  • 1225–1230 – Nu come vers in Guillaume de Lorris's Roman de la Rose.[4]
  • c. 1380 – Sense “intestinal parasite” in the Aalma glossary.[3][2]
  • 1488 – Figurative sense “remorse”.[4]
  • 1530 – Palsgrave records ver de terre.[4]
  • 1538 – Estienne records ver à soie.[4]
  • 1556 – Ver luisant in Belleau.[4]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records nu comme un ver.[4]
  • 1866 – Ver solitaire “tapeworm”.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A worm, especially the earthworm (ver de terre), and any small animal of similar shape.[8][4]
  2. (zoology) Les vers: the worms, soft-bodied invertebrates (annelids, roundworms, flatworms).[8][4]
  3. A parasitic worm living in the body: ver solitaire “tapeworm”.[8]
  4. An insect larva or grub: ver blanc (cockchafer grub), ver à soie “silkworm”, ver luisant “glow-worm”.[8][4]
  5. Les vers: the creatures believed to consume a corpse.[2][4]
  6. Nu comme un ver: stark naked.[8][4]
  7. Tirer les vers du nez à quelqu'un: to get someone to talk by clever questioning.[8]

Word family

  • véreux
  • ver luisant
  • ver à soie

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 291a
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ver.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/ver. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·