French words first recorded in the 11th century

It is a compound of the adverbial pronoun en “from there” and fuir “to flee”: the old construction “s’en fuir” “to flee from there” came to be written as one word. The simple verb continues Latin…

It is inherited from Latin īnsimul (“at the same time, together”), an imperial Latin strengthening of simul (“together”), or a popular *insemul, remade after “semul”, the archaic form of “simul”…

It is inherited from Old French entendre, inherited from Latin intendō (“to stretch towards; to direct (the mind) towards”), formed with in- from tendō (“to stretch”) (see tendre). In Christian…

It is inherited from Old French espouser, inherited from Late Latin spōnsō (“to promise in marriage, betroth”), the iterative of classical spondeō (“to promise solemnly”), formed on its participle…

It is inherited from Old French espus, inherited from Latin spōnsus (“betrothed man, bridegroom”), the past participle of spondeō (“to promise solemnly”), used as a noun; the feminine is from…

It is inherited from Old French esperer, inherited from Latin spērō (“to look forward to, expect; to hope”), derived from spēs (“expectation, hope”). The ⟨s⟩ and the treatment of the stressed vowel…

It is inherited from Old French estrange, inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external; foreign”), a derivative of extrā (“outside”). Bloch and Wartburg compare the sound development of lange and…

It is borrowed from Latin exemplum (“sample; copy; model, example”), first in the half-popular form “esample”. Bloch and Wartburg think the Old French feminine may come from the neuter plural…

It is inherited from Old French feste, inherited from Latin fēsta, neuter plural, taken as a feminine noun, of fēstus (“festive, of a holiday”), “festa” stands for “festa dies” “feast day”. Rey…

It is inherited from Old French fei, inherited from Latin fidēs (“trust, confidence; good faith, loyalty; promise”), which in Christian Latin took the sense “faith in God”. The Latin word belongs…

It is inherited from Old French feiz, inherited from Latin vicēs (“turns, successions”), the nominative and accusative plural of a defective noun meaning “turn, succession, alternation”, used in…

The TLFi takes it as probably borrowed from Frankish *warda (“watch, guard”) rather than a deverbal noun from garder; it compares Old High German warta (“watching; lookout post”), and Late Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin glōria (“renown, good reputation; in Church Latin, the majesty of God, heavenly bliss”). Littré notes that “glorie” was only a spelling recalling the Latin, the word being…

It is borrowed from Latin grātia (“favour, kindness; gratitude; charm”), from grātus (“welcome, pleasing; grateful”). Bloch and Wartburg note that its main senses, the theological one included, were…

It is inherited from Old French guarir, borrowed from Frankish *warjan (“to defend, protect”), restored from Old High German werian (German wehren (“to defend”)). Wiktionary takes the Frankish verb…

It is borrowed from Latin habitō (“to dwell, inhabit”), the frequentative of habeō (“to have, hold”). Literally the Latin verb meant “to have often, to be often (somewhere)”. Its supine “habitum”…

It is an imitative interjection, written “e” in Old French and “hé” from the 17th century. It forms hélas, from “hé” and Old French las (“wretched”), and ohé.

It is inherited from Old French ore, inherited from Latin hōra (“hour; time; season”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “season; time of day; the right moment”), which the Petit Robert relates…

It is borrowed from Latin honestus (“honourable, respected; virtuous; fine”), from Latin honōs (“honour”), through a stem “*honos, honeris” (see honneur). Cognate with Old Occitan honest, Spanish…

It is inherited from Old French ostel, inherited from Late Latin hospitāle (“guest room; inn”) (from “hospitale cubiculum”), the neuter of hospitālis (“of a guest”), used as a noun, from hospes…

It is inherited from Old French ici, a form of ci (“here”), from popular inherited from Vulgar Latin *ecce hīc, a strengthened form of hīc (“here”) with ecce (“behold”). The initial “i-” probably…

It is borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, portrait; image of the dead; copy; comparison”), from the accusative “imāginem”. Rey and the Petit Robert relate it to a root “im-” of obscure origin…

It is inherited from Latin gaudia (“joys”), the plural of the neuter “gaudium” “contentment, pleasure, joy”, which was common in familiar Latin and in late times was taken as a feminine singular…

It is formed from French joie + -eux. The noun continues Latin gaudia, the neuter plural of gaudium (“joy”), common in familiar Latin and taken as a feminine singular. The Grand Robert compares…

It is borrowed from Latin jūstitia (“justice, equity, (Late Latin) the law, (Medieval Latin) jurisdiction”), from jūstus (“just”) (see juste). The Petit Robert places it in the family of jūs…

It is inherited from Old French large, the feminine of the old adjective larc, inherited from Latin largus (“abundant, plentiful; generous”); the feminine form came to serve for both genders. Latin…

It is inherited from Old French lerme, inherited from Latin lacrima (“tear; drop of gum”), older “lacruma” and “dacruma”. Rey thinks the Latin word was probably borrowed, first in poetry, from…

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…

It is inherited from Old French lit, inherited from Latin lectus (“bed; couch; marriage bed”). The Latin word belongs to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie down”), seen in…

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…

1. The word for a mass is inherited from Latin massa (“dough; lump, mass”), a borrowing of Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley cake; lump”). The Greek word is derived from μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”)…

It is inherited from Old French malvais, inherited from Late Latin malifātius (“ill-fated, unfortunate”), found in an inscription from AD 23, from malum (“bad”), the neuter of malus, and fātum…

It is inherited from Old French medesme, inherited from Vulgar Latin *metipsimus, built from the emphatic particle -met, which strengthened personal pronouns (“egomet”, “nosmet”), and the intensive…

It is borrowed from Latin memoria (“ability to remember; memory; record of the past”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”). Rey and the Petit Robert relate “memor” to the Indo-European root…

It is inherited from Old French menu, inherited from Latin minūtus (“small, fine”), the past participle of minuō (“to lessen”), which shares its stem with minus (“less”). In popular Latin minūtus…

It is inherited from Latin mare (“sea; large basin”). The Latin neuter became feminine in the 6th century, as also in Romanian and Catalan; this is put down to the influence of terre. “Mare” was the…

It is formed with the suffix -age on Old French mes (“envoy, messenger”) (“meis”, late 10th century), from Late Latin missus (“one sent”), the past participle of Latin mittō (“to send”) used as a…

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…

It is borrowed from Latin mīrāculum (“wonder, marvel”), taken in the religious sense the word had acquired in Church Latin. The Latin noun is derived, through mīror (“to wonder at”) (see admirer…

It is borrowed from Latin nōbilis (“knowable; well known, famous; well-born”). The older Old French nobilie was a semi-learned form, from a Latin variant *nobilius or from the Latin adjective with…

1. The word for news is inherited from Old French novele, inherited from Vulgar Latin *novella, the neuter plural of Latin novellus (“new, young”) taken as a feminine singular noun. In Late Latin…

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…

It is formed from French parfait + -ment, on the feminine of the adjective. parfait continues Latin perfectus (“completed, perfect”), the past participle of perficiō (“to finish”). Compare Old…

It is a compound from French par + mi (“middle”), literally “through the middle”. mi is from Latin medius (“middle”). Old French also had “emmi” in the same sense (“Chanson de Roland”).

It is inherited from Old French passer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *passāre (“to cross”), derived from passus (“step”) (whence pas). Diez derived it from the supine “passum” of pandō (“to spread…

It is inherited from Old French povre, inherited from Latin pauper (“poor, needy”). The Latin word is probably to be analysed as “pau-per-os” “producing little”, said first of land and livestock; it…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *perdita, the feminine past participle of Latin perdō (“to lose; to destroy, ruin”) used as a noun. The participle itself, Latin perditus (“lost, ruined”), had gone…

It is inherited from Old French peser, inherited from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh; to judge”), through the popular form without /n/, an intensive of pendō (“to weigh; to hang”). The same Latin verb, with…

It is inherited from Old French poi, inherited from Vulgar Latin *paucum, an adverb formed on the neuter of Classical Latin paucus (“few, little”), used mostly in the plural “paucī” “few”. It…

It is inherited from Old French pitet, inherited from Latin pietās (“dutiful respect towards the gods, parents, country”) from pius (“dutiful, pious”). Under the Empire the Latin word came to mean…

It is inherited from Old French plaindre, inherited from Latin plangō (“to strike; to beat one's breast in grief; to lament”). The Latin verb first meant “to strike”, then “to beat one's breast or…

It is inherited from Old French plaire, a remaking of the Old French infinitive plaisir, which regularly continues Latin placēre (“to please”); “plaisir”, used as an infinitive until the 13th…

It is inherited from Old French plein, inherited from Latin plēnus (“full”). The Latin adjective is formed from “plēre” “to fill”, replaced by its compounds (see emplir), and goes back to…

It is inherited from Old French plusor, inherited from Vulgar Latin *plūsiōrēs, an alteration after plūs (“more”) of plūriōrēs (“several”) (4th century). “Plūriōrēs” remade classical plūrēs (“more…

It is inherited from Old French poing, inherited from Latin pugnus (“fist; handful”). Rey thinks the Latin word may belong to an Indo-European root also seen in pungō (“to prick”) (see poindre)…

It is inherited from Old French point, inherited from Latin pūnctum (“a prick; a dot; a point”), the neuter of the past participle of pungō (“to prick”) (see poindre) used as a noun. In Latin…

It is inherited from Old French peitrine, inherited from Vulgar Latin *pectorīna, the feminine used as a noun of an adjective *pectorīnus, from Latin pectus (“breast, chest”). The same Vulgar Latin…

1. The word for a harbour is borrowed from Latin portus (“opening, passage; harbour; refuge”), an early borrowing (about 1050); Wiktionary treats it as inherited. The first sense of the Latin word…

It is formed from French pour + quoi, first written separately, “pur quei” (about 1050), and later welded into one. The pronoun “quoi” continues Latin quid (“what”). Littré compares the dialect…

It is borrowed from Latin pretiōsus (“valuable, costly”), a derivative of Latin pretium (“price, value”) (see prix); the ending was adapted to the French suffix. Compare Old Occitan precios, Spanish…