French words first recorded in the 11th century

It continues inherited from Latin pressē (“closely, tightly; concisely”), an adverb formed on pressus (“pressed, tight”), the past participle of premō (“to press”) (see presser). In classical Latin…

It is a deverbal noun from French presser (“to press”). The verb continues Latin pressō, the frequentative of premō (“to press”), formed on its supine. Cognate with Old Occitan pressa, Spanish…

1. The adjective is inherited from Old French prest, inherited from Late Latin praestus (“ready, at hand”), found in inscriptions and the Salic Law. “Praestus” was formed on the classical adverb…

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”…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterwards”), a remaking of Latin post (“after, behind”) or of posteā (“afterwards”) on the model of melius (“better”); in the same way “*antius” gave…

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…

Its origin is disputed. The TLFi, following Wartburg, prefers a Germanic verb with the prefix re-, which was probably added by analogy with the many verbs of feeling and thought beginning with “re-”…

It is from French re- + joindre. joindre is from Latin iungō (“to join, yoke”).

It is a back-formation from French relever, made on the old stressed forms of the verb such as “je relief”, the verb being from Latin relevō (“to raise again; to relieve”). The sense “projection…

Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF take it as from French re- + tenir, formed on the model of Latin retineō (“to hold back; to keep; to restrain”), from re- (“back”) and teneō (“to hold”). Bloch and…

It is borrowed from Frankish *rīki (“powerful”). The Germanic family includes Old High German rīhhi, Old English rīce (now English rich), Middle Dutch rijcke, Old Norse ríkr and Gothic 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃…

1. The street is inherited from Old French rue, inherited from Latin rūga (“wrinkle”), which in Late and popular Latin took by metaphor the sense “path, road lined with houses”. The sense “wrinkle”…

1. The bag is inherited from Latin saccus (“sack, bag; strainer”), borrowed from Ancient Greek σάκκος (sákkos, “coarse cloth; sack”). Rey traces the Greek word, a commercial term for packing cloth…

It is inherited from Old French sage, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapius or *sabius, an alteration of Latin sapidus (“tasty; wise, virtuous”). The Latin adjective is derived from sapiō (“to taste…

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…

It is borrowed from Latin servitium (“slavery; the slaves, (Church Latin) office”), from servus (“slave”), the source of serf. Medieval Latin had given it both a legal sense, the duties of a vassal…

It is inherited from Old French sofrir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sufferīre, an alteration by change of conjugation of classical sufferō (“to bear, endure”), from sub- (“under”) and ferō (“to…

It is inherited from Old French sort, inherited from Latin surdus (“deaf; that will not hear; dull, muffled”). The Latin word has no clear etymology; it has been compared with susurrus (“whisper”)…

It is inherited from Old French sovent, inherited from Latin subinde (“immediately after; repeatedly; often”), formed from sub- and inde (“from there; from then”). Classical Latin saepe (“often”)…

It is inherited from Old French soverain, inherited from Vulgar Latin *superānus (“upper; supreme”), derived from Latin super (“above”). The Latin word is not attested in classical texts but is…

It is inherited from Old French table, inherited from Latin tabula (“plank; writing tablet; table”), a word of uncertain origin, probably borrowed. Latin “tabula” meant a board, especially for…

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…

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…

It is inherited from Old French teste, inherited from Latin testa (“earthenware vessel; tile; shell”). In Late Latin the word took, jokingly, the sense “skull” and then “head”, a shift by likeness…

It is inherited from Old French tres, inherited from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”), pronounced “trās”. The Latin preposition had a local sense, but as a preverb it could mean “right through…

It is borrowed from Latin thēsaurus (“treasure; storehouse”), from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse; treasure”), with ⟨té-⟩ altered to ⟨tré-⟩. The origin of the ⟨r⟩ in the first…

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”…

It is inherited from Latin ventus (“wind; flatulence; fortune; current of opinion”). Wiktionary traces it through Proto-Italic *wentos to Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéh₁n̥ts, from Proto-Indo-European…

It is inherited from Latin venter (“belly; womb; bulge”), from its accusative “ventrem”. The Latin word was the general term for the belly as the seat of the entrails or of the foetus, and by…

It is inherited from Old French viande, inherited from Late Latin vivanda (“provisions, food”), recorded in a capitulary of Charlemagne (803), with the inner /v/ lost by dissimilation. The Late…

It is inherited from Old French vieil, inherited from Late Latin veclus (“old”), an alteration of classical Latin vetulus (“oldish; old man”), a familiar diminutive of vetus (“old, former”); the…

Used as an adjective and a noun, it is the present participle from French vivre (“to live”). Vivre is from Latin vīvō (“to live”). Wiktionary thinks it probably modelled on vīvēns (“living”). The…

It is a deverbal noun from French appeler. “Appeler” (1080) is borrowed from Latin appellō (“to address, call upon; to name”), a prefixed form of a verb “*pellāre”, a variant of pellō (“to push”)…

It is inherited from Old French blecier, from Vulgar Latin *blettiare (“to bruise”), a Gallo-Romance form, borrowed from Frankish *blettjan (“to bruise”). The Frankish verb is formed on a noun…

It is inherited from Old French cucu, inherited from Latin cucūlus (“cuckoo”), an expressive word imitating the bird's call, remade under the influence of that call: the second “k” was restored and…

It is inherited from Old French croie, inherited from Latin crēta (“chalk; white clay”), a word of unknown origin, also the source of German Kreide. In Gallo-Romance it kept only the sense “chalk”…

It is inherited from Old French drap, inherited from Late Latin drappus (“piece of cloth, rag”), a word recorded from the 5th century and probably of Gaulish origin, since Gaulish had the personal…

It is inherited from Old French estencele, inherited from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, by metathesis of classical Latin scintilla (“spark”), a word of expressive origin. The form with “-in-”, from…

It is borrowed from Latin fōrma (“mould; shape, form; beauty”). Rey and the Petit Robert note that the Latin word seems linked to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape”) by a metathesis, perhaps…

It is inherited from Old French gingibre, inherited from Late Latin gingiber, from classical zingiberi, borrowed from Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis, “ginger”), a word of eastern origin: Rey…

It is inherited from Old French uit, inherited from Latin octō (“eight”). The ⟨h⟩, also seen in huile and huître, is purely graphic; that “huit” takes no liaison or elision (“le huit”) follows the…

It is inherited from Old French male (“leather bag, travelling chest”), borrowed from Frankish *malha (“leather bag”), reconstructed from Old High German malha (“satchel”) and Middle Dutch male…

It is borrowed from Latin obscūrus (“dark, gloomy; hard to understand; unknown; hidden, secret”). It was first written oscur, with the Latin ⟨b⟩ restored in the 12th century; Wiktionary instead…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *refūsō (“to reject”), usually explained as a blend of recūsō (“to refuse”) (compare récuser) and refūtō (“to repel; to refute”), which in Late Latin had also taken…

It is inherited from Old French riviere, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rīpāria, which must have meant the land near a river or the sea. The Latin word, found in many place names from the 8th century…

It is inherited from Old French salvage, inherited from Late Latin salvāticus, an alteration by vowel assimilation of Latin silvāticus (“of the woods; wild, of plants”), from silva (“forest, wood”)…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *serrō, an alteration of serō (“to bar, bolt”), from sera (“bar for fastening a door; bolt”). The double ⟨rr⟩ is probably due to the influence of ferrum (“iron”)…

It is borrowed from Late Latin sīrēna, a remaking of classical Latin Sīrēn, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn), of obscure origin. The popular Old French form “sereine”, perhaps crossed with the…

The origin is uncertain. The explanation most often given (Wartburg in the FEW, Bloch and Wartburg, Rey) makes it inherited from Old French tache, inherited from Vulgar Latin *tacca (“spot, sign”)…

It is inherited from Old French trait, inherited from Latin tractus (“a drawing, pulling; a trail, line; slow movement; extent of time”), the action noun of trahō (“to draw, pull”) (see traire). The…

It is inherited from Old French vache, inherited from Latin vacca (“cow”). Rey compares Sanskrit वशा (vaśā́, “heifer calving for the first time”), and notes that the general Indo-European vocabulary…

It is inherited from Old French abatre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *abbattuō, later *abbattō, a compound of ad- marking an action carried to its end and battuō (“to beat”) (see battre). The verb is…

It is inherited from Old French acoillir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *accolligō (“to gather, receive”), a compound of ad- and colligō (“to gather”), which gave cueillir. The change from the third…

It is an early borrowing, borrowed from Latin appellō (“to address, call upon; to name; to appeal”). The Latin verb was formed with ad- from a verb “*pellāre”, a variant of pellō (“to push, drive”)…

It is inherited from Old French arester, inherited from Vulgar Latin *arrestō (“to stop”), formed with ad- from restō (“to stay, stand still”) (see rester), itself from stō (“to stand”). Littré…

It is from French autre + -ment; the Old French form was altrement. Wiktionary traces it through Middle French aultrement to the phrase Medieval Latin alterā mente (“in another mind, in another…

It is from French aval + -er. The adverb aval “downwards, downstream” is formed from à and val “valley”, like its opposite amont. That noun continues Latin vallis (“valley”). The verb properly meant…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *baneum, an altered form of classical Latin balneum (“bathing; bath, (plural) public baths”), also “balineum”, borrowed from Ancient Greek βαλανεῖον (balaneîon…

It is inherited from Old French bras, inherited from Latin bracchium (“arm”), also written “brachium”, through a popular *bracium. The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn…

It is inherited from Old French criminal, borrowed from Late Latin crīminālis (“criminal, as opposed to civil, (Christian Latin) blameworthy”), from crīmen (“charge, accusation; crime”). In…