French words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Old French diemenche, inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin diēs dominicus (“the Lord's day”), which became “*didominicu” and then, by dissimilation of consonants, “*diominicu”…

It is inherited from Old French disner, inherited from Late Latin disieiūnō (“to break one's fast”), reduced by haplology to *disiūnō. The Latin verb is formed from dis- and iēiūnō (“to fast”), from…

It is formed from French légère + -ment, from the feminine of léger. The adjective is *leviārius, derived from Latin levis (“light”). Cognate with Old Occitan leugieramen, Spanish ligeramente and…

It is inherited from Old French traïner, from popular Latin inherited from Vulgar Latin *tragīnō, derived from a rarer “*tragō”, an altered form of trahō (“to pull, drag”), which gave traire…

The older form “bisse” is inherited from Vulgar Latin bistia (“beast”) (6th century), a variant of classical Latin bēstia, the source of bête. The form “biche” is harder to explain. It is usually…

It is formed from Old French de + puis, from the preposition “de” and puis. Wiktionary derives it from Late Latin “dē post”, influenced by “puis” or by a later “*dē postius”. Cognate with Portuguese…

It is inherited from Old French fenestre, inherited from Latin fenestra (“opening in a wall; window; the frame closing it”). The Latin word is of unknown origin: the Romans linked it with Ancient…

It is borrowed from Latin fōrmō (“to shape, form; to arrange; to instruct”), from fōrma (“form, shape”) (see forme). The inherited outcome of the Latin noun “formatio” was Old French “formaison”…

It is a back-formation from the verb lâcher. The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *lassicō, a dissimilated form of popular Latin *laxicō (“to loosen”), a frequentative of Latin laxō (“to slacken…

It is borrowed from Latin lēctiō (“gathering; reading; text”), from its accusative, a derivative of the supine of legō (“to gather; to read”) (see lire). Wiktionary notes that, according to the…

It is inherited from Old French maintenant, which the TLFi and Rey trace to Latin manū tenendō (“while holding in the hand”), the gerund of “manū tenēre” (see maintenir); the Grand Robert, the GLLF…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *manūteneō (“to hold with the hand”), from manū (“with the hand”), ablative of manus (“hand”), and teneō (“to hold”), with the change of conjugation seen in tenir…

It is from French marier + -age. marier is from Latin marītō (“to marry, give in marriage”), from marītus (“husband”). Littré cites Medieval Latin maritaticum in a text of 1062. Compare Old Occitan…

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”…

It is borrowed from Latin mundus (“the world; the universe”), a semi-learned form that replaced Old French mont, the inherited outcome of the same Latin word, which was common in the 12th and 13th…

It is inherited from Old French persone, inherited from Latin persōna (“actor's mask; role, character; person”). The Latin word first meant a theatre mask, then the role given to the mask and…

It is formed from French re- + cul + -er, literally “to go backside first”; see cul. Littré analyses it as re- and the old verb culer. Cognate with Walloon reskoulé, Old Occitan recular, Spanish…

It is inherited from Old French volte, inherited from Vulgar Latin *volvita, the feminine used as a noun of *volvitus, a reshaping of classical Latin volūtus, the past participle of volvō (“to roll…

It is inherited from Old French batel, formed with the suffix -el on Anglo-Norman bat (“boat”) (1121–1122), which, like Old Norse bátr, was taken from Old English bāt (891), the ancestor of English…

It is a noun formed from the verb bruire (“to make a noise, roar”), on the model of Vulgar Latin *brūgitum, the neuter past participle of *brūgō. The GLLF instead derives it from Latin rugītus…

It probably goes back to a Gallo-Romance “*hortus gardinus” “enclosed garden”, whose second element comes from Frankish *gardo (“enclosure”) or “*gart”; Medieval Latin gardinium is attested from the…

It is the present participle of pendre, used as an adjective, noun and preposition. The preposition comes from the participle in the legal sense “pending, undecided”: Old French phrases such as “le…

It is inherited from Old French prester, inherited from Latin praestō (“to make available, provide; to guarantee”). In late Latin the verb often stood for “dare” “to give” and took the sense of…

The adjective is borrowed from Latin sēcrētus (“separate; solitary; hidden”), the past participle of sēcernō (“to set apart”), and the noun is from sēcrētum (“secluded place; secret thought…

It is inherited from Old French sumeil, inherited from Late Latin somniculus (“light sleep, short sleep”), a diminutive of Latin somnus (“sleep”). “Somnus”, like sopor, goes back to the…

It is borrowed from Old English sūþ (“south”) (English south), a word that may belong to an Indo-European root “*su-” “sun”, like English sun and Latin sōl, the south being the side of the sun…

It is inherited from Old French despit, inherited from Latin dēspectus (“a looking down; contempt”), the action noun of Latin dēspiciō (“to look down on, despise”), formed from dē- and speciō (“to…

It is a deverbal noun of the Old French verb esguarder (“to watch over, take care of”) (about 1050), itself from Old French es- + garder (“to guard, keep”). garder is of Germanic origin, from…

It is, by early borrowing, borrowed from Latin speciēs (“sight; appearance; kind”), which in Late Latin meant goods classified by kind, hence foodstuffs, spices and drugs. “Species” comes from…

Like the other points of the compass, it is borrowed from Old English ēast (“east”), found as an adverb from the late 9th century and as a noun from the 12th. The GLLF gives the Middle English form…

1. The adjective is inherited from Latin firmus (“solid, firm; steadfast, reliable”). Rey calls “firmus” of obscure origin, Wiktionary and Littré relate it to an Indo-European root “*dʰer-” “to…

It is inherited from Old French gastel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *wastellum, probably from Frankish *wastil (“food”), which is inferred from Old Saxon, Old English and Middle High German wist…

It is borrowed from Frankish *grīs (“grey”), restored from Old Saxon grīs (“grey-haired”), Dutch grijs and Old English grǣg, and also seen in German Greis (“old man”). Wiktionary traces it to…

It is probably formed from Old Norse jól, the name of a great pagan feast in midwinter, with the suffix “-if” on the model of “aisif” “pleasant” (from aise). Littré, after Diez, thought the word had…

It is inherited from Old French loingtien, inherited from Vulgar Latin *longitānus (“far off”), also required by the Italian and Catalan forms, a derivative of longē (“far”) (see loin), perhaps on…

It is inherited from Old French molin, inherited from Late Latin molīnum (“mill”) (6th century), derived from mola (“millstone”), the source of meule, or, as Rey and Wiktionary have it, from the…

It is inherited from Old French navirie (“ship”) in a shortened form; the Old French word is an alteration of navilie (“fleet”), borrowed from Vulgar Latin *navilium, an altered form of Latin…

It is borrowed from Old English norþ (“north”) (English north), first used in Normandy and spreading from there. The English word belongs to a Germanic family of unknown origin; Wiktionary traces it…

It is borrowed from Old English west (“west”) (English west), found as an adverb from the 9th century and as a noun from the 12th, corresponding to German and Dutch “West”, “Westen”; these words…

It is an alteration of an earlier reconstructed *païsenc, derived with the suffix -enc (Germanic -ing) from Medieval Latin pagensis at the time when that word had come to mean “country” (see pays)…

It is inherited from Old French plume, inherited from Latin plūma (“down; feather”). The Latin word, properly “down”, was distinct from penna (“feather”), the source of penne and panne; in nearly…

It is inherited from Late Latin puncta (“a thrust, stab”), recorded in the 4th century, the feminine past participle of pungō (“to prick”) (see poindre) used as a noun. Cognate with Italian punta…

It is inherited from Old French privé, inherited from Latin prīvātus (“particular, one's own, individual, (as a noun) a private citizen”). The Latin word is the past participle of prīvō (“to set…

It is from French re- + monter. monter is from Vulgar Latin *montāre, derived from Latin mōns (“mountain”).

It is formed from French re- + entrer, already in Old French. Bloch and Wartburg note that in the dialects it competes strongly with the simple verb entrer.

It is borrowed from Latin rosa (“rose; rosebush”), also used in Latin as a term of endearment. Wiktionary notes that a word inherited from Latin would have given “*reuse”, Bloch and Wartburg add…

It is a deverbal noun from Old French taillier (“to cut”) (modern tailler), which continues Vulgar Latin *tāliō (“to cut”), probably derived from Latin tālea (“cutting, slip for planting”), so that…

It is inherited from Old French teile, inherited from Latin tēla (“cloth on the loom; warp; web; plot”), from an older *texla, from texō (“to weave”) (see tisser). Cognate with Italian tela, Old…

It is inherited from Old French tuer (“to kill; to put out”), inherited from Latin tūtor (“to protect, guard; to ward off”), in its popular form “tūtāre”, a frequentative of tueor (“to look at; to…

It is inherited from Old French veisin, inherited from Vulgar Latin *vēcīnus, a dialectal (Osco-Umbrian) or dissimilated form of Latin vīcīnus (“near, neighbouring; a neighbour”). “Vīcīnus” is…

It is from French voler (“to fly”) + -ant, the present participle of the verb, used as an adjective from about 1140 and as a noun from 1366. voler is from Latin volō (“to fly”). The French noun was…

It is inherited from Latin marītus (“husband”). The Latin word was first an adjective in farming, “joined”, of a tree to which a vine was trained, then “conjugal”; as a noun it displaced vir (“man”)…

Used as an adjective and a noun, it is the past participle from French marier (“to marry”).

It is inherited from Latin marītō (“to give in marriage; to wed a vine to a tree”), a verb of the Imperial period, from marītus (“husband”) (whence mari). Cognate with Romanian mărita, Italian…

It is inherited from Old French sortir, probably inherited from Latin sortior (“to cast lots; to obtain by lot; to choose”), from sors (“lot”). The sense “to go from inside to outside” may have…

It is inherited from Latin vigilia (“wakefulness; night watch”), the Roman night being divided into four such watches. The TLFi derives it from vigil (“awake, watchful; watchman”), Rey from vigeō…

It is inherited from Old French cuple, inherited from Latin cōpula (“bond, leash; pair”), which already meant “two persons united by friendship or love” and in imperial Latin “two things together”…

It is formed from the phrase “à faire” “to be done”, from French à + faire, the verb being from Latin faciō (“to do, make”). The noun was masculine, like other infinitives used as nouns, and Littré…

It is inherited from Late Latin amōrōsus (“loving”), derived from amor (“love”), with the influence of amour. English amorous was borrowed from Middle French, and amoroso is a doublet taken from…

It is a back-formation from Old French baller (“to dance”) (about 1165), which is inherited from Late Latin ballō (“to dance”) (Saint Augustine). The Latin verb is related in sense to Greek Ancient…