French words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Old French boiste, inherited from Vulgar Latin *buxita, a Gallo-Roman form of Late Latin buxida (4th–5th century) with a change of suffix. “Buxida” is the accusative of “buxis”…

It is inherited from Old French bougier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *bullicō (“to bubble, seethe”), a frequentative of Latin bulliō (“to boil, bubble”) (the source of bouillir), with the sense…

It is Old French burel, a diminutive of bure (“coarse woollen cloth”), which may come from a Vulgar Latin “*būra”, beside Late Latin burra (“wool, shaggy cloth”) (see bourre). Guiraud, followed by…

It is inherited from Old French coral, inherited from Late Latin corallum, an altered form of classical Latin corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion), itself probably a borrowing…

It is from French dé- + passer, with the prefix expressing intensity. It was first formed on the simple verb in its old sense “to walk”, then on its sense “to go past”. passer continues Vulgar Latin…

It is inherited from Old French esclater, usually taken as borrowed from Frankish *slaitan (“to split, break”), inferred from Old High German sleizan (“to tear”) and German “verschleißen” “to wear…

It is a remaking, after borrowed from Latin aequālis (“equal; even; level”), of the popular Old French forms that had come from that Latin word by regular sound change. The Latin adjective is…

It is formed from French égal + -ment. égal (⟨igal⟩ about 1150, ⟨egal⟩ about 1160) remade, after Latin aequālis (“equal”), the popular Old French forms uel, oel and evel (about 1119), which had…

It is formed with the prefix en- and a verb ending on fons, the older form of fond and fonds. The noun continues Latin fundus (“bottom; estate”), through a popular neuter form *fundoris that…

It is from French en- + gage (“pledge”), first as engagier. The noun gage is from Frankish *waddi (“pledge”). Medieval Latin had parallel formations: Medieval Latin se ingnadiare “to pledge oneself”…

It is derived from haïr with the suffix “-ine”, like “saisine” from “saisir”; the TLFi also allows a Vulgar Latin “*hatina” formed on the Germanic stem “hat-”. The verb is from Frankish *hatjan, of…

It is borrowed from Old Spanish azar (“an unlucky throw at dice; a dice game”), recorded in 1283 in Alfonso the Wise's book of games, from Arabic الزهر (az-zahr, “the die”), with the article “al”…

It is from French jour + -ée, formed on the Old French form jorn. Wiktionary instead traces it to Vulgar Latin *diurnāta. Compare Italian giornata, Old Occitan jornada and Spanish jornada. “Jour”…

It is from French malade + -ie, an Old French formation. The adjective malade continues Latin male habitus (“in poor condition”), with the verb habeō in the sense “to be in a given state”; it is…

1. The sleeve is inherited from Latin manica (“long sleeve of a tunic covering the hand; glove; handcuffs”), from manus (“hand”). Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin word first meant a kind of…

It is inherited from Old French muete, inherited from Vulgar Latin *movita, the feminine used as a noun of *movitus, a past participle of Latin moveō (“to move”) rebuilt on the verb's stem beside…

It is borrowed from Latin mūsica (“music”), from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ, “the art of the Muses”) (with “tékhnē” “art” understood), the feminine of μουσικός (mousikós, “of the Muses”), from…

It is a compound of par and dessus. In Old French the phrase par desus was in use as a preposition about 1150 and as an adverb about 1176, in Chrétien de Troyes. The preposition continues Latin per…

It is inherited from Old French praerie, inherited from Vulgar Latin *prātāria, formed with the suffix -āria on prāta, the neuter plural of Latin prātum (“meadow”), taken as a feminine singular. It…

It is a remaking of Old French pourmener (“to lead about”), formed from pour and mener, after the many verbs beginning with “pro-”. Littré derived it instead from a Latin “prominare”, and Wiktionary…

It is borrowed from Late Latin prōmissa (“a promising”) (late 5th century), the plural of the noun prōmissum (“promise”) taken as a feminine singular; the noun is the past participle of prōmittō…

The TLFi derives it from the adjective quitte “free of an obligation”; the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert take it from Medieval Latin quītō (“to discharge, release”), a variant of quiētō, from…

It is from French re- + apporter, from apporter, from Latin apportō (“to bring”). Wiktionary instead derives the Old French verb from Latin reportō (“to carry back”). Cognate with Italian rapportare.

1. Sand is first found as an isolated form about 1150, from Latin sabulum (“sand; coarse sand, gravel”) (syncopated sablum). In Old and Middle French the usual words were sablon and areine (see…

It is borrowed from Latin sphaera (“ball; globe; celestial sphere”), from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, “ball; globe, sphere”). Rey connects the Greek word with σπαίρω (spaírō, “to quiver”), the…

It is Old French siute, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sequita (“pursuit”), the feminine used as a noun of “*sequitus”, a popular form of Latin “secūtus”, past participle of Latin sequī (“to follow”)…

The origin is uncertain. The FEW and Bloch and Wartburg derive it from an expressive stem from French vist- imitating a sudden, rapid movement, as in Old Italian “visto” and Italian vispo…

It is derived from cité with the suffix “-ain”, later confused with “-ien”: Old French citeain, citeien, citoien. “Cité” is inherited from Latin cīvitās (“body of citizens; city”). Littré derived it…

It is borrowed from Latin condiciō (“agreement, stipulation; situation, state”) (Late Latin spelling conditio, which gave the ⟨t⟩). The Latin word is formed with cum (“with”) on the legal term diciō…

It is borrowed from Latin continuō (“to join without a break; to go on with”), an early borrowing (1154–1173); the Latin verb is derived from continuus (“continuous”), from contineō (“to hold…

1. The duvet is inherited from Old French coute, inherited from Latin culcita (“mattress, cushion”), which developed in two ways according to region, giving coute and coite. Bloch and Wartburg think…

It is borrowed from Late Latin appertineō (“to adjoin, belong to”), from pertineō (“to extend; to relate to, concern”) (see pertinent), itself related to teneō (“to hold”) (see tenir). The vowel ⟨a⟩…

It is from French au + dessus, the contracted article “au” (“à” + “le”) with the adverb “dessus”. “Dessus” continues Latin dēsūrsum (“from above”), formed from dē and sūrsum (“upwards”).

It is inherited from Old French avoer, inherited from Latin advocō (“to call to oneself, summon”), from ad- and vocō (“to call”), from vōx (“voice”). The Old French forms “avoer”, then “avouer” and…

It is the past participle, used as an adjective and a noun, from French blesser (“to wound”). The verb, first written blecier and blecer, comes through a Gallo-Romance *blettio (“to bruise”) from…

It is a deverbal noun from French cesser. The verb continues Latin cessō (“to delay, be idle; to stop”), the frequentative of cēdō (“to go, withdraw”). Old French also had the nouns cessement and ces.

It is a deverbal noun from choisir. “Choisir”, which in Old French meant above all “to perceive, make out”, comes according to Bloch and Wartburg from Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan, “to test, taste”)…

It is borrowed from Late Latin cimiterium, a Christian Latin form for coemeterium, itself from Ancient Greek κοιμητήριον (koimētḗrion, “dormitory; place where the dead rest”). The Greek word is from…

It is inherited from Old French cisel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *cisellum, an alteration, after the compounds of Latin caedō (“to cut”) in “-cīsus” (“incīsus”, “occīsus”), of *caesellum, formed…

1. The cup is inherited from Old French cupe, inherited from Late Latin cuppa (“cup”), a variant of Latin cūpa (“large wooden vessel, cask”) that took the sense “cup” in late Latin. It is a doublet…

It is the noun of coûter, from Latin cōnstāre (“to stand firm, be settled”), whose sense “to cost” developed with complements of price. Compare Old Occitan cost, Spanish and Italian costo. Old…

It is inherited from Late Latin cocīna, an altered form of coquīna (“kitchen; cookery”), derived from coquus (“cook”) and coquō (“to cook”), whence cuire. Rey finds the link with “coquīnus” (see…

It is a compound from French de + bout (“end”), literally “on end”. bout is derived from bouter “to strike, push”, from Frankish *bōtan. Littré rejects the idea that nautical “vent debout” contains…

It is probably inherited from Late Latin disiēiūnō (“to break one's fast”), attested only in the 11th century, later disiūnō, from the prefix dis- and Late Latin iēiūnō (“to fast”), from Latin…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *dēvīnō, the late form of dīvīnō (“to foresee, predict; to prophesy; to conjecture”), derived from dīvīnus (“divine; prophet”) (whence divin and, through the late…

It is from Old French estudie (“study”), a variant of estuide (see étude). Compare Latin studeō (“to be eager, apply oneself, (Imperial Latin) to study”). Littré derives it from studium (“zeal…

It is from French haut + -eur. haut continues Latin altus (“high”), which took its aspirated ⟨h⟩ in Merovingian times from the Frankish adjective of the same meaning, Frankish *hōh; compare German…

It is formed from French jeune + -esse, on the old forms of the adjective, like sagesse from sage. jeune continues Latin iuvenis (“young”). Wiktionary considers a Vulgar Latin *iuvenitia less…

It is from French lente (“slow”) + -ment, from the feminine of lent, from Latin lentus (“slow; pliant”). Compare Old Occitan lentement, Spanish lentamente and Italian lentamente.

It is borrowed from Latin nota (“sign, mark; musical note; written note, remark”). Rey and the Petit Robert note that some link the Latin word to the past participle of nōscō (“to get to know”). In…

It is inherited from Old French pulz, inherited from Latin pulsus (“push, blow”), used in medicine in “pulsus venarum, pulsus arteriarum” “the beating of the veins, of the arteries”, the action noun…

It is borrowed from Latin querella (“complaint, lament; complaint at law”) (more often “querēla”), from querī (“to complain”). Rey notes that the Latin verb seems isolated, a link with Sanskrit…

It is from French re- + assembler. The base verb assembler goes back to Vulgar Latin *assimulō (“to put together”), from Latin simul (“together”). Bloch and Wartburg date the verb only to 1213, but…

It is from French re- + assurer. assurer continues Vulgar Latin *assēcūrō (“to make safe”), from sēcūrus (“safe, secure”).

It is borrowed from Latin renūntiō (“to report back; to send back; to renounce”), formed with re- (“back”) and nūntiō (“to announce”), of the family of nūntius (“messenger”) (compare nonce). In…

It is formed from French re- + éveiller, with an intensive prefix. Éveiller is from Vulgar Latin *exvigilō, for classical ēvigilō (“to wake up”), from vigil (“awake, watchful”). The TLFi notes that…

It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *rauba (“booty, plunder”), whence the sense “clothing taken as booty”. The Germanic word, Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic *raubō, is related to English rob and to…

It is from French sembler + -able, formed on the old sense of the verb, “to be like, resemble”. sembler continues Late Latin similō (“to be like, resemble”), from similis (“like, similar”). Cognate…

It is inherited from Old French sorse, the feminine, used as a noun, of sors, sours, the old past participle of sourdre “to spring up”. That participle is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sursus, a…

Its origin is not certain. It is usually taken as borrowed from Frankish *tas (“heap”), inferred from Middle Dutch tas (“heap; crowd”) and Middle Low German tas (“place where grain is stacked”)…