French words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Old French souploier, inherited from Latin supplicō (“to kneel; to pray, implore”), properly “to bend the knees”, formed from sub- and plicō (“to fold”), and related to supplex…

It was borrowed at the time of the Crusades from Ancient Greek ταπήτιον (tapḗtion, “small rug”), then pronounced with ⟨i⟩ for ⟨ē⟩, a diminutive of τάπης (tápēs, “rug, blanket”), itself an oriental…

It is borrowed from Latin terribilis (“frightening, dreadful, (Late Latin) venerable”), from terreō (“to frighten”) (see terreur). In the Code of Justinian (6th century) the Latin word meant…

It is inherited from Old French teit, inherited from Latin tēctum (“roof; shelter, house”), the neuter past participle of tegō (“to cover, protect”) used as a noun. The Latin verb belongs to the…

It is inherited from Old French voirre, inherited from Latin vitrum (“glass; woad”). The regular outcome in central French was “voir(r)e”, “verre” was remade after its derivatives, or arose from the…

It is from Old French a- + compain, formed with the prefix “a-”, the Old French nominative compain (“companion”) (see compagnon, copain) and a verbal ending. “Compain” continues Late Latin compāniō…

It is formed from French a- + croc + -er. “Croc” “hook” comes from Frankish *krōk, matching Old Norse krókr. Compare Franco-Provençal acrochiér and Italian accroccare.

It is formed from trappe “trap” with the prefix a- and a verb ending: “to catch in a trap”. “Trappe” is from West Germanic, perhaps Frankish, Frankish *trappa, related to Middle Dutch trappe…

It is formed from balance “pair of scales”. That word comes from Vulgar Latin *bilancia, from Late Latin bilanx (“two-pan balance”) (4th century), formed with bis (“twice”) and lanx (“dish, scale…

The origin is disputed. The usual explanation is borrowed from Frankish *borganjan, a crossing of a Frankish verb akin to German borgen (“to lend, borrow”) with *waidanjan, the source of gagner…

The origin is obscure. Bloch and Wartburg, the FEW and the GLLF derive it from Vulgar Latin *bruscia (“growth of shoots”), from Latin bruscum (“knot on the maple”) (Pliny), perhaps a Celtic word…

It is formed from French certain + -ment, on the feminine of the adjective. The TLFi notes that the date 1138 (the Life of Saint Giles), given by some dictionaries, is wrong, since that text dates…

It is borrowed from Latin cōnscientia (“shared knowledge; inner knowledge, consciousness; moral sense”), from cōnsciō (“to know together; to be conscious of”), from com- (“with”) and sciō (“to…

It is inherited from Old French coster, inherited from Latin cōnstō (“to stand firm; to consist of; to cost”), formed with cum on stō (“to stand”). The sense “to cost” developed in Latin with an…

It is borrowed from Latin crīmen (“accusation; crime, offence”). The Latin word belongs with cernō (“to sift; to decide”) and crībrum (“sieve”): it must first have meant “what serves to sort, to…

It probably comes from Old French defaute (“lack, fault”) (early 12th century), itself formed from défaillir after faute; the Grand Robert and Petit Robert take it as the old past participle of…

1. To untie was formed in Old French with the prefix dé- as the opposite of attacher, by a change of prefix. That verb rests on Old French tache (“clasp”), according to Bloch and Wartburg and the…

It is a deverbal noun from French éclater, Old French esclat. The verb probably comes from Frankish *slaitan (“to split, break”), compare Old High German sleizan (“to tear”), while Italian…

It is inherited from Late Latin fīlō (“to draw out into threads; to make flow in a thread”), derived from fīlum (“thread”) (see fil). Cognate with Italian filare, Catalan filar, Old Occitan filar…

It is borrowed from Latin Graecus (“Greek”), from Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikós). The Greek word is very rare in Greek literature, where the usual name is Ἕλλην (Héllēn); it is probably a foreign…

It is a compound from French mal (“bad”) + gré (“liking, will”), literally “ill will”. gré is from Latin grātum, the neuter of grātus (“pleasing”). The regular form “maugré” was remade as “malgré”…

It is inherited from Old French marchier (“to tread, trample”), inherited from Frankish *markōn (“to mark, imprint (a step)”). The Frankish verb, from Proto-Germanic *markōną, is attested by Old…

It is inherited from Old French mescheant (“unlucky”), the present participle of the old verb mescheoir (“to befall ill”) (1155–1637), formed from mé- and cheoir (“to fall”), the old form of choir…

It is the feminine past participle of mettre used as a noun. The verb is inherited from Latin mittō (“to let go, send”), which took the sense “to put in a place” in popular Latin.

It is borrowed from Latin nōrma (“carpenter's square; rule”), a technical word also used figuratively for a rule of conduct, often together with “regula” (see règle). Rey thinks it was probably…

It is inherited from Old French pois, inherited from Latin pēnsum (“what a thing weighs; the weight of wool given to a slave to spin, a task”), through a popular *pēsum. The Latin noun is the neuter…

It is formed from French près + que: Old French “près” already meant “almost” (early 12th century, Benedeit, “a bien près” 1130–1140), and the phrase “pres que” (about 1165) was at first “près” with…

It is a feminine form, from Old French respons (“answer”) (now répons), from Latin respōnsum (“answer”), the neuter past participle of respondeō (“to answer”). The ⟨n⟩ was kept before ⟨s⟩ after the…

It is borrowed from Latin societās (“association, community; partnership; alliance”), from socius (“companion, partner, ally”). Rey traces the Latin noun, like Sanskrit सखा (sákhā, “companion”), to…

It is inherited from Old French soignier, inherited from Medieval Latin soniō (“to take care; to provide for”), recorded from the 7th century, itself borrowed from Frankish *sunnjōn (“to look…

It is inherited from Old French sohaidier, according to the TLFi, the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg from Gallo-Romance Vulgar Latin *subtushaitō (“to promise without committing oneself too far”), a…

It is inherited from Old French tesmoin, inherited from Latin testimōnium (“testimony; proof”), which in Late Latin also meant “a witness” (late 4th century, in Egeria's account of her pilgrimage)…

It is derived from terre with the suffix ⟨-ace⟩, later ⟨-asse⟩. The noun continues Latin terra (“earth”). For the modern sense “raised platform”, Bloch and Wartburg and the REW see a borrowing from…

It was formed in Old French on an expressive stem from French tumb- (“fall, tumble”) imitating the sound of a fall or a sudden jump; it was probably a word of the jongleurs and acrobats, which…

It is inherited from Old French train, formed from Old French traïner, “trahiner” (see traîner), from *tragīnō (“to drag”), derived from a form of Latin trahō (“to draw, drag”). It first meant the…

1. “Treatise” is a Frenchified form of Latin tractātus (“handling; treatment of a subject”), remade after traiter; the Latin noun is formed on the supine of Latin tractō (“to handle, treat”)…

It is formed from French vérité + -able, like charitable from charité. Vérité is from Latin vēritās, from vērus (“true”). Littré notes that in the 12th century French also said verable.

It is from French vite + -esse. vite, first “viste” (about 1160), was an adjective until the 17th century; Bloch and Wartburg reject a participle Vulgar Latin *vīsitus (“looked at closely”), from…

It is a deverbal noun from chasser (Old French chacier), which continues Vulgar Latin *captiō, from Latin captō (“to try to catch”). An adjective Late Latin captiōsus (“fond of hunting”) is found in…

It is a noun derived from the old verb abrier (“to shelter, cover”), found in Judeo-French in the 11th century and generally from the 13th. The verb comes from Late Latin aprīcō (“to warm in the…

It is from French à + dieu: a shortening of the leave-taking formula “I commend you to God”, Old French a Dieu vos comant. The noun dieu continues Latin deus (“god”). Compare Picard adé, Occitan…

It is from French aller + -ure. Littré thought that the old form aleüre supposes Late Latin *alatura. The verb aller comes from Latin ambulō (“to walk about”), whose reduced form arose in popular…

It is inherited from Old French angle, inherited from Latin angulus (“corner; angle”). Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin word is certainly popular only in Romanian unghi, and that Italian…

The noun is borrowed from Latin animal (“living being”), derived from anima (“breath, life”) (see âme). The adjective (13th century) is from the Latin derivative animālis (“living, animate”). The…

It is derived from an with the suffix “-ée”, or continues a popular Latin Vulgar Latin *annāta “a year's length”, from Latin annus (“year”). The Grand Robert derives it from “an”, while Bloch and…

It is a deverbal noun from French appareiller (“to prepare”). The verb is an early Gallo-Roman word (1080), from Late Latin *appariculō, an extension of classical apparō (“to prepare”), from parō…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *al tantu, from earlier “*aliud tantum”, a popular form of classical “alterum tantum” “as much again”, from Latin alius (“other”) (or alter) and tantum (“so much”)…

It comes from the Old French phrase ce m'est a vis“ (1135), from older ”ço m'est vis“ (”Vie de saint Alexis“) “it seems to me”, a calque of Latin ”mihi est visum“ for classical ”mihi videtur“. ”Vis…

It is inherited from Old French bufer (“to blow”), inherited from Vulgar Latin *buffō (“to blow”), a Proto-Romance verb formed on an expressive base ⟨buff-⟩ evoking the sound of breath let out of a…

Its origin is obscure, perhaps Germanic. The word is found throughout Romance (Italian brace, Old Italian “bragia”, Spanish brasa, Old Occitan brasa) and, from the 10th century in Medieval Latin…

1. The quarry is inherited from Old French quarriere, inherited from Vulgar Latin *quadrāria (“place where stone is cut”) (attested in Medieval Latin in 823), from Late Latin quadrus (“square”)…

1. The cellar is borrowed from Late Latin cava (“ditch”) (6th century), the feminine noun formed from the neuter plural cava (“hollows”) of the adjective cavus (“hollow”). Medieval Latin used the…

It is borrowed from Late Latin schedula (“small sheet of paper”) (also “scedula”), a diminutive of Latin scheda (“leaf, page; strip of papyrus”), a word of unknown origin. The spelling “scida”…

It is inherited from Late Latin centēna, a military term for a group of a hundred men in the early 7th century. The Latin noun is the feminine of centēnus, first a distributive, “a hundred each”…

1. The tree name is inherited from Latin carpinus (“hornbeam”). Littré thought the standard form with /m/ was assimilated to the word for a magic spell, since dialects have forms closer to the…

It is the old oblique plural “cous” of Old French col (see col), inherited from Latin collum (“neck”), earlier “collus”. The neuter “collum” may have been drawn in by other neuter names of body…

The origin is uncertain. Because it is a word of the langue d'oïl, used for elegant and stately dances as opposed to the descendants of Late Latin ballāre (whence bal), it is probably Germanic…

It is a deverbal noun from demander, which continues Latin dēmandō (“to entrust, commit”); the sense “to ask” is found in nearly all the Romance languages, and the verb replaced classical interrogō…

It is a deverbal noun from désirer. The verb is from Latin dēsīderō (“to miss, long for”). Littré stresses that “désir” does not continue Latin dēsīderium, which gave Old French “desirier” beside…

It is borrowed from Latin dēsōlō (“to depopulate, lay waste, (past participle) deserted, forsaken”), an intensive form in dē- of sōlō (“to make solitary”), from sōlus (“alone”), the source of seul…