French words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Old French bole, inherited from Latin bulla (“bubble; knob, round object”), taken by word of mouth, while the learned bulle was borrowed later. Rey calls “bulla” an expressive…

It is inherited from Old French cheance, inherited from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“a falling”), the neuter plural of the present participle of cadō (“to fall”) (see choir) taken as a feminine noun…

It is inherited from Old French chol, inherited from Latin caulis (“stem; cabbage”), which also named stem-shaped objects. Rey relates it to Ancient Greek καυλός (kaulós, “stem”), which Wiktionary…

It is a deverbal noun formed from éprouver. The verb, Old French esprover, is formed from prouver with the prefix é-, and goes back to Latin probō (“to test; to approve; to prove”). The vowel /ou/…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”) (10th century), a variant of slavus, which properly meant “Slav” (7th century). The Latin form is probably a back-formation from a form *sclavone…

It is borrowed from Late Latin aeternālis (“outside time, without beginning or end”), a Christian derivative of classical aeternus. That adjective comes from the archaic aeviternus (“lasting a…

It is inherited from Old French fotre, inherited from Latin futuō (“to have sex with (a woman)”). Rey calls the Latin verb of unknown origin, Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin imāginātiō (“image, vision”), a word of the imperial period, formed on imāginātus, the past participle of imāginor (“to picture to oneself”). The verb is derived from imāgō…

It is from French plat + -eau, formed in Old French as platel. The TLFi and Rey give its two main groups of senses numbered articles of their own: the tray, a diminutive of the noun plat (“dish”)…

It is from French re- + encontrer, from Old and Middle French encontrer (“to meet, come face to face with”) (about 980, still found as “ancontrer” in 1636), itself derived from encontre. “Encontre”…

It is borrowed from Latin repraesentō (“to make present, bring before the eyes; to reproduce”), formed with the intensive re- on praesentō (“to present”), from praesēns (“present”). In Late Latin it…

It is probably onomatopoeic, from a stem imitating the sound of a short, dull blow. The Grand Robert gives a choice between onomatopoeia, Middle Dutch tappe (“paw”) and a Germanic *tappōn, and…

It is a back-formation from chascun (chacun), made on the model of the pair quelque / quelqu'un. “Chascun” itself comes from Old French “chaün”, from Late Latin “unum cata unum” “one by one”, with…

It is the feminine, used as a noun, of eslit (“chosen”) (12th–16th century), the old past participle of élire (“to choose, elect”), which modern French has replaced by “élu”. “Élire” is Vulgar Latin…

It is the feminine past participle of penser, used as a noun. “Penser” continues Latin pēnsō (“to weigh; to judge”), a frequentative of pendō (“to weigh”), which must have taken the sense “to think”…

It is from French prison + -ier. prison continues Latin prē(n)siōnem (“a seizing, arrest”), for classical prehēnsiō, from prehendō (“to seize”), Old French preison took its modern form under the…

It is inherited from Old French raser, inherited from Vulgar Latin *rāsō (“to shave”), remade on Latin rāsus, the past participle of rādō (“to scrape, scratch; graze; shave”). Old French also kept…

It is inherited from Old French regeter, inherited from Latin rēiectō (“to throw back; to repel; to vomit”), a frequentative from the supine of reiciō (“to throw back”), derived according to the…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin tasca, also tascha, a rural due paid as a share of the crop to the owner of newly cleared land (802 in the south of France, 1028 in the north), which gave Old…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *traucum, recorded in Medieval Latin as “traugum” in the 8th-century Ripuarian Law. The word is found only in Gallo-Romance and Catalan, Bloch and Wartburg think it…

1. It is Old French adrece (“direct way, short cut”), a back-formation from adrecier, the source of adresser, itself from drecier (“to make straight”), from Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre, from dīrēctus…

It is most probably formed on an imitative base “frap-” expressing a sudden violent blow, as the TLFi, Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and the Petit Robert hold. The Grand Robert and Wiktionary derive…

It continues inherited from Latin hem (“eh?, hm!”), an interjection expressing various painful feelings and also a question. Bloch and Wartburg simply call it an onomatopoeia. Rey adds that “hein”…

It is a deverbal noun from French laisser (“to let, leave”), in all its senses according to the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg: the leash is a slack cord that lets the animal go, and the epic stanza is…

The TLFi and Wiktionary make it a back-formation from troupeau, Old French tropel. Rey and the GLLF see in it either a form built on that word or the feminine form of an unattested Old French noun…

It is inherited from Latin cūlus (“backside, buttocks”), a popular word found in satirical graffiti and the Priapea, kept in all the Romance languages. Rey mentions comparisons with Irish cúl…

It is inherited from Old French merde, inherited from Latin merda (“dung, excrement”), a word of vulgar speech with no sure etymology. Rey mentions Baltic and Slavic verbs of similar form meaning…

It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan datil (after 1288) rather than Italian dattero (before 1342), which fits the sounds less well; a Romance intermediary is needed to explain the French form…

It is borrowed from Latin dispōnō (“to set out, arrange; to order, regulate”), reshaped after poser, as in composer and déposer. The Latin verb is formed with dis- (“apart”) and pōnō (“to put…

1. The ship's stay is borrowed from Old English stæġ (“rope, stay”), influenced by the word for a prop; Rey takes it from Old Saxon stag instead. Wiktionary takes the English word from…

It is from French fiancer (“to betroth”), from the verb's past participle used as an adjective and a noun. The verb comes from Old French fiance (“pledge, oath of loyalty”) (1080), from the verb…

It is borrowed from Latin idiōta (“layman, one who is not an expert; ignorant person”), also “idiōtēs”, an adjective in Christian Latin. The Latin word was taken from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs…

It comes from an imitative root “lap-” expressing the sound of lapping. A borrowing from Germanic (German lappen, Middle Dutch “lapen”, Old English lapian, English lap) is not necessary, since the…

It is from French maître + -esse, the feminine of the word for master. The masculine comes from Latin magister (“chief, master”), probably derived from magis (“more”). Littré notes a 12th-century…

It is borrowed from Latin occupō (“to seize first; to take possession of”), taken over about 1180; the Latin verb is formed from ob- (“before”) and capiō (“to take”) (see capter). In Latin it meant…

It is inherited from Old French pasnaie, inherited from Latin pastināca (“parsnip, carrot”), a name of several umbellifers, which Rey and the Petit Robert derive, perhaps, from pastinum (“dibble…

It is borrowed from Frankish *pokka (“purse, bag”), a form reconstructed from Middle Dutch poke (“bag”) and Old Norse poki (“purse, small bag”). Wiktionary gives the Frankish word as “*pokkō”, from…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin rotulus (“roll; rolled parchment”), rare in Late Latin as “rotulus” “little wheel”, a diminutive of Latin rota (“wheel”) (see roue). The TLFi takes it from the…

It is inherited from Old French savon, inherited from Latin sāpō (“soap”) (accusative “sāpōnem”), which Pliny describes as a mixture of tallow and ashes invented by the Gauls to redden their hair…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sēcrētārius (“secretary; one present at secret councils”), from sēcrētum (“secret”). Rey and the Grand Robert also point to Late Latin sēcrētārium (“secluded…

It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan espanol, also espainol, used as a proper name in the first half of the 12th century, from a Medieval Latin *Hispāniolus, derived from Latin Hispānia…

It is inherited from Old French ogre, probably an alteration of an unattested *orc, inherited from Latin Orcus (“god of the underworld; the underworld”), with the “r” moved, perhaps under the…

It is inherited from Latin saltō (“to dance, (Late Latin) to jump”), the frequentative of saliō (“to jump, leap”). “Saltāre” properly meant “to jump”, but in classical Latin it was used for dancing…

It is borrowed from Latin absinthium, which named both the plant artemisia and, from Pliny on, the drink made from it, from Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion, “wormwood”), a pre-Greek word. The…

It is inherited from Old French cerise, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ceresia, a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular, from Late Latin ceresium (6th century), a variant of imperial cerasium…

It is inherited from Old French craime, inherited from Late Latin crāma (6th century, Venantius Fortunatus), a word of Gaulish origin: from Gaulish; Bloch and Wartburg compare Welsh crammen…

It is inherited from Old French pousiere, derived from Old French pous (“dust”), which goes back to Vulgar Latin *pulvus, an alteration of Latin pulvis (“dust”). That noun gave the derivative…

It is borrowed from Latin respīrō (“to breathe out, exhale; to recover one's breath; to rest”). The Latin verb is from re- (“back”) and spīrō (“to breathe”) (see esprit, spirituel). The earliest…

It is borrowed from Late Latin revolūtiō (“return; unrolling; cycle”), a word used by Augustine for the cycle of returning souls and in Medieval Latin for a star's periodic return (1086). The Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin sēcūritās (“freedom from care; tranquillity; safety; guarantee”), from sēcūrus (“free from care”), the source of sûr. It is a learned doublet of sûreté, borrowed to express…

1. The verb is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin supportō (“to bear, tolerate; to help, support”), at first with a French form. In classical Latin “supportare” only meant to carry, bring up from…

It is borrowed from Old Occitan tartuga, also “tortuga”, altered under the influence of tortu (“twisted”). The Old Occitan word comes, by dissimilation, from Late Latin tartarūca, the feminine used…

It is inherited from Old French glicier, a blend of Old French gliier (“to slide”), borrowed from Frankish *glīdan (“to slide, glide”), with glacier, the old form of glacer, which in the 12th…

It is inherited from Latin cunnus (“female genitals”), a word found in the satirists and in graffiti. Rey calls its origin obscure and compares Ancient Greek κύσθος (kústhos) and Persian کون (kun)…

It is probably formed from the same imitative root as Old French caner (“to cackle”) (1204), with the suffix -art of malart, the oldest name of the drake. Bloch and Wartburg derive it from caner…

It is borrowed from Latin absentia (“absence”), used by Cicero for a person's not being present. The Latin noun comes from absēns (“absent”), present participle of absum (“to be away”), from ab…

It is a remaking (once in the 13th century, then from 1508) of Old French amettre, after the verb it comes from, borrowed from Latin admittō (“to let in; to allow”), formed with ad- and mittō (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin agitō (“to drive, toss about; to stir up; to discuss”), a frequentative and intensive of agō (“to drive, set in motion; to act”), the source of agir. Its compound cōgitō…

It is from French aussi + tôt. tôt continues popular Latin “tostum”, the neuter of Latin tostus (“roasted, burnt”) used as an adverb, which must first have meant “hotly”, hence “promptly”.

1. The adverb is formed from au and tour “circuit, turn”, and replaced Old French entor (see entour, alentour). “Tour” in this sense is formed on tourner, from Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”). 2…