French words first recorded in the 9th century

It is inherited from Old French a, from Latin ad (“to, towards”), which expressed movement towards a place or person and in spoken Latin often replaced the dative and the genitive. Some of its uses…

It is a deverbal noun from aider. Wiktionary notes that the medial /d/ would regularly have been lost, as in Old French “aïe”, and was restored from the verb. “Aider” is from Latin adiūtō (“to…

It is inherited from Old French amor, inherited from Latin amor (“love”), from amō (“to love”). The regular French development would have been “ameur”, which is attested and survives in Picard; the…

It is inherited from Late Latin abante (“before, in front”), formed from ab (“from”) and ante (“before, in front of”). The Latin word, found in inscriptions and dated to the 2nd century, was both…

1. The determiner “ce”, “cet”, “cette”, “ces” is inherited from Old French cest, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ecce iste, a form of Latin iste (“this, that”) reinforced by ecce (“behold”). The…

It is inherited from Old French chose, inherited from Latin causa (“cause, lawsuit; matter”). In legal language “causa” was often used beside rēs (“thing”) (whence rien), and, from it took the…

It is inherited from Old French com, inherited from Latin quōmodo (“in what way, how; as”), a compound of the ablative of quis and modus (“manner”). The direct source of “cum”, “com” is the late…

It is inherited from Old French comun, inherited from Latin commūnis (“shared by all or many”), formed from “cum” “with” and “-munis” “who performs his duty”, related to Latin mūnus (“duty; gift”)…

It is borrowed from Latin cōnservō (“to keep safe, preserve; to observe”), formed from con- and servō (“to save, keep, preserve”), whose senses it took over. The simple Latin verb lives on in French…

It is inherited from Old French contre, inherited from Latin contrā (“opposite, facing; against”). It is first written in its Latin form “contra” (842), then “cuntre” (1080) and “contre” (about…

It is inherited from Old French de, inherited from Latin dē (“down from, away from; about”). In Latin it marked origin, distance and separation, with an added idea of movement downwards, and also…

It is inherited from Old French deveir, inherited from Latin dēbeō (“to owe; ought, must”). The Latin verb is a compound of dē and habeō (“to have”) (whence avoir): it meant “to have something from…

It is inherited from Old French Deu, inherited from Latin deus (“god”), from Old Latin “deivos”, from Proto-Italic *deiwos, from Proto-Indo-European *deywós. Rey traces it to a root “*dei-” “to…

It is inherited from Old French doner, inherited from Latin dōnō (“to make a gift of, present”), a verb formed from dōnum (“gift”), itself from dō (“to give”). In Late Latin “dōnāre”, with its…

The adjective is inherited from Old French dreit, inherited from Latin dīrēctus (“straight, direct; at right angles”), figuratively “straightforward, just”, through a syncopated Late Latin form…

1. The preposition “en” is inherited from Old French en, inherited from Latin in (“in, on, into”). The Strasbourg Oaths (842) still have the Latin form “in”. “En” appears at the end of the 9th…

It is inherited from Old French e, inherited from Latin et (“and; also; yet”), a coordinating conjunction used to join words and clauses, to mark opposition or emphasis, and often found at the head…

It is inherited from Old French estre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *essere, a popular remaking of Classical Latin esse (“to be”). The conjugated forms come, more or less regularly, from the Latin…

It is inherited from Old French faire, inherited from Latin faciō (“to make, to do”). The preterite stem “fi-” (“je fis”) comes from the Latin perfect fēcī, with a raising of the vowel. At first the…

It is inherited from Old French frere, inherited from Latin frāter (“brother”), accusative “frātrem”. The Latin word continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr (“brother”), as do Ancient Greek φράτηρ…

It is inherited from Old French il, inherited from Late Latin illī (“that one”), an alteration of Classical Latin ille (“that”) under the influence of the relative quī (“who”). The neuter subject…

It is inherited from Old French jo, inherited from Late Latin eo (recorded in the 6th century), a contraction of Classical Latin ego (“I”). The Late Latin form is supposed from the Romance languages…

It is inherited from Old French jurer, inherited from Latin iūrō (“to swear, take an oath”), from iūs (“law, right”), in its original sense of a ritual formula with the force of law. The same Latin…

It is inherited from Old French me, inherited from Latin mē (“me”), the accusative of ego (“I”), in unstressed position. moi is the same word, from the same Latin form in stressed position. Northern…

It is the stressed form of the possessive, inherited from Old French mien, inherited from Latin meus (“my, mine”), from its accusative case; the unstressed form gave mon. The feminine form was…

It is inherited from Old French mei, inherited from Latin mē (“me”), in stressed position; the same pronoun unstressed gave me. Latin “mē” is the accusative of ego (“I”) and belongs to a group of…

It is inherited from Old French ne, inherited from Latin nōn (“not”), with a special development due to its place in front of the verb, where it was unstressed. “Non” weakened to nen before a vowel…

It continues Old French ne, inherited from Latin nec (“and not, nor”). Latin “nec” was a variant of neque, used first before consonants, which displaced the full form; it goes back to the…

It is inherited from Old French non, inherited from Latin nōn (“not”), in stressed position; unstressed, the same word gave ne. In Latin “nōn” is a strengthened form of the negation ne with the…

It is inherited from Old French nostre, inherited from Latin noster (“our”), derived from nōs (“we, us”) (see nous) with a suffix that marks the opposition of two notions. The plural “nos” probably…

It is inherited from Latin nūllus (“not any, none; worthless”). The Latin word is formed from the negation ne and ūllus (“any, anyone”), itself derived from ūnus (“one”) (see un). From the earliest…

It is inherited from Old French om, inherited from Latin homō (“human being”), the nominative, which developed in unstressed position; the accusative hominem gave homme. In Late Latin “homo” is…

It is inherited from Old French par, inherited from Latin per (“through, across; during; by means of; in the name of”). Latin “per” had the local sense “through, along, over”, the temporal sense…

It is inherited from Latin pars (“share; part; side”), from the accusative “partem”. The Latin word meant a share given to someone out of a whole, a part of a whole and, in space, a side or…

It is inherited from Latin populus (“people of a state or city; the citizens; people, the public”). The Old French “pueble” became “pueple” and “peuple” by assimilation of the inner /b/ to the…

It is inherited from Old French por, inherited from Late Latin pōr, from Latin prō (“before, in front of; for, on behalf of; instead of”) by metathesis of the “r”, perhaps helped by per (whence…

It is inherited from Old French podeir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *potēre, a remaking of Classical Latin posse (“to be able”) after the forms with the stem “pot-”: potest, “potuī”, “poteram”…

It is inherited from Old French prendre, inherited from Latin prēndere (“to seize, grasp”), the contracted form of “prehendere”, itself the usual form of “praehendere”. The verb is a compound of…

It is inherited from Old French qui, inherited from Latin quī (“who, which”), the nominative singular masculine of the relative and interrogative pronoun. In Late Latin (4th century) “quī” became…

It is formed from tourner with the prefix re-, but has partly become independent of the simple verb. The verb “tourner” is from Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”). Cognate with Old Occitan retornar…

It is inherited from Old French salver, inherited from Late Latin salvō (“to make well; to preserve; to deliver, (Christian) to save”), from Latin salvus (“well, safe”), the source of sauf. Cognate…

It is inherited from Old French saveir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sapēre, an alteration of Classical Latin sapere (“to taste; to be wise; to understand”). The Latin verb meant “to have a taste, a…

It is inherited from Old French se, inherited from Latin sē (“himself, herself, themselves”), the accusative of the third-person reflexive pronoun, in unstressed position. The stressed form of the…

It is inherited from Old French seignor, inherited from Latin seniōrem (“older; an elder”), the accusative of “senior”, comparative of senex (“old”). Already in the 1st century “senior” was a term…

1. The conjunction “si” is inherited from Old French se, inherited from Latin sī (“if; whenever”). The Old French form “se” comes from popular *se (recorded in the 6th century), an alteration of…

1. The possessive “son”, “sa”, “ses” is inherited from Old French son, inherited from Latin suum (“his, her, their own”), from the accusative forms “suum”, “suam”, “suōs”, “suās” of Classical Latin…

It is inherited from Old French amer, inherited from Latin amō (“to love”). The infinitive “amer” was remade after the stressed forms such as “aime”, and “aimer” prevailed in the 16th century. Rey…

It is inherited from Old French chief, inherited from Vulgar Latin *capum, attested in the 7th century, an altered form of classical Latin caput (“head; end; leader”). Rey relates caput to English…

It is inherited from Old French dunt, inherited from Vulgar Latin dē unde (“from where”), a strengthening of Latin unde (“whence, from where”) with the preposition dē (“from”). Already in classical…

It is inherited from Old French escouter, inherited from Late Latin ascultō, a popular form of Latin auscultō (“to listen attentively; to obey”), with the common prefix “es-” substituted for “as-”…

It is inherited from Late Latin fugire, a 3rd-century change of conjugation of classical fugere (“to flee; to be exiled”). The Latin verb goes back to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European…

It is inherited from Old French perdre, inherited from Latin perdō (“to destroy, ruin; to waste; to lose”), formed from per- (“thoroughly”) and dō (“to give”), so properly “to give away to no…

It is inherited from Latin volō (“to fly; to go quickly”), keeping both Latin values, movement through the air and speed. Rey notes that a link with a Vedic word for “winged” has been suggested but…

It is inherited from Old French anme, inherited from Latin anima (“breath, air; life; soul”). Rey traces it to an Indo-European root also seen in Sanskrit अनिति (aniti, “he breathes”) and Ancient…

It is an adaptation of Latin inimīcus (“personal enemy”), formed from “in-” “not” and Latin amīcus (“friend”) (see ami), as opposed to “hostis” “public enemy” (see hostile). In Christian Latin…

It is inherited from Old French manace, inherited from Vulgar Latin *minācia (“threat”), found in the plural as early as Plautus and above all in Late Latin. The word is derived, through the…

It is inherited from Old French nom, inherited from Latin nōmen (“name; title; renown”). The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *nomən and Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥, the source also of Ancient…

It is borrowed from Latin praesentō (“to make present; to offer”), a word of the Imperial period, from praesēns (“present”). Bloch and Wartburg call the Latin verb Late Latin. Wiktionary notes that…

It is inherited from Old French rei, inherited from Latin rēx (“king; ruler, Jupiter”), from the accusative “rēgem”. Rey places the Latin word among the Indo-European terms of politics and religion…

It is inherited from Old French servir, inherited from Latin serviō (“to be a slave; to be subject to; to be useful”). The Latin verb is derived from servus (“slave”) (see serf), a word of obscure…