French words from German
5 French words with German in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
auguste
1. The adjective is borrowed from Latin augustus (“consecrated by the augurs; venerable”), which Rey derives from augur (“augur”); Littré instead linked it with augeō (“to increase”). The Latin…
bivouac
It is a Germanic word, probably brought by mercenaries serving in French armies in the 17th century. The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert, the GLLF and the Académie give it as borrowed from Alemannic…
flic
It is probably borrowed from German Flick (“boy, young man”), a word of German thieves' slang recorded from 1510. The GLLF adds that it was first used in France by Jewish criminals, whose slang held…
taxi
It is a clipping (1907) from French taximètre (1905), which the inventor of the meter had first called taxamètre (1901), from German Taxameter (1890). The German word was formed either from Medieval…
vampire
It is borrowed from German Vampir (recorded from 1732), itself from Serbo-Croatian vampir. The forms “oupire” and “upire” come from Czech upír or Russian упырь (upyrʹ). Rey says that all these words…