French words from Occitan
6 French words with Occitan in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
cadet
It is borrowed from Occitan capdet (“chief, captain”), a Gascon word, corresponding to Provençal capdel, the source of cadeau; “-et” is the Gascon form of the suffix “-el”. This goes back to Late…
cocon
It is borrowed from Occitan coucoun (“eggshell; cocoon”), a derivative of coco (“shell”), of the same origin as coque. Its first user, Olivier de Serres, wrote of the silkworms of the Cévennes in…
datte
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…
gaffe
It is borrowed from Old Occitan gaf (“hook, pole”), from gafar (“to seize”). Bloch and Wartburg trace the Occitan verb, also found as Spanish gafar and Portuguese gafar, to Gothic *gaffōn (“to…
tortue
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…
troubadour
It is borrowed from Old Occitan trobador (“poet, composer”), the oblique case of trobaire, from trobar (“to find; to compose verse”). Trobar has the same origin as French trouver, from Latin Vulgar…