French words from Old English
5 French words with Old English in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
est
Like the other points of the compass, it is borrowed from Old English ēast (“east”), found as an adverb from the late 9th century and as a noun from the 12th. The GLLF gives the Middle English form…
étai
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…
nord
It is borrowed from Old English norþ (“north”) (English north), first used in Normandy and spreading from there. The English word belongs to a Germanic family of unknown origin; Wiktionary traces it…
ouest
It is borrowed from Old English west (“west”) (English west), found as an adverb from the 9th century and as a noun from the 12th, corresponding to German and Dutch “West”, “Westen”; these words…
sud
It is borrowed from Old English sūþ (“south”) (English south), a word that may belong to an Indo-European root “*su-” “sun”, like English sun and Latin sōl, the south being the side of the sun…